WEAVING THE THREADS OF EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH

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WEAVING THE THREADS OF EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH

• From topic to viva to publication

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The hardest part??

• Choosing your topic what do you want to do and
  why?
• Deciding on your research questions and
  thinking about where they come from
• Getting focused, making it do-able ( doing 1
  doctorate instead of 3)

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Threads what threads?

• Some threads are very practical time, gaining
  access, sampling
• Some are philosophical epistemology, ontology,
  methodology
• Some are about YOU ( and other people)
  refleXivity, reflectivity, ethics

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BRIEF DIVERSION 1 .. the 3 ologies

• E what do you claim to know? How do you know
  this? What is knowledge anyway?
• O what do you believe exists? E.g. race/racism,
  class, causality
• M why did you do what you did? Why this
  approach? Why these methods and not others?

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Webs, quilts and flowcharts

• More of a patchwork quilt than a neatly woven
  fabric
• Not a flow chart, more a spiders web
• Appearances can be deceptive..

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Is the dissertation a fraud? (Medawar,
1963)

• The final product looks linear Abstract, Intro,
  Lit. Review, Methodology and Methods, Findings
  and Discussion, Conclusions and Recommendations
• But. The process is not linear but cyclical/
  iterative ( see my green book)

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Weaving the threads coherence, articulation,
linkage between.

• Research questions and methods/ methodology (
  ask how am I going to address each one? Is each
  one answerable in my lifetime.. Or answerable at
  all?)
• Knowledge claims (conclusions) and your evidence
  for them
• Your study, located in the existing literature
  (your brick in the wall)
• Implications for practice/policy/ theory linked
  with the literature review and your own data and
  analysis

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DIVERSION 2 Help is at hand

• Your supervisor ?? Focusing, cajoling, feeding
  back, . Others please add!
• Critical friends, peers, networks, conferences
• Writing treat it as a form of thinking (Laurel
  Richardson)

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The ultimate goal

• Doctorateness the Holy Grail, largely
  undefined, tacit ( thereof which many do not
  speak, thereof we should not remain silent
  sorry Wittgenstein)
• Look at the tangible products of the doctorate
  the written dissertation and the viva
• The 3 Cs Coherence, clarity, criticality,
  contribution (a thesis)
• What about the O word originality?

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The Viva voce ( live voice)

• A good viva should discuss all the threads and
  how they come together
• see my list of questions

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The final step publication, spreading the word

• Research is not complete without dissemination
• Remember Your dissertation is a publication -
  paper and/ or electronic (it may be your
  first, maybe not)
• Journals academic, professional?
• A book? ( less likely perhaps)
• Conference presentations, the press.

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Further reading?

• My summary of Viva questions and Ways of being
  original available on request, free of charge!
• j.wellington_at_sheffield.ac.uk
• Wellington, J ( 2003) Getting Published London
  Routledge
• Is the scientific paper a fraud? , Medawar, P (
  1963)