PhD Research Methodology

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PhD Research Methodology
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Outline of Research Process

• Phase 1 essential first steps
• Phase 2 data collection
• Phase 3 analysis and interpretation

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Phase 1

• Clarify the issue to be researched and select
  research method(s).
• Essential because a question that is unclear or
  too broad cannot be answered.
• The research method allows the research to be
  conducted according to a plan or design.

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Phase 1 cont.

• Clarifying the question and method enables the
  researcher to be clearer about the data that is
  needed
• Therefore to make a decision about what sample
  size, or the amount of data, is needed.

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Cyborgs

• Interviews I identified four categories of
  people to interview
• performers working in the field of cyborg
  performance art
• disabled people whose bodies had been modified
• scientists making prosthetics
• and the main funders of technological research
  the military.

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Performers

• The first category was relatively easy I knew
  people who could put me in touch with these
  performers, and I quickly secured interviews with
  two of the leading figures in the field
• Stelarc
• Eduardo Kac.

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Disabled People

• The second category was the most difficult, in
  many ways, not least because of the ethical
  dimension of undertaking such interviews.
• As it turned out, approaches to the prosthetic
  department in the university for assistance in
  identifying potential interviewees went
  unanswered.
• However, one disabled person, Ju Gosling, author
  of the website My Not So Secret Life as a
  Cyborg, attending a Performance Research
  conference and giving a paper about her
  experiences, gladly agreed to give me an
  interview, and from her experience and awareness
  of the issues gave me probably a far more
  insightful interview than I might otherwise have
  been able to achieve.

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Scientists

• For the third category I simply made a search on
  the internet.
• Most of the cutting edge prostheticians seemed to
  be based in the US.
• Of particular interest were the very small number
  of neuro-prostheticians, and the celebrated Utah
  Array a tiny chipset that, once implanted in
  the brain, can both read and transmit signals
  between brain and computer.
• Fascinated, I wrote to its inventor, Professor
  Richard Norman, in Salt Lake City, and he agreed
  to give me an interview.

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The Military

• None of the other scientists I approached was
  able to grant me an interview at the time but
  one of them wrote to me to tell me about the
  forthcoming conference, in Washington DC, run by
  the US Department of Defence, entitled
  Exoskeletons for Human Performance
  Augmentation.
• This would be perfect for the fourth category.
• Having read Ballards Crash (Ballard 1995) I
  was already interested in how the car forms an
  inorganic skin to a specific and very modern role
  played out by huge numbers of us in the west
  every time we sit behind the wheel. How much
  more so would the inorganic skin of a military
  exoskeleton a high tech suit of armour - make
  its impact upon our personalities!?

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Phase 2

• Collecting the data
• surveys, interviews, literature review,
  participant observation, etc..
• I undertook the interviews I had arranged,
  recording them, then transcribing the recordings
• I attended the EHPA conference and made copious
  notes throughout
• Summarising and organising the data
• Excerpts from and summaries of transcripts
• Thoughts arising from notes on conference

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Phase 3

• Analysis, interpretation
• Relating the data to the research question
• Drawing conclusions
• Assessing the limitations of the study

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Reporting and Writing up

• Writing up occurs after the research is done
• Not everything that is done is reported
• Have to leave some stuff out!!
• The research report summarises the activities in
  such a way that they are clear to the reader, and
  so the reader could repeat the research.

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A Research Report

• A Research Report should generally include
• Statement of problem
• review of relevant literature
• statement of hypothesis or research objectives
• description of research design
• selection and operationalization of variables
• description of sample selection procedure
• description of how data was collected
• data presented and summarised in words
• conclusion, limitations, and implications
• bibliography or references cited
• appendices

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Cyborgs Research Report

• The Cyborgs Research Report included
• Statement of problem
• statement of research objectives
• description of research design
• description of how data was collected
• review of relevant literature
• collected data, presented and summarised in words
• conclusion, limitations, and implications
• bibliography and references cited
• appendices - the interview transcripts and the
  complete notes from the EHPA conference