Moving from research question to research design - Dorothy Faulkner and Cindy Kerawalla
Transcript of Moving from research question to research design - Dorothy Faulkner and Cindy Kerawalla
Moving from research question to research design: understanding
which methods are most appropriate
Dorothy Faulkner and Cindy Kerawalla 1
Your probationary reviewers will:
Review your research project and plans. Review your research project and plans. Assess your skills development against a Assess your skills development against a set of appropriate benchmarks.set of appropriate benchmarks.Make a recommendation about whether Make a recommendation about whether registration should continue and be registration should continue and be confirmed for a PhD. confirmed for a PhD.
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You will need to complete
A probation report
A mini-viva
An oral presentation
A summary of PhD skills development
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The‘What’ the‘Why’& the‘How’
Your probation reviewers will be looking for clear answers to these questions:
1. What is the main research question, focus of interest or central thesis and why is this interesting?
2. What are we going to learn as the result of the proposed project that we do not know now?
3. Why is this worth knowing (theoretical, methodological, applied contribution)?
4. How will we know that the arguments and conclusions are valid?
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This session will ask you to think about:
Your disciplinary and theoretical perspective The implications of this for your research question,
argument or central thesis How you can unpack your research question/argument Your research design, method of enquiry and preliminary
analytical perspective What types of evidence you need and why you need it Where you will get it from When you will collect it Who you will collect it from Research ethics
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Different disciplinary perspectives:Examples of PhD research questions/theses
What is the role of consumption in the everyday life of young mothers? How might young mother’s consumption be regulated by poverty? How might young women be/feel excluded from consumer practices by poverty? How might the pressures of consumption be felt as oppressive? The fall of communism altered the population structure of the Czech Republic and led to profound social and economic change.Climate change stipulates capital flows and migration: How does this affect regional economies?The cultural dominance of Freudian theory has obscured the pre-history of child psychiatry in Britain as it emerged from literary sources in the second half of the nineteenth century.
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Unpacking a research question from the perspective of technology enhanced learning
How are digital technologies appropriated as tools for learning and how does the conduct and experience of scripted inquiry learning mediate and change the activities of learning?
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Signalling the theoretical/disciplinary focus
How are digital technologies appropriated as tools for learning and how does the conduct and experience of scripted inquiry learning mediate and change the activities of learning?
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Research question: theoretical focus
Appropriation Tools for learning Mediation
are terms for key theoretical concepts. Use of these terms locates this question within the sociocultural tradition and signals the researchers theoretical stance.
You will need to justify WHY your research is located within a particular theoretical framework, WHAT its key concepts are, WHAT alternative frameworks there are and WHY you have rejected them.
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Getting more specific: identifying key areas of enquiry
In what ways do scripted inquiry learningactivities develop children's learning skills?
In this project, learning skills were identified as: Working collaboratively The ability to argue and debate from evidence Judge the veracity of source information Deal with noise in data Construct appropriate visualisations
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Workshop activity 1: Your research question/thesis
• Identify your main research question, central thesis or area of enquiry on the card
• Identify a possible specific area of investigation• Swap cards with the person sitting next to you• Explain how what you have written signals your
disciplinary and theoretical perspective• Discuss what you expect to learn from your
research and how it will contribute to your area
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Situated Inquiry learning study:Research design
Comparative case study design – two schools - main comparison Socio-economic status and educational achievement
A series of quasi-experimental intervention studies with pre and post test measures over three years with 12 – 15 year-old pupils
In classes where teachers were using scripted inquiry learning software
Videos of classroom interactions, interviews, standardised tests, attitude questionnaires
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Some sources of quantitative evidence
Large Government data sets (e.g. household survey, census, school league tables) i.e. population/demographic data
Research data archives (e.g. ESRC) – previous researchers’ data sets
Linguistic corpora Standardised test data (e.g. IQ tests, personality tests,
mental health, job satisfaction indices, happiness indices)
Bespoke questionnaire & survey data from instruments you have designed
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Some sources of qualitative evidence
Transcripts of conversation & dialogue Documents and texts (letters, diaries, household
accounts, draft manuscripts, annotated scores) Archives (film, newspapers, public records, Hansard) Activity protocols and log files of software use, Research diaries and field notes Transcripts of interviews and focus groups Children’s school work Photographs and/or audio visual records
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Workshop activity 2
Jot down a couple of sources of evidence that you might use
Share these with your table
Feedback to group
5 minutes
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Workshop activity 3: Research design
Make brief notes about a possible research design
What types of evidence will you need?How will you know if it is reliable?
Swap notes - explain to your partner how this will allow you to answer your research question or how you expect this to support your argument or central thesis
Discuss with others at your table
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Workshop exercise 3Reminders
WHAT have previous researchers doneWHAT are you going to doHOW are you going to do itWHEN will you do itWHERE will you do itWHO or WHAT will be your sources of evidenceWHAT form will your data takeHOW will this help answer your research question/support your central thesis?
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Who, how, what, when, where Ethics
When you have worked out your research design, you will need to submit an ethics pro forma to the OU HREC https://intranet-gw.open.ac.uk/strategy-unit/committees/HREC/index.shtml
You must adhere to OU & professional ethics guidelines Example issues: permissions, use of images online,
anonymity, children and parent consent mismatches, mixed levels of consent within a group or class, data protection, copyright, disclosure of sensitive data, conflicts of interest etc.
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Make a note of an ethics issue you anticipate arising in your research
With your group, share and discuss how you might deal with this
10 mins
(HREC pro forma as resource)
Workshop Activity 4
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How – the practicalities?Who, what, when, where, why
• Sample and location• Expenses• Travel• Procedure: equipment• Time span• Access• Your skills: Training in camera use? Interviewing skills?• Building up working relationships (cake!)• Keeping participants on board (benefits to them?)• Transcribing (who, time, money)
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Resources - websites
http://www.phdtips.com/http://www.phd2published.com/http://thethesiswhisperer.wordpress.com/http://researchproposalguide.com/http://www.vitae.ac.uk/researchers/1220/
Managing-your-research-project.html
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Resources - Books
Dunleavy, P. (2003) Authoring a PhD: How to Plan, Draft, Write and Finish a Doctoral Thesis or Dissertation (Palgrave Study Guides), Palgrave Macmillan
Marshall, S. & Green, N. (2010) Your PhD Companion: The Insider Guide to Mastering the Practical Realities, How to Books Ltd
Petre, M. & Rugg, G. (2010) The Unwritten Rules of PhD Research (Open Up Study Skills), Open University Press
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Q & A session
• CARDS
• PHOTOCOPYING:
• ETHICS PROFORMA
• Last two slides
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