Week 8 Developing a research project and planning your dissertation (bridging session) (NR)
Section outline
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In this session, we begin the process of moving from the concepts, constructs, and theories discussed in the previous weeks to developing a 'doable' programme of research for your dissertations. Although the decisions that you take will be driven by your individual areas of interest and by the theoretical and/or empirical contributions that you may wish to make, there are several questions that we all face at the beginning of a new research project. These questions might be characterised as follows:
- How would I define myself as a researcher? - A useful starting point is to reflect on your interests and motivations for researching a specific reserach topic. This will help you to identify where you start to look when developing your ideas.
- Can I identify a 'community of practice'? - Put differently, who are the groups of people that you wish to interact and communicate with, to share ideas with, who you think might value the research you propose to do?
- How might my 'community of practice' shape the research I undertake? - There is a close relationship between a 'community of practice' and the ways in which research gets done (i.e., theories employed, approach adopted, methods utilised, language or vocabulary used, and so on).
In addition to talking through my experiences as a researcher (from PhD research to large interdisciplinary grants), we will use this session to focus on your development. To support this, I would like you to consider the following questions and be prepared to discuss them in the session:
1. Has anything you have heard in the lectures or read in relation to them really sparked your interest?
2. Has a concept, construct, or theory you identified for question 1 changed the way that you think about the topic you are considering for your dissertation? If so, which one and how?
3. How would you define yourself as a researcher? For example, what are your theoretical interests, methodological preferences, and who would you identify as your 'community of practice'?
- How would I define myself as a researcher? - A useful starting point is to reflect on your interests and motivations for researching a specific reserach topic. This will help you to identify where you start to look when developing your ideas.
