Reading: PhD research guides

Boden, R., Kenway, J., & Epstein, D. (2005). Getting Started on Research. Available at: https://doi.org/10.4135/9781849209205 (Accessed 19 January 2024)

Almost any social, political, cultural, economic or aesthetic phenomenon, issue or problem can be the subject of academic research in the wider social sciences and humanities. The key thing is not what it’s about, but the way that you approach the issue. 

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The best question to ask yourself to ensure that you have made this shift is ‘If I do this investigation and somebody then asks me, “So what?” will I be able to give a credible answer?’That is, will the answers you reach be of interest beyond the information you have collected itself and to anyone other than yourself? You must be able to frame your subject in such a way that you move from description to explaining what the data you have found means. In other words, you must be able to theorise your subject.

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Churchill, H. and Sanders, T. 2007. Formulating a Research Question. In: Getting Your PhD. London: SAGE Publications, Ltd. pp. 22-32 Available at: <https://doi.org/10.4135/9781849209229> [Accessed 19 Jan 2024].

• Project title: This is a precise statement about the research aims and area. An example would be: ‘A study of the effects of research development programmes on postgraduate student learning’. You will then need to generate research questions indicating the specific ways you will contribute to this area.
• A field of study This is much broader than a project title such as ‘postgraduate student learning’. In defining your research area you will need to think about what is your broad area and what are the boundaries of your research area and what is excluded.
• Overall research questions: This defines what you are asking and finding out about. For example: ‘How and in what ways do the current UK and Australian research development programmes focus on and contribute to the development of postgraduate student learning and research higher degree success?’
• Focal research questions: Your overall research question then needs to be broken down into focal research questions which provide a clear link to your data generation or empirical and theoretical analysis.

Ask yourself:

• What previous research has been conducted?
• What have been the main research questions?
• What kinds of questions have been asked, i.e. descriptive, explanatory or exploratory?
• What has the previous research concluded?
• What have been the main approaches/perspectives within previous research?
• What are the key concepts and conceptual debates?
• What debates/writers/topics or approaches interest me most?
• Are there any empirical gaps in the area?
• Are there any underdeveloped or less utilised approaches?

Strategies for gaining an overview may include:

• Regularly review your detailed reading notes with a view to seeking to identify common research questions, approaches and claims across studies.
• Use speed and scan reading to gain an overview of a text.
• Identify literature reviews and area overviews.
• Identify seminal work.
• Map out key methodological approaches to date.
• Seek to identify and define key concepts in your research area.
• Map out theoretical differences between studies.
• Use tables/charts/diagrams to summarise large amounts of information.