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research terms, and how realistic in time terms. The capacity to spot
worthwhile openings and fashion them into researchable topics is the
key professional skill of the whole doctoral learning process, so practice
at this stage is vital.
Pilot study. The precise nature of this stage will vary considerably across
disciplines. It may involve testing apparatus, data collection methods,
sampling frames, availability of materials, etc. Essentially we are asking
here: will it work?
Making a thesis proposal (including the design of the investigation). At this
stage, which may be linked to upgrading to PhD status, you are going to
work in much greater detail to establish that your proposed research
investigation (a) will address the problem convincingly and (b) is likely
to make a contribution. You will therefore need to examine the current
focal theory fully and survey the background theory to estimate the
likelihood of contributing.
A key point to bear in mind here is that an ideal design will involve
 symmetry of potential outcomes . What this means is that ideally the
thesis will not stand or fall by a particular result, but will be able to make
a contribution whatever the outcome. Thus a high mean value or
correlation will support one argument, while a low mean or lack of
THE PhD PROCESS 85
correlation will be equally interesting because it fits in with another
line of approach. This symmetry cannot always be obtained, but it is
worth exploring carefully to see whether you can obtain it. If present, it
is a great advantage in establishing at a later stage the contribution of
the research work.
Data collection and analysis. The collection and analysis of data are
activities clearly specific to each discipline and, within that, to each
topic. One generalization that we would make though, is that good
researchers at this stage are very close to their materials. They know
their raw data practically by heart, let alone the analytical results that
are derived from them. They are in no sense laid back but are living,
eating and sleeping data and results. This involvement is very import-
ant as it is the psychological basis that gives researchers the facility to
see the data from different angles and in terms of different theories. It
enables them  often unconsciously  to  test their material against
new, innovative, offbeat ideas. They conceptually play with their data,
intuitively trying lots of  what-ifs , and often can come up with a new,
interesting conception that makes a contribution to the subject.
Final writing up. For reasons already discussed in Chapter 4, the final
writing-up stage always takes longer than intended. A period of three
terms is not generous, even though it has been done in less time by
determined and able students. Anything less than two terms full-time
or a year part-time is unrealistic considering the nature of the task,
which includes the  contribution component as described in Chapter
6.
Rightly or wrongly, the doctoral regulations do not explicitly pre-
clude students from engaging the help of a professional editor to work
on their thesis. There is a degree of ambiguity here, but it is clear that
those students who are aware of the existence of professional copy-
editors, know how to contact them and can afford to pay them, have an
advantage over those who are more naive. Students who have never
heard of copyeditors, are unaware of the legitimacy of using their ser-
vices and would not, in any case, have the financial means at their
disposal to engage them, are at a disadvantage.
The responsibility of a professional copyeditor is to contribute to the
thesis only in terms of improving writing style, grammar and spelling.
Any other changes  of meaning, for example  would not be a fair use
of their services. But as supervisors are not usually told that an editor
has been working on the student s thesis there is no control over the
editor s input.
86 HOW TO GET A PhD
Redefining long-term and short-term goals
If you do not take this kind of structured approach to planning your PhD
work, then one result will inevitably be a much greater dependence on
your supervisor for feedback concerning your progress. Evaluating your
own work will also be more difficult.
If you define short-term goals it will be less necessary to rely on external
sources of information, such as supervisors, because the step-by-step struc-
ture will be clear. This clarity results in information on progress that you [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]