The Practice of Social Research
Nicholas Gane
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Designed to address some key practical
issues in social research, regardless of your
disciplinary background
These include: thinking about the relation
between theory and method in your PhD; how
to combine different research methods and
paradigms; how to situate your own
contribution; questions of research ethics;
public engagement and ‘impact’; and what
eventually you will be aiming for when you
submit your PhD and defend it in a viva
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Week 2: Theories and Methods (NG)
Week 3: Combining Methods and Research
Paradigms (EJ)
Week 4: DTC Conference – NO SESSIONS
Week 5: Research Ethics: Principle, Practice and
Procedure (EJ)
Week 6: Quality and Technology in Social
Research (EJ)
Week 7: The Craft of Academic Writing (NG)
Week 8: Situating Your Contribution (NG)
Week 9: Public Engagement and Non-academic
Impact (EJ)
Week 10: Your PhD Viva and Beyond (NG)
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There are 3 seminars that accompany this
lectures: 1 from 11-12 and 2 from 12-1pm
The class lists and room numbers are on the DTC
website. I have printed lists here – you can check
them after this lecture
Teaching staff: the 11-12 class and one from
12-1 will be taught either by Eric Jensen or
myself (depending on who is taking the lecture),
and the other one in SO.09 at 12 will be taught
by John Narayan.
Please do the key readings for each week and
participate in group activities and discussions
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The first step in undertaking doctoral research is
to develop a clear set of research questions (to
some extent these are always a work in progress)
This might seem obvious but these questions are
the basis of everything you do through your PhD
– everything must relate back to them (they can
change, but not too often)
This is easy to forget as it is tempting to become
overly concerned with detail
Remember to keep asking yourself what is at
stake in your work – try explaining this in simple
terms to yourself and to others
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One of the hardest things is often to get started
on the PhD: often there is a mixture of
excitement and anxiety
Aside from thinking about your research
questions, you will be expected to reflect on
where/how your research fits in terms of wider
scholarship (writing an initial literature review
can be a useful exercise)
It is also likely that you will have to think
carefully about what methods or research
techniques you will use through the course of
your project – and this reflection will become part
of the thesis
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While there are often common expectations for
what a PhD is, there is no single format for a
doctoral thesis
There may, for example, be different
expectations of the balance between theoretical
and empirical work in different disciplines
Some PhDs are purely theoretical in basis and are
methodological in a philosophical rather than
empirical sense – others involve primary
fieldwork, or are more historical and draw on
archival sources, and so on
Think about what you want your PhD to be
It can be a very creative space…
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One of the key features of a PhD is that it must
make an original contribution to knowledge
We will return to this later in the week on
situating your contribution
Don’t be daunted by this – see this as an
opportunity rather than a burden
Originality can take many different forms: for
example, the identification of a gap in the
existing literature, the extension or refinement of
knowledge, an innovation or response to an
existing position
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It is important that you do not try to work on
your PhD in isolation
Your supervisor and peer groups (one purpose of
this module) are vital points of contact through
which you will develop and refine ideas
Be proactive: ask questions, read widely, go to
conferences, seminars – talk about your research!
Get to know who the key figures are and go to
see them speak and engage with their work –
again be proactive
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A PhD project goes through various stages
and these are often not linear
Doing research is not always plain sailing
Learn how to deal with setbacks and detours
– doing a PhD often involves dealing with
unforeseen events and challenges
Try to anticipate what these might be in
advance – again think ahead
Be realistic about what you can achieve within
the limits of a doctoral thesis: be ambitious
and practical
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Talk to your supervisor(s) about how to
structure your time through the PhD
For example, when should you do your
fieldwork? How extensive should this be – for
example how many interviews? How detailed
should your engagement be with your data?
Your supervisor is your key point of contact –
you need to meet with them regularly and
forge a good working relationship
This relationship will change over the next 3
years as you become the expert…
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It is very important to be organized – establish a
system for dealing with questions that arise
through your PhD – plus large amounts of
reading or field notes, bibliographical references
and so on
Keep a good record of what you read
Use a bibliographic database such as Endnote
Your examiners will be look very closely at your
references, so you need to take this serious
Keep files and read actively (in connection to
your research questions)…
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‘Your notes may turn out…to be of two sorts: in
reading certain very important books you try to
grasp the structure of the writer’s argument, and
take notes accordingly; but more frequently, and
after a few years of independent work, rather
than read the entire book, you will often read
parts of many books from the point of view of
some particular theme or topic in which you are
interested and concerning which you have plans
in your file. Therefore, you will take notes which
do not fairly represent the books you read. You
are using this particular idea, this particular fact,
for the realization of your own projects’
(Sociological Imagination, p.220)
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The PhD is your project – don’t read things for
the sake of it – read texts in relation to your
interests and concerns
Equally with theory and method – don’t go
through the motions here. Try to think about
them creatively by connecting them to problems
and questions – this is the very task of social
research
Be assertive in your writing but also be flexible:
don’t be too tied to a particular position from the
outset – be open-minded and receptive to ideas
And think about who the likely audience of your
work is going to be…