My book has been printed

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.

www.CompletePhD.com

Malaysian experiences

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.

www.CompletePhD.com

Research as a social process

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!

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Requests and comments

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

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?

www.CompletePhD.com

Literature Reviews

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

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Comment please

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.

www.CompletePhD.com

Classification Skills

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.

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Is research knowledge scarce?

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!

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Defining “Research Culture”

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.

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Failure to make progress and why people drop out?

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.
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What I wish I had known about research

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?

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Perseverance is the Key

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?

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

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.

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PhD Administration

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.

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