Writing: building towards the PhD thesis

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Writing building towards the PhD thesis

• Chris Husbands
• March 2005

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Writing is difficult!
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55 bad reasons not to start writing

• I dont have enough data
• I dont know the structure of the thesis
• Im not sure of the theoretical framework
• Im not sure of the length
• Im hungry
• Im thirsty
• The apartment needs tidying
• I havent read the newspaper
• !

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• "the task of learning to think draws very close
  to the task of learning to write"
• J.G.A.Pocock, (1970) Learning to think in time
  in L.P. Curtis, (ed.), The Historian's Workshop
  New York Knopf, p. 161

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The classic normal science PhD
Introduction
Literature Review
Methodology
Findings and Analysis
Conclusions
This is the problem and why it is a problem
This is what others have said about it and why
there is a gap
This is what I did and why
This is what I found out
This is what my findings mean
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Some difficulties with the normal science PhD

• A focus on testing hypotheses within a normal
  science framework
• Conceptually under-informed
• Tendency to be naïve (at best) about ethical
  considerations
• Sees methodology as something to be addressed
  separately from and prior to analysis
• Separation of researcher and material
• Intensive focus on analysis (the bulk of the
  thesis)
• Conservative about conclusions and epistemology

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This is the problem and why it is a problem
This is what others have said about it and why
there is a gap
This is what I did and why
This is what I found out
This is what my findings mean
Theoretical framework
Ethical issues
Must all be in the thesis. The normal science
PhD structure can be adapted.but it can be
assembled in different forms
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Introduction
Literature Review and Theoretical Framework
Methodology Ethics and coding issues
Findings and Analysis
Implications
Miranda sets out on an action research
exploration to bring about change in her
university department. The change initiatives
fail.
The problem
Ethical issues
Literature Review and Conclusion
Method 1
Method 2
Method 3
Change cycle 1
Change cycle 3
Change cycle 2
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• What radically different approaches can you find
  to the solution of the PhD structure?

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Why radical solutions might be useful

• Protecting/giving voice to multiple perspectives
• Complex theoretical overlays
• Descriptive of cycles of research
• .and

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Advising Florence

• Florence is a teacher educator who is researching
  emotional development in learning to teach she
  is trying to trace the emotions associated with
  the professional learning of student teachers and
  is working with 5 of her own student teachers
  over a period of one year.
• She has obtained the informed consent of 5
  students, and has asked them to keep weekly
  audio diaries in which they record their
  experiences in the University and on placement in
  schools. She has also obtained their agreement
  to be interviewed by her on 6 occasions
  throughout the year, and has obtained their
  agreement to interview the schoolteachers who
  work with them in their schools on placement.
  Finally, she has obtained their agreement that
  in addition to the observations of their teaching
  in school for assessment purposes she will video
  tape four lessons from each student and undertake
  a stimulated recall interview using the video
  taped lesson. This corpus forms the core of her
  data.
• Florence has identified some major evidential and
  ethical issues in her work.
• Question 1 What do you think the major ethical
  and evidential issues are?

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Advising Florence

• Florence is worried
• that the evidential base will not tell her about
  students emotional development, but only about
  the emotions which they can articulate
• that there will be other emotions which she
  cannot access.
• that she will not have enough evidence.
• that the evidence is created for the purpose of
  the thesis
• about the way she can theorise emotional
  development
• Florence is concerned about ethical issues
• the students have given informed consent but she
  is worried that some may want to withdraw from
  the study.
• This concern is connected to her biggest concern
  her own role as researcher and as an authority
  figure (tutor to the students) she worries that
  the students wont be honest with her, that they
  will be worried about what she thinks
• she worries that she will find out things as a
  researcher which affects her authority position.
  
• Question 2 Based on what you know here, advise
  Florence on how she might structure her thesis to
  address the major concerns

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The centrality of ethical and evidential issues

• Ethical and evidential issues are central in
  qualitative social science research
• What can we know and how can we know it?
• What procedures can we use to ensure the rigour
  (and hence reliability) of our evidential
  procedures?
• Ethical issues relating to access, consent,
  authority, and stance are critical

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Reading
Problem Identification
Writing
Choosing methods
Analysing Data
Collecting Data
Here are 6 research activities. What is the
relationship between them?
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In the normal science PhD they fit like this
Writing
Analysing Data
Collecting Data
Choosing methods
But does this describe the social science or the
qualitative research process?
Reading
Problem Identification
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Collecting Data
Problem identification
Design a diagram that shows how you experience
these parts of the process
Choosing methods
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Reading
Writing
Now add one of more of these to your diagram
Analysing Data
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Writing reflects decisions to represent things

• Look out of the windowwhat do you see?
• What does an architect see?
• What does a traffic planner see?
• What does an environmentalist see?
• What does a sociologist see?
• What does a businessman see?

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• Systematic inquiry made public
• Lawrence Stenhouse