Research

Large research project anyone?

2011-12-10T01:00:00.000-08:00

At the start of the year I invited people to get involved in a large research project. I wanted a large team (hundreds) to tackle a large project. I floated the idea of offering help and collaborating with groups needing advice. These could be villages in developing countries as an example, or groups anywhere. We have expertise that we do not always put to use and so I thought it might be a way of collaborating, using this knowledge and solving real issues and problems. Is anyone interested?

People Matter

2011-08-06T19:31:00.000-07:00

I had wanted to do a PhD for a long time. Bill Black, my supervisor from my Masters, really put the idea into my head when we met a couple of years after doing my Master of Science in computing. I was coming back to Oldham on the train and we bumped into one another. He said, "why don't you take a Masters?" The fees were high but I thought maybe my College could partly sponsor me. As it turned out I came to Australia and enrolled in one here. Geoff Roy became my suprvisor and I was lucky to have such a good mentor. Since then I have collaborated with a large number of people and each one in some way has motivated me. So people matter a lot in research as they give you energy,ideas and make opportunties for you.

Call for Papers

2011-07-06T04:51:00.000-07:00

Journal of Systems and Information Technology  

Special Issue on Technology, Information Systems and Collaboration: Social Media and Beyond  

Special Issue Editor: Helene Delerue   

The use of social media is becoming increasingly important. This leads to several research issues: Why do some companies use social media whilst others do not? How are firms using social media? What are the consequences of using social media? Few scholarly studies have considered how social media may benefit firms and the majority have focused on social media as marketing tools. Nevertheless, social media can have cognitive, strategic, and managerial consequences. Other key issues are: How can we measure the effect of social media on firm and social media effectiveness? How can firms monitor social media? What are the challenges and opportunities of social media in collaborative projects?  

The special issue aims to foster information system research in understanding, illustrating, and explaining the business use and consequences of social media.  

Target topics that are relevant to this special issue of JoSIT include but are not limited to:  
- Social media - and beyond- and business social network;
- Social media - and beyond- effectiveness;
- Social media - and beyond- and innovation;
- Social media - and beyond- and human resources management 
- Current approach to and practices of using social media -and beyond- for firm growth 
- Social media development among industries
- Information security and social media  

Publication Guidelines:
All papers will undergo a blind refereeing process by at least two referees.  

Timeline: Submission deadline: 30st Nov 2011 
Reviews returned: Jan 15th, 2012 
Resubmission of papers: March 1st
Final decision: April 10th, 2012 
Publication: 2012  

All submissions must be original works which have not appeared elsewhere and which are not being considered for publication with another journal. As the reviewing process will be conducted anonymously, please do not include your name(s) on the submission.

People are encouraged to send their papers in by email to:  
Helene Delerue 
vidot-delerue.helene@uqam.ca

Taking ownership of your PHD

2011-06-25T09:17:00.000-07:00

The most important thing about taking a doctorate is taking ownership of it. Students often feel, especially at the start, that it isn't their project but rather owned by the supervisor or the university. It is important for the candidate to take ownership as early as possible, if not right from the start. Some supervisors may create a dependency culture which inhibits the student from making decisions. Over supervision can also lead to a dependency culture and like most relationships the more one partner does the less the other may do!

The student has to gain a research voice and this will show through in the final thesis but without taking ownership early on they writing may lack confidence. Even worse when they have completed they may lack the confidence to fly solo.

PhD doctorate by publication

2011-06-17T20:28:00.001-07:00

It is possible in many universities to complete a doctorate by publications. This usually entails writing a number of academic papers plus tying them together with maybe 80 pages of dicussion and explanation. It seems the preferred method in countries such as Finland for example. In fact I have examined a couple from there and thought they were well constructed.

The problem in many universities is that there are few precise guidelines for the standard and number of publications expected. When left without strong, clear guidelines it can often come down to the wishes of individuals.

To me, there seems to be two models commonly put forward based upon different rationales. One is the validation model where the publications are expected to be very high quality and serve as a form of validation for the quality of the research conducted over time. Because the expectation is of a very high standard, such as A and A+ papers, it is usually reserved for academics who have not completed a doctorate but have conducted research and written papers. For the examiner of such theses it seems a relatively simple task since the work has been heavily peer reviewed.

The second model is more student centered. It takes the view that the person taking a doctorate is going to get into the research and publishing game when they have completed and therefore publishing during their doctorate and making use of these papers for the examination is the way to go. So the emphasis is on skills development and writing papers as a way of developing the key skills. In this model, good papers are needed but it is unrealistic to expect A and A+ from every student, rather a conference paper (peer reviewed) in the first year, and say 3 journal papers of perhaps C, B and perhaps A would be fine. The examiner has to read the papers as well as the thesis text and come to some conclusion about their quality as a whole.

If academics are confused about the model they are adopting then they will be torn in terms of the expectations of a doctorate or phd by publishing and confuse the student too.

Twitter

2011-06-09T07:07:00.000-07:00

You can now follow what I am thinking about in relation to research and all matters Craig Standing on Twitter - see right column.

Follow @standingcraig

What is your mission in research?

2011-06-02T06:07:00.000-07:00

When I started out in research I wanted to complete my PhD. Of course I wanted to make a contribution to knowledge in the area of my doctorate. When I had completed my thesis I wanted to write papers on various topics and write a book or two. When they were all accomplished I sat back back and wondered why I was doing research. Sure each project has an aim that you hope will have beneficial outcomes for practice and also make a contribution to knowledge. But even beyond that, is the desire to help people develop their research experiences and become full or part-time researchers. Really, this is now the main reason I do research so that in some way it can help others develop their profile and skill set. The experiences I have only have meaning if I can pass them on in some way to others. Hence, Phd students are a key part of the mission and so are other members of staff.

How good was that?

2011-05-31T06:27:00.000-07:00

The AIM Conference on Reunion Island was the best conference that I have ever attended. The people were warm and friendly and the presentations excellent. My congratulations go to the team at IAE on a brilliant job.

Maybe the best conference ever?

2011-05-26T13:33:00.000-07:00

The French Association of Information Systems (AIM) Conference is turning out to be a marvellous conference. Great location, well organised, brilliant food and good presentations!

Congratulations to all involved!

The comments have dried up!

2011-05-04T04:34:00.000-07:00

As an encouragement to post a comment I am offering a copy of my book "How to Complete a PhD" to the most thought provoking comment during the month of May.

At the cutting edge

2011-04-15T06:06:00.001-07:00

I have just been out today to talk with someone at a very innovative company. It reminded me about how much time it takes to get research published and that by the time it is published it is often superseded by what is happening in practice. This is a major issue especially in fast moving areas. What can be done about it?

Air on the G String

2011-03-30T07:24:00.000-07:00

Doing research and writing research papers is similar to playing jazz. You have to adhere to certain musical conventions but innovate on top of them. The conventions in research are rigor and theory and academic writing. That alone is not enough as we need to innovate around this. Jacques Loussier made his name by innovating and improvising around Bach pieces - enjoy and innovate!

Writing holiday

2011-03-28T06:07:00.000-07:00

Do people think that writing retreats are effective? Everyone complains about not having the time to write and I have heard of people organising trips away from the office to a location where interruptions are minimised. Because it is a group thing it seems to create a supportive motivating force to get on with a thesis or paper or book chapter. From what I have heard the results seem to come through.

Has anyone been on a writing retreat and was it effective?

I fell in love with an air hostess

2011-03-24T07:37:00.000-07:00

I may not be travelling to as many conferences in the future. The reason is that I tend to fall in love with an air hostess each time and I am heart broken by the time I have to get off the plane.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qUlwclCaFJY

When the paper is done

2011-03-19T02:15:00.000-07:00

Sometimes, when the paper is done, my mind turns to a Greek Island
Perhaps Skiathos, swimming naked in the Aegean, generous moussaka
Asurtiko bonding with thoughts of the day's faces
A novel that I carry everywhere
Not knowing what day it is
No phone
No internet
Just blue

The road ahead

2011-03-11T05:24:00.000-08:00

This year is taking shape. I have a Research centre proposal to write next then I have a trip to Canberra in early April. I will be presenting a research paper at an invited seminar in Brisbane in May and then not long after I will be travelling to Reunion Island for an international conference. August involves anothes trip to Canberra, September possibly a trip to Greece and then December ACIS in Sydney and then a keynote presentation in Melbourne. In between these trips I hope to work on a few research papers.

Research Development Course

2011-02-12T20:40:00.000-08:00

I conduct a research development course on developing the research skills, knowledge and profile of academics. Many academics would like to improve their research skills and knowledge and would like to know how to create a plan for their development. They may take advantage of conference attendance and reviews of their work and although this is valuable it tends to be a slow process of personal research development. I have developed a course that provides a fast track approach to obtaining better quality research outcomes both for the individual and their university. Universities employ academics who spend considerable time and effort on research. When this is quantified it amounts to millions of dollars per year. The course is designed to deliver more value from that research investment by enabling researchers to be more productive and deliver higher quality outcomes. These higher quality outcomes raise the status of academics and the status of their universities resulting in competitive advantage.

The course includes:
1) Strategies for developing better quality research papers

There is a worldwide trend to put more emphasis on publishing higher quality research papers. This involves publishing in higher ranked conferences, turning conference papers into journal papers, turning research work into journal papers with an impact factor, or publishing in highly ranked international journals.

Professor Standing will cover the key factors in developing quality research papers and how to develop the skills and knowledge to publish in quality research journals.

2) Obtaining research funding

Universities are increasingly requiring academics to finance their research through external funding. There are many differences to writing a research funding application compared to a research paper. Professor Standing will explain with examples how to develop a good research application. In addition he will explore how to develop external research partners from industry and the community.

3) Developing your research profile
Many academics would like to take their research profiles to the next level but are unsure as to how to go about doing this. Professor Craig Standing explains a multitude of approaches and tips on improving an academic’s research profile.
4) Developing a research plan

A key factor in progressing as a researcher is developing a sound research plan. Professor Craig Standing explains the features of a good research plan and how an academic can evaluate their work and progress.
This course is run over three days and is interactive and enjoyable! It is applicable to academics from any discipline as the focus is on improving research capacity and skills rather than discipline specific content.

For an academic the outcomes of the course are increased knowledge and awareness of the attributes of high quality research outcomes including journal papers and research funding. Participants will also make a start on developing a research plan for themselves. For a university the outcomes will lead to improved research performance.

Craig Standing is Professor in Strategic Information Management at Edith Cowan University in Western Australia. He studied at Lancaster University and the University of Manchester in the UK and the University of Western Australia. He has qualifications in management, science and the humanities. Craig is the author of over 150 research papers and has published in many of the top ten journals Information Systems journals and has presented at many international conferences. His papers have been published in highly ranked journals such as Information & Management, Decision Support Systems, European Journal of Information Systems, European Journal of Operational Research, International Journal of Electronic Commerce and IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management. He has obtained millions of dollars in research funding including prestigious Australian Research Council Awards.

He has authored several books on information systems which have been adopted by many university courses in information systems. Professor Standing has supervised numerous doctoral students and has won awards from the postgraduate association at his university for the quality of his supervision. As Editor of the Journal of Systems and Information Technology (Emerald Publishers) Craig is at the forefront of knowledge on information systems research and research methods. Craig remains an active researcher and is leading international research projects in collaboration with universities in Finland, Spain, Taiwan and Macau.

Research Projects and Research Reviews

2011-02-11T04:14:00.000-08:00

I am available to manage research projects anywhere in the world. If you need research carrying out on business/organisational issues then please contact me so we can discuss options. These projects could also be in the university sector and include for example research reviews of a department, faculty or university. I can also advise at the research group or research centre level, present research seminars on how to publish research papers and attract research funding. I have more details if you are interested.

c.standing@ecu.edu.au

PhD Scholarship starting March 2011

2011-02-05T00:51:00.000-08:00

I have a PhD scholarship funded by the Australian Research Council. This means $27,222 per year for three years is available to someone who wants to take a PhD on the following topic. For Australian residents there is also funding to cover the fees. For international students fees are in the range of $22,000 per annum.

The topic is knowledge management in telehealth. Please email me directly for surther information.

c.standing@ecu.edu.au

How to complete a PhD

2011-02-03T04:30:00.000-08:00

The best way to complete a PhD on time is to do some work on it five days a week, 46 weeks a year.

Is research sexy?

2011-01-27T03:38:00.000-08:00

By sexy I mean is it exciting, fulfilling, and just really hot? Hmmm, not sure. Many years ago when I was completing a PhD I went to a conference in Switzerland. It is one of my favourite countries: mountains, lakes, snow and trains. At the conference there was another PhD student who presented a paper. After, one of the keynote presenters asked him a question. "Are you excited by your your research"? The student said "yes, why?" "Well, why don't you show it in your voice", the keynote said, "you seem bored."

It amazes me sometimes what boring topics some people choose to research when they could study something leading edge.

Switching off from research

2011-01-20T04:21:00.000-08:00

One of the problems related to being involved in research is switching off from it. Because research is so open ended you can spend all your time thinking about it, looking for ways to get funding, thinking about how you can improve a paper. You can easily become a bore!

Yes, there is life outside of research, so I am told. How do up manage the life/research balance? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Sex, statistics and presentations

2011-01-19T04:39:00.000-08:00

I was gathering some articles for a research project the other day and came across an article in a highly ranked journal about women and sex tourism. It seems that some women, like some men have done for years, go on holiday primarilly for sex. They go to places such as the Carribean and Kenya where men, often young men, are poor and will do anything to earn a little money. The research, I must say a scholarly piece of work, was really quite informative, having interviewed some of the women and the men involved.

It made me think about research, well actually it made me think about sex first. But then it made me wonder how we determine what is valuable research? I think the article is valuable research; tourism is an important part of the global economy and especially to the poorer nations. In addition, there are many social and health issues related to this topic. Good on these researchers for taking this topic on. I wonder what their colleagues thought about it and whether it was easy to get funding?

Have you ever wanted to take on a topic but refrained because of what your colleagues might think?

Should we reject everything?

2011-01-04T08:47:00.000-08:00

In the top information systems journals it has been said that reviewers reject everything. Why is that? Well, I guess they have an idealized version of a top paper and nothing lives up to it. Or maybe, they think they will be judged as being a soft reviewer if they accept it. What it results in is virtually everything gets rejected and it might take a supportive associate editor in the end to overturn the reviewers. Hence, submitting papers to leading journals can hardly be a called a pleasurable experience because it invariably ends in rejection sometimes after several rounds of review.

It is easy to point the finger at reviewers but those reviewers are in fact us!

Time to reflect and time to plan

2010-12-30T07:55:00.000-08:00

We are approaching the end of 2010. Another year will soon be upon us. For me, early January is holiday time since I live and work in Australia and it is our summer. It gives me a time to reflect on the past year and a chance to think about the year ahead. In terms of research, I wonder what your plans are for 2011?

I want to work on revising some of my papers in progress and under review, to write at least several new papers, apply for some funding, go to a conference or two, take on some new PhD students, and try to help those I am working with where I can. Is this enough? Hmmm, not really. I have done this type of thing now for many years. What I really would like to do is scale up my research.

What about using this blog as a way of developing a research network for instance? Maybe we could decide on a problem, or class of problems and write papers together, explore funding, share knowledge, have exchange visits and try to make a difference on an international level?

Some suggestions for research topics might be:

Improving health and wellbeing in developing countries - the role of the Internet.
Supporting small business owners in developing countries via the Internet - a knowledge network.
New business models via the Internet.
Innovation networks - using blogs and online forums.

Just a few ideas.... what do you think?

Has it any value?

2010-11-03T05:36:00.000-07:00

This blog is now over one year old. Recently I haven't been posting much that's true. It really is more effort than I anticipated to get people talking about research. Over the year ther has been about 2500 visits to the sites and given that I have visited a few hundred times I can say maybe 2200 people have been. that's 42 a week on average.

The question is, is it worth carrying on? Not many people have contributed over the year except Anna from the UK. Her posts have been interesting. Even my own Phd students do not contribute. I have also noticed that with the lack of interaction and comments it doesn't encourage me to put effort into my writing. It is like writing for the sake of it and it becomes a chore.

So I will read the comments and find out if anyone thinks it has any value? I guess no comment means no value.

Has it any value?

AIM 2011 Information Systems Conference, 25-27 May, 2011

2010-10-13T06:43:00.000-07:00

AIM 2011 Information Systems Conference, 25-27 May, 2011

Reunion Island

http://www.aim2011.iae-reunion.fr/

Dates for submission of papers: Two deadlines: 17th October (so people can plan well in advance) and 30th of January, 2011.

The early twenty first century is characterized by economic, environmental and technological dislocations. In this context, the 16th conference of the AIM addresses the question : How Information Systems (IS), their concepts, models, methods, practices and tools, can contribute to a harmonious and balanced development of individuals, organizations and territories?

The 16th conference of the AIM is a place for exchange between practitioners, teachers and researchers from different disciplines: Management Sciences (IS, Marketing, HR, Strategy ...), Computer Science, Economics, Sociology ... It deals with issues related to IS by comparing theoretical and applied works in order to allow a renewal of perspectives, thoughts and actions.

The research landscape

2010-10-11T08:23:00.000-07:00

The research landscape

Why is it that so few people in India publish in leading journals in my discipline of Information Systems? I have noticed in my blog for example that India is one of the leading countries for visitors. However, my discipline is dominated by a few countries when it comes to the leading journals. Clearly, there is a lot of interest in IT and information systems in India, they have a vibrant IT sector and a large university sector. Indians in the USA are doing well in research but what about those in India itself? Why aren't they publishing more in journals? Anyone any ideas?

Expensive Conferences

2010-09-26T00:42:00.000-07:00

Quite a few conferences are becoming very expensive. In fact, some are now $1000 Australian for the registration fees. Even for PhD students they are over $600. Not many PhD students can afford that sort of money.

The reason many conferences have become expensive is that they are organised by companies rather than by academics. Many academics would say they no longer have the time to spend on organising conferences. This is a pity since they have become too expensive for many students. I organised a conference in 2007 and the conference fees were $370 Australian but I organised everything myself.

How to Complete a PhD

2010-09-07T17:37:00.001-07:00

I have reduced the cost of my book "How to Complete a PhD" for those overseas. It is now Australian $40 + $6 for international buyers. The book has been selling well and has had a great deal of positive feedback. I really recommend it to anyone taking a PhD or thinking of taking one. It cover all the essential knowledge you need to know about taking a PhD and its contents will save you a lot of time and money.

If you are an academic and teaching a doctoral course then I can come to a special arrangement if you want to use it as a course text. It comes in hard copy and pdf formats. Also, please recommend it to your university bookshops.

The book can be found at:

http://www.justintimebooks.com

Research and Politics

2010-08-14T06:46:00.000-07:00

It’s taken a while to get around to it but you can’t talk about research for long without getting on to the topic of politics. Yes, research, just like everything else is bogged down in politics both organizationally and at the national level.

Organizationally, your Faculty can either talk you up or talk you down, it’s as simple as that. Often when you are starting out and little or no threat to anyone then you may find you are talked up more often than talked down. As you find your feet in research, get promoted a couple of times, you will find you are talked down more and more. Your research is not high quality enough, you don’t work with enough with other staff, you don’t produce enough, you don’t obtain enough funding and the list goes on and on …..

The lack of resources for research is one of the main reasons for the politics. People will try to obtain an advantage by creating a perception about your work and so it is largely personally driven. It has been said that university politics is so heated because the stakes are just so low!

PhDs and Coursework

2010-07-17T07:47:00.001-07:00

PhDs in Australia are usually threeyears of full-time research. Recently several universities have introduced coursework in the first year covering research methods and research philosophy.What are your views on these two kinds of PhDs? Do you think the coursework is valuable?

What Motivates You To conduct Research?

2010-05-27T09:08:00.000-07:00

I think I asked this before but what motivates you to do research? How much is it externally driven by your university? Do you think you are supported in your research? What are your plans for your research?

Research Proposal Presentations

2010-05-21T06:52:00.000-07:00

Students presenting their PhD proposals often end up developing a lot of slides for a 30 to 40 minute presentation. My suggestion is to cut it down to 9 or 10 maximum.

1 Title slide
2 Practice or theory problem being addressed and significance of this
3 Literature or key theories
4 Research model
5 Research questions
6 Research design
7 Research design (sometimes only one is needed)
8 Expected contribution
9 Timeline for project
10 Any questions slide?

This way the presenter doesn't have to rush through many slides and can spend time making eye contact with the audience.

The key point is that the student should answer the questions and not the supervisor. It is research training and after all the student's project and it is good to get used to answering questions and thinking on your feet.

I hope this helps? Has anyone any suggestions for students presenting proposals? I think they often get very nervous because it is the first time they have presented as a researcher. I was nervous the first time I stood up infront of an audience to talk about research. Even though I was a lecturer and had presented for years my knees were knocking together lol.

Conversations on Research

2010-05-15T05:31:00.000-07:00

I have been reminded recently that a good conversation about research has many benefits. It is enjoyable for starters to be able to discuss things that are on one's mind. One enhances one's knowledge because of what is said but also because of the chance to articulate partially formed ideas. Without these chances to discuss research, ideas are often left partially formed. It takes a certain level of trust between participants to have a good research conversation.

I'd like to see more comments appearing on the blog but they remain sparse. The numbers visiting the blog average around 40 or so a week. This is pretty good as I don't promote it much. Any suggestions on how to get more traffic would be appreciated. The more people that visit hopefully the better the dialogue we can have.

Asking the Hard Questions: Contrasting Mobile Technology in Developed and Developing Economies (Elsie Gakere)

2010-05-02T02:29:00.000-07:00

The ResearchGap Website features two interesting discussions on Mobile Technology. One paper examines Mobile technology in healthcare, while the other focuses on Mobile technology within banking, developing economies (a case of mobile banking culture in Ghana). These papers engage the paradox of why Mobile Technology, despite being relatively inexpensive, sufficiently sophisticated and seemingly well-positioned, has persisted in being of limited use particularly in healthcare. Fundamental systemic issues are attributed as the underlying obstacle to adoption of Mobile technology in the healthcare sector.

In my view, when placed side by side, mobile technology seems to yield differential outcomes in developing economies, contrasted with developed economies. I tend to agree that Systemic differences are the likely culprit behind the variance. In the case of developing economies, basic mobile technology has only recently become rapidly ubiquitous. For example in parts of Latin America, India’s and Africa’s technological hubs, much of the populace has access to basic mobile technology. Therefore systemic challenges for extension of mobile telephony for healthcare and banking to the underserved are rapidly becoming a well-occupied frontier, where funding remains the key constraint. Granted, such applications are at a very basic level. But again, such is compatible with resource-poor contexts. At a systemic level, perhaps rapid uptake of mobile technology in resource-poor contexts engages because there is an inherent consistency of basic architectures across the social and technological systems; Mainly the ‘basics’ of the mobile technologies are deployed in ‘basic ways’ for ‘basic’ healthcare and ‘basic’ banking, etc: In a word, ‘Keeping It Simple’!

So how is it that well-resourced developed economies, despite having highly sophisticated mobile telephony industries, and similarly highly techno-savvy healthcare and banking sectors, appear to struggle to establish convergences as effortlessly as we would expect? Is it possible that when technology is so highly advanced, competing alternatives as well as spikes in complexity, come into play to complicate the systemic puzzle? Is the crux of the systemic challenge of couched in the mandate to establish convergence across already mature, complex technologies that were originally designed for divergence?
True, in recent times electronic devices are increasingly being designed for convergence, but the complexities of social systems may yet have some catching up to do.

Elsie Gakere

Doing Research and Having Fun ....yes we can! New Poster - Elsie Gakere

2010-05-02T02:21:00.000-07:00

For many researchers undertaking their PhD, doing research is serious! Doing research and having fun are incompatible, right? Wrong! The Researchfocus Website has an article titled “Research as a social process” – a must read if it’s been a while since you had fun with your PhD. The article features a humorous account almost 3 decades old, but whose witty admonition on the vagaries of research work is not lost.

I would speak for researchers who work externally, in saying that isolated ponderings must quickly be accommodated as the norm. But reading through this article leaves one not only smiling, but also more aware of the importance of creating fun opportunities to make casual conversation out of one’s otherwise ‘serious research’. After all, until our research work can touch the real world, it remains utopian and unproductive. Also, the funny side of all-things-research can become a useful resource for critique and reality check (– in addition to being a curious ‘research archive’ that can span across the decades :)

Elsie Gakere

Researchgap.com for business research

2010-04-10T22:29:00.000-07:00

I have developed a web site for my business related research. It includes some video clips and podcasts. You can also downlaod some of the papers. Please let me know what you think.

http://www.researchgap.com/index.htm

Does Research Pay?

2010-04-08T03:07:00.000-07:00

Just thinking about various colleagues who don't do much research yet manage quite well, in fact some obtain more than those that engage in research. Some staff focus on teaching and along with this comes the reward of teaching offshore courses for which they are paid extra. Others have opted for consulting in some specialised area and can earn substantial amounts per day. What reward does the researcher get other than job satisfaction and a better CV?

Call for Papers

2010-04-01T22:20:00.000-07:00

The Journal provides an avenue for scholarly work that researches information systems, electronic business and information technology. Papers should examine the wider implications of the systems or technology being researched. This means papers should consider aspects such as organisational relevance, business value, cognitive implications, social implications, impact on individuals or community perspectives rather than focusing solely on the technology.

http://info.emeraldinsight.com/products/journals/journals.htm?PHPSESSID=c4fpgtdn3eum241nhso3c16jp7&id=JSIT

email c.standing@ecu.edu.au

Words Don't Come Easy - Writing Top Research Papers

2010-03-29T05:04:00.000-07:00

When explaining how to write journal papers I mention simple pop songs as a model. The old song by F. R. David called Words. You may remember it:

"Words don't come easy to me

I've got to find a way

To make you see, I love you

Cause words don't come easy"

Well that's my recollection of it. The point is, it is a very simple song that did well at the time. It is memorable, maybe not in this case for being high quality, but at least it is memorable.

A research paper should be easy to follow. Sometimes researchers try to make it all too complex. There should be a simple message behind the paper just as there is with each pop song. Don't try to have multiple competing messages in the one paper otherwise people get confused.

If you can stick to the pop song formula then people should actually read your paper, follow it and also remember it. "Words ......."

It Aint Easy!

2010-03-22T05:09:00.000-07:00

Obtaining competitive funding for research projects in many countries is very difficult with success rates as low 20%, and in some cases even lower. I would be interested to hear about people's experiences in other countries related to what worked and was successful. Do people have strategies or just ad hoc approaches?

All Research Is Flawed

2010-03-13T00:11:00.000-08:00

This is not a criticism of how people conduct research but just to say that there is no such thing as perfect research. There is awalys some limitation, some aspect that could have been done better, even if it is just the write up.

The danger with not accepting that research is flawed is that researchers become paralysed and incapable of progressing with their work. Sometimes you just have to accept their are limitations with your work and get on with it and do the best job you can and of course, declare the limitations of your work!

Reasons for Doing Research

2010-03-06T20:46:00.000-08:00

Just interested to know why people who visit this blog do research?

Group meetings

2010-03-05T21:16:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, I organised a group meeting of my PhD students. It included 4 here in Perth, one in sydney and one on Victoria. Fot the remote students I used the speaker phone for one and Skype for the other. The line was poor for the Skype student but it worked out OK in the end.

There was a lot of value in having them all just explain where they are up to and what they have planned for this semester. Everyone thought it was of value. The benefits included:

1) A chance to talk about about their research in front of others (even though it is was a small group).
2) Finding out where others are up to and the challenges they face can help solve your own issues.
3) It provides a sense of not being on one's own but part of a team that together can make an impact. This should be encouraging.
4) Provides a wider circle of contacts to draw upon for advice, information and support.

Maybe it is worthwhile having these sessions at the start of semester and at the end of semester.

Good week.....

2010-02-26T18:53:00.000-08:00

Good week.....

I have just had another PhD student complete their thesis, take into account the examiners' comments and put it to bed as it were.

At the other end, I have had someone start out on the journey.

How wonderful! Supervision has to be the best part of being an academic without doubt because you have a chance to influence a person's life in a positive way.

ICISO 2010 PhD Consortium - CALL FOR PAPERS

2010-02-26T18:48:00.000-08:00

Doctoral Consortium In collaboration with 12th International Conference on Informatics and Semiotics in Organisations

July 19th, 2010, Reading, UK

http:www.orgsem.org/2010

The 2010 International Conference on Informatics and Semiotics in Organisations (ICISO 2010), previously named International Conference on Organisational Semiotics (ICOS), is the twelfth in a series of international events devoted to the latest research in informatics in organisations and organisational semiotics. ICISO has always aimed to provide a focal forum for active researchers and academics, practitioners, business and industrial professionals from a diversified range of domains including information management, information systems, business and engineering.

In support of this aim, ICISO2010 are planning a one-day doctoral consortium for research students who wish to benefit from an environment in which they can share and discuss their goals, methods and results at an early stage of their research. Submitted papers will be assessed independently from those of the ICISO conference, and an electronic set of doctoral proceedings will be available. During the doctoral consortium, researchers will be asked to present their work either in the form of a poster or as an oral presentation. Additional time will be allocated for oral presentations to allow general discuss concerning interesting work in progress. In addition, commercial and academic speakers will lead informative sessions covering relevant research topics. Specific doctoral topics of interest include, but are not limited to:
• Information management
• Information systems
• Organisational modelling
• Information technology in built environments
• Alignment and integration of business and technical systems
• Collaborative systems for organisations
• Digital economy: theory, methods and techniques for design and applications
• Commercial focused research (e.g. EngD.) or tool / software demonstration

Important dates 300 word abstract: 12 April, 2010 Notification of acceptance: 3 May 2010 Camera-ready paper (maximum 6 pages): 11 June 2010 Consortium Date: 18 July 2010
Submission Guidelines Research students are invited to submit a 300 word abstract relating to original, unpublished research. The camera-ready papers (maximum 6 pages, in English), must be submitted via easychair in pdf file format. The paper template can be found here here. Registration cost for the PhD consortium, with full access to the ICISO conference, is fixed at the reduced fee of £280. Registration, to just the PhD consortium, or for ICISO conference authors, is £70.
Doctorial Chair Ana Canhoto, University of Reading, England Stephen Gulliver, University of Reading, England

Conference Contact Details Conference website: http:www.orgsem.org/2010 Conference email address: ICISO@reading.ac.uk

Call for papers - Journal of Systems and Information Technology

2010-02-14T03:02:00.000-08:00

One of the many hats I wear is that of the Editor of the Journal of Systems and Information Technology published by Emerald. Please take a look at the Web site for it and consider submitting a paper. It has a growing reputation and a good turn around time with reviews. I will screen your submission first to let you know if it is suitable for the Journal.
http://www.emeraldinsight.com/info/journals/jsit/jsit.jsp

Top researchers in your field in your country

2010-02-13T16:42:00.000-08:00

Who are the top five researchers in your field in your country - who is still research active (over past 5 years)? You will soon realise that there isn't that much depth in terms of numbers. You may be in the top 5 or you can one day be in the top 5.

This is an exercise to make you think of what is required to be a top researcher. Just list them in a comment with a few words for each explaining why you listed each person - also provide the discipline and country.

The Value of Research

2010-02-08T03:25:00.000-08:00

Researchers often feel undervalued in their own institution. They work without much internal support such as research assistants, admin support and so on. They may even be unable to attract many research students because of their University's reputation.

Then I thought about the following. Think of Singapore and Hong Kong and how they transformed their universities by buying in good academics. Now they have their own staff in many cases. Think of this also. Korea choose ten discplines they want to excell in. They contact 10 leading academics from the work in each subject and offer them double their salary. They will provide them with admin and research support and build teams around them. I think the cost of the 100 salaries (at double Australian salaries) would be $30 million a year.

Considering they may be paying 15 million for present professors this seems a good deal for them. These academics will publish in the top journals, develop and mentor others and make Korea world leaders in these 10 discplines. I know that Korea is already doing very well in my own discpline and is ahead of Australia in top papers. The result is after a few years Korea is recognised as being a world leader in these 10 discplines and it has avery positive impact on their economy in terms of flow through such as attracting students, improved innovation in the economy and so. The extra 15 million seems trivial!

What I am saying is those same academics are probably undervalued in their own country and even by their own institution. Yet their abilities can change a country - strange but true....

Problems with your supervisor

2010-01-23T04:49:00.000-08:00

Doctoral students are in a vulnerable situation. Supervision at this level means that to a large extent the student is dependent on their supervisor. Without the support from a supervisor it is difficult to overcome the major obstacles that are part and parcel of doctoral studies. If the supervisor-student relationship is unsatisfactory from a student perspective then they may often feel powerless to change the situation and feel that there is nowhere to turn.

I suggest the following course of action when you feel that your studies are not going as well as they should. Reflect on what has been accomplished so far in your candidacy. Very often students get overly pessimistic when in fact they may be making reasonable progress. Try to pinpoint the reasons behind your dissatisfaction. Even try to think of some possible solutions to the problems. Arrange a meeting with your supervisor to discuss the issues. Try not to be too critical but to put your case in a neutral manner and then listen to what your supervisor has to say. Many of the issues that arise are due to a lack of communication. Once you have had the meeting, spend some time thinking rationally about what was discussed. If you think there is no real way forward you may want to talk to another academic about it in order to obtain a second opinion. If you have an associate or secondary supervisor you can talk to this person. If not, you may want to talk with the Head of Department. Try to be fair to your supervisor and keep him/her informed of your thinking or decisions. If you approach it in this way you are more likely to arrive at a reasonable solution that you are happy with.

Follow Through

2010-01-23T04:38:00.000-08:00

As you are as a person then so you are as a researcher. If you are persistant, hard working, creative and keep your word as a person then that will describe you as a researcher. What I have noticed over the years in my dealings with academics is that many, if not most, just don't follow through. They say they will do ABC but just never get round to it. Of course, they blame their high teaching workload, a change of dean and a million other things. The reality is that what they say is often not what they do.

Happy New Year to you all

2010-01-09T08:08:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year to you all. It is that time of year when we should be thinking about our research plan for the year ahead. What should a research plan include? Well, it depends at the stage someone is at with their research.

If you are on a phd then you might be planning to gather data and write some papers, develop some skills and knowledge in data analysis and so on. The objectives can be well defined as taking a phd should be about following a well trodden research path.

If you have a PhD, your research plan might inlcude what projects you will start or continue and the papers you will write. You may also be thnking about your research network and how that will develop. You may be thinking about conferences to present your work and meeting people that you may collaborate with in the future.

If you are more advanced with your research you may be thinking about developing a research centre, expanding an existing centre, acquiring resources and funding, employing support and so on. You may be targeting certain journals or even organising a conference.

Your plan for 2010 should be part of a 3 year plan to take your research to a higher level. However, be careful that it doesn't get too mechanistic. Think about what you enjoy or might like to experience. Maybe you would like to go on a sabbatical to a beautiful part of the world and discuss your research with some interested people.

Whatever your plans are for 2010 I wish you success and enjoyment.

researchgap.com

2009-12-21T19:39:00.000-08:00

I have developed a new Web site (researchgap.com) to showcase research on information management, information systems and electronic business. It includes leading edge research articles, videos and podcasts. You can download many of the pdfs.

Much of the work is funded by the Australian Research Council and is in collaboration with Professor Peter Love of Curtin University.

We anticipate that the site will be updated on a regular basis with new articles.

Your thoughts and comments would be much appreciated.

Visit:

http://www.researchgap.com

My $200,000 paper

2009-12-17T21:58:00.000-08:00

We rarely quantify the time and therefore the cost of writing a high quality research paper. If we did quantify the cost of the research and writing a paper then maybe our Dean's would tell us to stop writing them immediately!

Writing the grant application 6 weeks = 15k
Three year PhD scholarship funded by grant (data gathering)= 75k
My involvement in supervision = 50k
Writing paper (m y time) = 30k
Revision and rewrites = 30k

Total= 200k

Working from the above my CV is worth at least $10 million. Some journal papers would cost a lot less and conference papers less still.

High impact journals

2009-12-08T16:18:00.000-08:00

I am often asked how to write high quality journal papers. Academics around the world are feeling the pressure to not only publish but publish in high quality journals, typically those with impact factors.

I think those asking the question are not too happy with my reply. It would take several days to explain properly how to write high quality papers. In fact, I run a three day course going into this topic in some detail. So my short answer is this: If you have the desire, the ambition and determination you will publish in leading journals. Without those attributes it is unlikely.

It takes most researchers quite a few years of agony and disappointment to develop their skills to such a level that they can publish high quality papers. So to answer the quetion in an hour is not possible. Another part of the short answer is to recommend working with someone who has published in these journals. However, you need to ask the question, what is in it for them? What will they gain or learn from the process as they have presumably developed these skills and acquired the knowledge.

In other words, there is no quick solution, no series of tips that can help someone publish at a high level. It is usually a long process of learning and hard work. Sorry to give you the news but that is the reality of it!

Take a risk

2009-12-03T05:14:00.000-08:00

Listening to PhD students present their ideas it strikes me that sometimes we need to realise that doing research is about taking risks. OK, the risks may be controlled risks but we shouldn't lose sight of the fact that just replicating what others have done with a minor amendment is not going to be ground breaking.

It would be good if more students took a few risks with their topic. So what if the research fails to some extent. We often learn more from research failures than successes. Failures, or unanticipated outcomes, stretch us, and make us think more deeply. This enables us ask big questions and allows us to philosophize. A PhD is after all a Doctor of Philosophy!

My book has been printed

2009-11-28T00:49:00.000-08:00

I thought I would just inform people that I have had copies of my book printed. The book is called "How to Complete a PhD" and is available for purchase online at

www.justintimebooks.com

The link is in the right column of the blog.

The ebook version is still available but I have been asked by so many people about a hard copy that I had some printed. The book explains what is required to complete a PhD, the essential attributes of a good PhD, what should be included in each chapter, tips from other supervisors and successful PhD students, and lots more. It is suitable for PhDs in any country.

There is a lot of interest in this research blog and much of it is coming from PhD candidates. I recommend the book because I have written it to explain all the factors that need to be addressed to complete a PhD.

The e-version of the book has had many positive comments and has sold around the world.

Malaysian experiences

2009-11-26T02:51:00.000-08:00

I have just returned from a research visit to the University of Malaya in Kuala Lumpur. I was advising at their doctoral proposal event. The commitment of the students and their interest and enthusiasm to discuss research had a profound effect on me. It has made me more enthusiastic to take my own research to another level.

It is good to read the comments to the posts. I won't answer each one personally, as some can be left to others to answer or pass comment on, that way we get a diversity of views. I have had a few suggestions for post topics which I will get round to in the future.

We are up to nearly 800 visitors in just a few weeks so there is a lot of interest in the blog. If you want to be reminded of any updates to the site I have added the RSS feeds.

I will write more about my Malaysian experiences later.

Research as a social process

2009-11-19T04:49:00.001-08:00

New researchers often see research as a solitary activity. If only they could lock themselves away in a room, even better an ivory tower, for a few years and come out with a list of high quality publications. LOL. These researchers are missing the point that research is a social process and that solitary activity as a long term aim is unlikely to lead to success.

The social activity related to research makes it sustainable. Being able to discuss our ideas with someone else, or research processes with another person can be intellectual fun and sustain research activity over the long term. In other words, it gets boring on your own after a while. It is also difficult to learn when you can't exchange ideas with others.

Collaboration should lead to better outcomes and increased activity, even though in the short term it might seem that time is being wasted.

Conferences can be fun for that reason. Research talk, tea and a bun, may not seem like the pinnacle of life when expressed in a few words of text but if you are that way inclined it is one of the most worthwhile ways to spend some time.

Many years ago, when I was an undergraduate at Lancaster University in the North of England, I and a couple of close friends were told by the landlord of a local pub that we would be thrown out if we didn't lower our voices - well after all people in the north of England have loud voices. In actual fact, I remember the topic we were passionately discussing was "Are multi-nationals good for society?" This was 30 years ago. I guess we should have been chasing young women (or any women for that matter) but we preferred a pint and a good rant, well at least on that occasion!

It is just the same in research, the social process creates enjoyment, a chance to receive feedback on our ideas and work.

So my point is, try to enjoy research, spend some time on your own and reflect and write but also seek out others and exchange ideas, collaborate and develop friendships. It will develop you as a researcher and may prove to be something that you never want to give up!

Requests and comments

2009-11-18T00:19:00.000-08:00

It is great that the number of comments and suggestions are increasing. Since, I can't can't post many articles per day - just a few a week, it is worthwhile mentioning my book "How to Complete a PhD". For those that need detailed answers and explanations and can afford the Australian $30 I have an e-book available. The link is in the right column of the blog.

In the book I cover all aspects of completing a doctorate and what to include in each chapter of a thesis. The web site provides the contents and details to purchase on-line.

I have also had some copies printed and have yet to add the details and cost for this to the Web site.

Please understand my reponses can only be brief because I have a job as a professor in a university. I still hope they are useful.

Best wishes
Craig

Research questions, research objectives, and theoretical review questions

2009-11-15T05:40:00.000-08:00

Faiz writes

"Prof Standing,

My name is faiz rasool. I am a Blind student of Sociology In University of karachi, Karachi, Pakistan. I am writing a thesis presently, and in Pakistan it is not easy to find goood good suggestions. So thank you for setting this blog.

My question is that sometimes I find the notion of research question, research objectives, and theoretical review questions confusing. Can you write someting something to that can help in distinguishing between these three different yet related ideas?

i think my question is very basic. But I want to learn, and i have to learn somewehre somewhere."

I can see how this could be confusing as all three are interconnected.

Research objectives are higher level than research questions but they are linked. For example a research objective could be to investigate and examine the nature of the urban/rural divide and to make recommendations to alleviate this divide in some way. So research objectives are like research aims, they are high level and communicate a purpose and outcomes for research.

I think you mean by "theoretical research questions" the type of questions that summarise the theory on a topic. For example, a theoretical or literature analysis could be conducted to determine where the research gaps are, where most research is conducted and so on. For example, if we look at the literature on the urban/rural divide from a sociological perspective we could say there is a research gap on what the barriers are to explaining the divide and how they can be overcome?

These review questions can be developed into our research questions. Research questions are more specific and on the same topic could be as follows:

What are the differences in income between urban and rural populations in Pakistan?
How do the levels of access to health information differ between urban and rural areas in Pakistan?
Can the infant mortality rates in rural areas in developing countries be explained by levels of income, education and access to health information?

The latter is a bigger question than the other two.

So to summarise, research aims and objectives are high level and use words like investigate, examine, reduce, improve etc. Research questions are more specific and involve the how, what, where, why type questions.

I hope this helps?

Literature Reviews

2009-11-14T20:05:00.000-08:00

Sometimes we have problems writing a literature review. There are different styles of review which complicates matters.

Some reviews are a critical analysis of key papers in the area, another type of review known as a review paper actually gathers literature over a period (of say 5 or 10 years) and then classifies it and determines research trends and gaps. However, the most common, and the one you are likely to use in your thesis is to analyse the literature related to your particular research questions. Note that I mention research questions!

Building a literature review around your research questions gives your literature review immediate structure. You don't have to use the questions themselves as sub-heading but you can use the major themes of each question as a sub-heading. The point is, a literature review should be focused and not just a review of background articles related to your topic.

The major trap is to try to include everything that you have read. You need to read widely related to your topic at first so you have a good understanding of the domain and related domain for your area of study. Then you need to focus on the specific areas and articles of relevance to your research focus, which just happens to be expressed in your research questions.

The aim with a literature review is not to have 25,000 words of background material but to have a focused analysis of the work closely related to your topic. This will clearly indicate to the examiner that you understand the background material but are focusing on the important issues.

What do you do if you haven't got research questions yet? Well, you probably need to conduct a broad review of the area as mentioned above and pick out the trends and broad research gaps. Then you can do a more focused review once you have your questions.

You can structure your data findings according to your research questions and even your discussion chapter. That way it is consistent to the reader throughout the thesis

Comment please

2009-11-13T15:55:00.000-08:00

So far the blog is going pretty well. There has been some positive feedback and about 500 visitors. The comments are a bit thin on the ground as yet and I wonder why this is so. Maybe the blog posts aren't interesting or controversial enough? So far we have four comments but more would be even better. Let me know what you think about why people don't leave more comments and what we can do to build the dialogue up.

Classification Skills

2009-11-11T15:17:00.000-08:00

Most research involves some sort of classification. The literature needs classifying and often responses to questions, either through surveys or interviews, need to be classified also. Classification is an underestimated skill. A good classification is valuable to your own research as you can offer this as a contribution of your study. Also, it provides a foundation for you to build upon.

Classification involves grouping related items. It may appear easy but when dealing with a complex area it can be quite tricky. It assumes that the classifier has a good conceptual understanding of the area so that items or concepts can be conceptually classified.

If the classification process is proving difficult then go back to basics. Read papers on related themes to your research and examine the groups that they have used. Can any of these apply to your domain of study? Ask fundamental questions such as what are the key concepts underpinning each strand of research or data set?

It is unlikely that a good classification will fall out of your analysis first time. More likely is that it will be refined over a prolonged period. Good classifications are usually based upon simple factors so be careful of making your analysis too complex.

Is research knowledge scarce?

2009-11-09T23:17:00.000-08:00

Take a university at random anywhere in the world and it is likely there will be a substantial portion of its staff conducting research. In fact, a substantial portion of that university’s budget will be spent on research, particularly when you take into account staff time. This annually would have to amount to tens of millions of dollars for the average university spent on research.

In the same university you would find people early in their research careers struggling to get papers published in journals, obtain research funding, and develop research profiles. As editor of a journal I receive many papers that are lacking in the fundamental attributes of a research paper. Clearly the academics submitting the paper do not lack effort or motivation but they lack the basic knowledge of what constitutes good research. And this is my point, universities are wasting tens of millions of dollars on research because they don’t have effective systems for training staff.

It gets worse. It is common to find people without research methodology books, conference budgets and so on. In other words, many don’t have the basic resources needed to conduct research. Yet, these universities continue to spend tens of millions of dollars on research. It seems foolish!

Defining “Research Culture”

2009-11-08T02:53:00.000-08:00

Academics often refer to the notion of “research culture”. It is one of the most often talked about research issues but is rarely defined. What do we mean when we talk about research culture?

Culture is defined most often by the unwritten norms and values of a group or nation. The institutional structures provide a framework for those norms and values. In relation to research culture, the norms and values should support the conduct of research. So people should expect to conduct research, to hold it in high esteem, to practice it on a regular basis and to talk about it on a daily basis. It has to be seen as core business within a research intensive university and it requires top management support.

Is this enough to become a top research institution? Probably not! It also needs an aspirational side to it, targets and goals, a striving for quality, a striving for improvement, a striving for breakthroughs… the list goes on.

It is not easy to transform a university but research is a powerful way of doing it. Given the challenges, it is little wonder that although most universities talk about developing their research culture, they make little progress.

Failure to make progress and why people drop out?

2009-11-07T18:18:00.000-08:00

Typically, supervisors do not spend much time discussing with their students the reasons why students fail to make progress on their doctorates or give up entirely – maybe they think it is too personal.

I think that it is useful to discuss the reasons why people let their project stagnate or even die. I don’t think the topic should be continually assessed but it should be discussed at some stage.

Why? Because the reasons why students fail to make progress need to be out in the open and can help in overcoming some of the difficulties that may arise. The reasons are not secrets and can be traced to a set of common factors.

Progress in doctoral studies is usually hampered by the following:

1) Failure to identify a topic for a doctorate within a reasonable time frame.

Possible causes are: lack of meetings with the supervisor, inability to commit to a suitable topic.

2) Starting a research project thinking that everything should be absolutely clear from day one! This is never the case! When a student discovers that after three months of research a clear picture of what he/she is doing does not emerge then disillusionment with the process may set in.

Tip: Expect to feel a sense of confusion – this is the nature of research. It is often confusing in the early stages and it takes time for clarity and ideas to emerge; it will only be in the later stages that your ideas will really crystallise.

3) The supervisor retires or moves to another university and they find it difficult to find a new supervisor.

Tip: This can be a difficult situation. Ask questions such as: Can your first supervisor still remain involved in the supervision? Can a team of academics supervise you and give you advice? You may just have to accept what has happened and make the best of the new situation. Realise it is your doctorate and it is up to you to take ownership of it.

4) Insufficient meetings or time spent with their supervisor making progress slow.

Tip: Organise more meetings with your supervisor and prepare for them (see later chapter that explains how to prepare for meetings with your supervisor). If your supervisor is unresponsive then it can be more difficult to address – I discuss this issue later also.

5) Events in the student’s personal life compete too much with the doctorate and something has to give!

Tip: Better management of personal life versus doctorate balance.

6) The initial reason for taking a doctorate was not strong enough.

Tip: Find a reason for doing the doctorate and determine if you really want to complete it.

7) The doctorate was always going to take second (or even third) place to other things.

Tip: Reorganise your priorities if you want to complete. Revisit your reasons for starting. Put it number one in your priorities or at least equal first.

What I wish I had known about research

2009-11-06T06:01:00.000-08:00

Researchers are continually learning and improving their craft. The thing is we all learn at different rates due to our effort, capabilities, motivation and environment. What interests me is the process of research improvement.

I think that I learnt the hard way. I put in effort and was motivated but my environment was one where there was little research knowledge and few research leaders to learn from and so my progress was relatively slow. I spent months writing research papers and after submitting them to journals I waited eagerly for the reviewers’ comments. The “long wait” followed and when they arrived I would analyse and dissect the comments, revise the paper and start over again submitting it to another journal. As the reviewing process often takes six months or more, years went by pretty quickly.

As I have gained more research experience I look back on this and think how much better (and faster) it could have been. A research mentor for example could have explained what the key characteristics of a good research paper are and explained where my research paper was deficient. A good research mentor could have also explained the importance of developing a network of academics as early as possible and the best ways to go about doing it. In short, a mentor could have saved me years just by spending a few minutes here and there to suggest what I should be working on. This list of benefits from having a good research mentor goes on and on.

A Phd supervisor is a research mentor and I am thankful I had an excellent supervisor. However, a PhD is like an apprenticeship and a mentor is still needed after completion as there is still much to learn about the research process.

Well, such a mentor didn’t exist in my environment and it may be the same for you. Maybe a blog such as this can help in a small way by being a surrogate mentor. I know it will never be the same as a personal mentor but collective thoughts are a way of knowledge sharing. So, what do you wish you had known about research when you first started out?

Perseverance is the Key

2009-11-04T01:48:00.000-08:00

Perhaps the most important attribute of a successful researcher is perseverance. It may come as a surprise but many people who complete a doctorate never undertake any further research. This is strange, you might think, when they have completed their research apprenticeship. These people will not develop a research profile and will usually struggle to develop their careers as academics. For it is as true today as it ever was, that academics need to publish to get on!

Perseverance is needed in finding a suitable topic to research, in refining your research questions, in searching for literature, in gathering data and in writing up the thesis. Each person undertaking a doctorate is faced with many challenges but one thing is sure – those that throw the towel in do not end up with a PhD.

Of course, perseverance without the relevant skills and knowledge will still not achieve success. So it is important to get the right information and develop an effective doctoral research project plan. The e-book “How to complete a PhD” (www.justintimebooks.com)will provide you with the necessary information and knowledge to knock months off your PhD studies. Think about it, if you can complete your thesis earlier then you will be earning a full time salary. Five or six months saved on a PhD can translate to a hefty sum in financial terms. Plus it will save you a lot of sleepless nights.

In my time as an academic I have noticed that there are PhD candidates who make sure they access the right information and knowledge and act upon it and those that make all sorts of excuses for not making progress but do not seek the right information and knowledge. Guess who makes the best progress?

Your supervisor needs to know ........

2009-11-03T03:17:00.000-08:00

A supervisor needs to know where a student is at! By this I mean, a supervisor needs to know how much work someone is putting into their doctorate, what their challenges are, what worries them, and what their strengths and weaknesses are.

Although the above may all seem obvious, students may try to obfuscate where they are at because they are worried about being found out in terms of not being up to doctoral standard. A supervisor can only help if they know where a student is at, what their skill level is and what challenges them. So an open and honest supervisor-student relationship is best for both parties and will lead to better progress.

PhD Administration

2009-11-02T01:09:00.001-08:00

In my role as professor I supervise a number of phd students. I have noticed that phd students are also spending more time on the administration related to their candidacy. Most of these are are necessary and are part of their research training of course. They include completing ethics declaration forms, proposal related forms, obtaining access to facilities and computers, reporting each semester on their progress, forms related to conference travel and forms related to expenditure of any kind.

I am not sure what all of the above amounts to but it is quite a bit of time. Any student planning how long it will take to complete their phd should now factor in these types of administrative tasks if their plan is to be realistic.

Time for research

2009-10-31T23:29:00.000-07:00

Research is an expensive practice. Even if supporting funds to gather data are not required the amount of time required to write a review paper for example is phenomenal. Academic time is perhaps the greatest expense of research conducted in universities.

Most academics complain of a lack of time to carry out research. Increased teaching commitments and the ever increasing administrative burden faced by lecturers mean that very little time is left for writing even a conference paper. It would appear that many just give up with research after a year or two of trying to find the time.

Universities should explore ways to reduce the administrative burdern on academics. The percentage of administrative staff seems to be increasing each year but the problem is that, instead of reducing the burden falling on lecturers, they appear to create new administrative work that the academics must respond to. From my own experiences, I seem to be spending a day a week on administrative tasks and that is time that could be spent on research. I don't blame the administrators individually, since once employed they have to justify their existence with new initiatives and these usually involve academics completing new forms, supplying the same old data they have supplied many times, or reporting about some aspect of their activities.

The lean university (administratively) seems to be the way to go and use the money spent on administrative staff and their computers and offices to reduce teaching loads for academics and actually support them in developing their research skills and knowledge. Universities expect employers to train their staff but are often the worst sector for spending on staff development.

Why a research blog?

2009-10-31T21:37:00.001-07:00

I am starting this blog to share my thoughts on research. As a professor in a university in Australia I spend most of my days engaged in research activities. This includes, setting up research projects, applying for funding, writing journal and conference papers, reviewing papers, networking with academics, editing a journal and writing books. I like research even though at times some of the processses are frustrating.

I thought a blog would be a way of compiling my research thoughts and experiences that may eventually go into a book. I also thought that I could find out what others think about research issues and engage in a dialogue beyond the staffroom at my university.

I guess that's it! Think of this blog as a virtual staffroom where researchers chat about research issues and exchange thoughts and perceptions.