Doctoral Training Workshops
Project Planning
Sue Oreszczyn, Dave Scott, Julius Mugwagwa
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October 2014
Planning the whole of your research
period and updating this plan regularly
is the key to success
SESSION AIMS
• To start identifying key tasks for your project
• To start scheduling these tasks
• To start to identify what you will need to
support your research
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Any research project proposal has to have a timetable,
constructing a realistic timetable for a research project
is a skill you need to have
Defra WRT049: project Gantt chart
Key tasks
Agree inception report
Review literature, drivers and barriers
Interactive Steering Group meeting
Explore and map key issues with selected key stakeholders
Design and run quantitative survey
Analysis and evaluation
Top line findings report to Defra and steering group
Design and run 1st phase of stakeholder workshops
Integration of results - synthesis and analysis
Interim report to Defra and Steering Group
Steering Group consultation
Design and run 2nd phase mixed stakeholder workshops
Integration of results - synthesis and analysis
Draft report of findings and recommendations
Interactive Steering Group meeting
Stakeholder dissemination and consultation workshop
Produce a final report and a summary of recommendations
Write journal articles and conference presentations
Project month
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2
3
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5
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18 19-24
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Example of a project diagram
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Doctoral
Training
Workshops
What does a thesis look like?
Have you looked at a thesis yet?
British library online thesis:
Search EThOS -Searches across 300,000+ theses for free and
order full text quickly and easily.
http://ethos.bl.uk/Home.do;jsessionid=E4AEC9489FD7D888B553A
76719842864
For OU Thesis search ORO:
http://oro.open.ac.uk/view/thesis/
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Doctoral Training Workshops
Project Organisation
• How should a PhD or Masters dissertation be
organised?
• What stages/activities/tasks involved?
With the person sitting next to you:
First, make a list of all the key tasks/activities you will
need to do in order to complete your thesis/dissertation
Second, decide what year (MRes, what month) you think
you will be carrying them out
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Subject Area
Topic Review
Project Aim
Is it this simple?
Core
Question
• There are lots of
feedback loops
• Keeping on schedule
can be hard but
success depends on it
Data needed
Method
Data gathering
Analysis
Party
Write up
Conclusions
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Doctoral Training Workshops
Your biggest enemy is TIME
“Good intentions get delayed by
weeks/months/years one day at a
time!”
With the person next to you decide how
long you think each task/activity will
take
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WHAT WOULD BE YOUR
Doctoral
Training Workshops
NIGHTMARE
SCENARIO?
In larger groups around your table think about
what your worst nightmares are.
Take a sheet of flip chart paper and write down 23 of the worst nightmares in your group.
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Here’s one I made earlier…
Data Collection
Data Synthesis
October
Data Analysis
Writing up
Discourse analysis of website
Discourse analysis of
websites
Meeting for data site 2 (8th)
Supervision
University/Career
Development
Supervision meeting
MK (9th)
Doctoral training
workshop (9th)
SLUK meeting MK
(16th)
Doctoral training
workshop (9th)
Conferences
Pre-data collection meeting at
data site 1 (26th)
Data site 1: Observation 1
Write up field notes and
transcribe interviews
November
Initial analysis/reflections of data
site 1 observation 1
Data site 1: Observation 2
Revision of sport for
development chapter
Submit abstract for
Sport and Society
Conference (5th)
Write up field notes and
transcribe interviews
Data site 1: Observation 3
Initial analysis/reflections of data
site 1 observation 2
December
Initial analysis/reflections of data
site 1 observation 3
Initial analysis of data site 1
Follow up interviews from data
site 1 observation 1
Supervision meeting
MK (6th)
Supervision meeting
MK (4th)
Getting published for
students (4th)
Doctoral training
workshop (4th)
Revision of
methodology chapter
Transcribe interviews
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Doctoral Training Workshops
If you had to eat an elephant
you could not eat it in one go
For your first year make a detailed
plan for what you will do in your 1st
year, for PhD students – the 1st 3
months, for MRes students
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