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| List of Figures and Tables | |
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| Acknowledgements | |
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| Introduction | |
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| What the book does not do | |
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| What the book does and how it is structured | |
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| Starting Research | |
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| Starting Your Postgraduate Research | |
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| Why do an MA, MPhil, PhD or other Doctorate? | |
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| Planning, key issues and suggestions | |
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| Starting to think about developing a hypothesis and/or research questions | |
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| Choosing the Right Research Degree | |
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| Types of degree | |
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| Varieties of research degree | |
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| Choosing your university and supervisor | |
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| Choosing Your Supervisor(s) | |
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| Introduction | |
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| Choosing your supervisor, and internal regulations | |
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| Working with your supervisors: initial contracts and contacts | |
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| Managing your supervisor | |
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| Things to ask/not to ask your supervisor(s) | |
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| Planning to get the most from your supervisor | |
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| What research students can expect of supervisors - a brief summary | |
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| Stages of supervisions - what you might expect at different stages | |
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| Planning work and supervisions | |
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| Research Questions and Hypotheses | |
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| Developing research questions or hypotheses for research proposals and the research | |
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| The research process | |
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| Stating your title | |
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| Research questions | |
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| Key stages - developing a hypothesis or research questions | |
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| 'Operationalising' a concept | |
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| Boundaries and gaps | |
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| What kind of research is yours going to be? | |
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| Stages of asking the research question | |
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| Research Methodologies | |
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| Choosing research methodologies | |
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| Methodology | |
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| Research approaches | |
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| Methodology, worldview, methods, data and research | |
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| Using qualitative and quantitative research methods together | |
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| Conceptual Frameworks | |
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| Research paradigms and perspectives | |
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| Some examples of areas | |
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| Ethics and Confidentiality | |
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| Typical procedures and their history | |
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| Writing a Research Proposal | |
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| What do you want to research? How you can draw up a good proposal | |
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| Getting Going - Supervisors, Time and Community | |
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| Managing Your Supervisor(s) | |
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| Planning work and supervisions | |
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| Learning contracts | |
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| Managing the Balancing Act | |
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| Balancing what? | |
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| Varieties of roles and activities - an audit | |
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| What kind of balancing act suits you? | |
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| Managing Your Time and Tasks | |
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| Good planning: long-, medium- and short-term management of time | |
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| Overall planning and the cycle of research | |
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| Learning as a Research Student - Learning Approaches, Styles and Pitfalls | |
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| Learning styles: deep, surface and strategic learning | |
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| Disciplines | |
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| What kind of learner are you? | |
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| Developing a Supportive Research Culture Locally and at a Distance | |
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| Group/project team supervisions | |
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| Self-managed groups and networks | |
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| Peer pairing | |
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| Peer support systems over a distance | |
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| Using electronic and video links to support research students in their work | |
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| Different modes of contact explored | |
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| Other peer-support systems - establishing a research culture | |
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| Carrying Out the Research and Starting to Write | |
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| Carrying out a Literature Review - Developing the Theoretical Perspectives Chapter | |
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| A literature review/theoretical perspectives chapter | |
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| International students - some particular issues | |
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| Carrying out the literature review | |
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| Writing the theoretical perspectives chapter | |
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| Methods in Brief | |
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| Quantitative research methods - designing and using questionnaires | |
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| Qualitative research methods - interviews, focus groups and observation | |
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| Using Grounded Theory, Case Studies, Journals and Synectics | |
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| Grounded theory | |
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| Case studies | |
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| Journals | |
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| Synectics | |
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| Action Research and Practitioner-based Research | |
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| Benefits of practitioner-based research | |
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| Possible pitfalls or problems | |
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| Action research | |
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| Phenomenography | |
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| Problem-based or Enquiry-based Research and Problem Solving | |
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| Stages of problem-based or enquiry-based research | |
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| Case study | |
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| Research Methods for the Arts and Humanities | |
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| The documenting, critiquing and creative continuum | |
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| The form and shape of arts and humanities theses | |
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| Researching your own creative work/using the creative in your research work | |
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| Support, Progress, Analysis, Writing Up, The Viva, Presentations and Afterwards | |
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| Being Organised, Keeping Records, Writing Up, Stage-by-Stage | |
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| Time and task plan - key stages and obvious potentially difficult moments | |
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| Writing the Thesis or Dissertation | |
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| Developing the framework of different chapters | |
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| The shape of the thesis as it develops | |
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| Models | |
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| Elements of the structure of the thesis explained - and variants discussed | |
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| Overcoming Writing Blocks and Learning from Feedback | |
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| Writing | |
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| Analysis of narratives, interviews, interactions, cases | |
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| Some ideas about the writing habit | |
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| Developing writing | |
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| Analysing Data and Thinking about Findings | |
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| Making sense of your data - interpretation and findings | |
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| Managing data, both quantitative and qualitative | |
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| Annotating | |
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| Summarising and generalising | |
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| Qualitative data activity | |
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| Documentary analysis | |
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| Findings | |
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| Learning from Feedback | |
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| Working with supervisor and other feedback | |
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| Writing Transfer Documents and Progress Reports for MPhil, EdD and PhD Theses | |
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| Open University (OU) EdD | |
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| Transfer to a PhD | |
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| MPhil, PhD and EdD - scope and differences | |
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| Presentation issues to bear in mind as you carry on with your work | |
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| Writing Up: Definitions and Qualities of a Good MA, MPhil, EdD and PhD Thesis | |
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| The Master's dissertation or thesis | |
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| The EdD | |
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| Definitions of a good dissertation or thesis | |
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| Positive features in a successful MPhil and PhD | |
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| Writing up | |
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| Preparing Your Thesis and Dissertation - Coherence, Conclusions and Conceptual Level Work | |
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| The proposal - revisited | |
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| Preparing for and Undertaking Your Viva | |
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| Being prepared | |
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| Postgraduate viva | |
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| Generic questions | |
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| Stress management | |
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| The viva voce - a brief outline | |
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| Dealing with Corrections - Life after the Viva... | |
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| What next? | |
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| Celebrate | |
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| Presentations, Conferences and Publishing | |
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| Plan | |
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| Prepare | |
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| Practise | |
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| Presentation | |
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| Publications | |
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| Life After the Research | |
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| 'Is there life after the research?' | |
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| Bibliography | |
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| Index | |