Project managing your ph d 24 nov 2011

Thursday 24th November 2011
Carolyne Jacobs

Project managing your PhD
Introductions
 CJ

 Group

 Intro to Victory


Project manage your

PhD/research?
 What defines a project?
 Why do you need to project manage
your research?

 Because you are probably facing:
 A research deadline
 Professional and domestic commitments
 Resource limitations


Outline

(in Project Management speak)
 Scoping - overview of what you are
hoping to achieve
 Business case – underpinning rationale
 Requirements – essential elements
 Design – tools and techniques
 Resources – time, consumables, etc.
 Planning tools


Scoping/Business Case
 What is your project about?

 What do you want to achieve?

 Why are you doing it? (How will it benefit you
professionally/personally)?

 Analogies (CJ’s examples - UoP and own
research)

 Take 5 mins to explain your research to the
person sitting next to you (10 mins in total)

Scoping/Business Case
 Write down your objectives

Then consider:
 Are they achievable? Realistic? Are they
SMART?
 What will stop you achieving your
objectives?
 What will help you achieve them?
(10 mins in total)

Scoping

 Getting the grasp of key concepts

 What is the difference between
methodology and methods?


Scoping
 Getting the grasp of key concepts

 What is ontology?

 What is epistemology?


Scoping

 What is ontology? Your view of the world

 What is epistemology?


Scoping

 What is ontology? Your view of the world

 What is epistemology? How knowledge is
acquired


Scoping
Ontology View of the world
Do you think the world exists externally to
Objectivism
human beings? Constructivism

or.....

Do you think that people contribute to a
constantly changing world?


Scoping
Epistemology How do I think knowledge is
acquired?

 By gathering data and seeking out
rules/patterns or cause/effect (positivist)?

 Or interpreting and taking into account
context, experience and views
(interpretivist)?


Scoping
Why is this important?

 Your view of the world and how you consider
knowledge is acquired impacts on your research.

Examples:
 Effect of volcanic activity on rocks
objectivist?? research design??

 Impact of social networking on integration
constructivist?? research design??


Scoping
 Does your research topic exist outside the influence
of human beings?
or
 Do humans influence your area of research?

Will you:
 Gather data, seek out patterns and/or cause and
effect
or
 Focus on individuals’ views and perspectives
Thinking time (5 mins)
Sharing your thoughts and ideas (10 mins)


Break
 10 minutes


Reflecting on your

Breakout session
PhD/research experiences to
date
 The highs and lows (30 mins)
 Individually (5 mins):
○ write 3 of your highs and lows on post-its (use
yellow post-its for highs and green for lows)
 Together (20 mins):
○ Look for common themes
○ Sort on large sheets of paper
○ Discuss and note how
 to resolve the lows (small green post-its)
 highs can be used in future research or your practice
(small orange post-its)
 Group discussion


Requirements
 After determining your O&E approach,
what next??

 What distinguishes doctoral research
from other research?

 How do you find out if your research is
unique?


Requirements
 Which literature resources are available
for your research?

 How can you find out about other
sources?

Sharing your thoughts and ideas with the
person next to you (10 mins)


Milestone
 Gaps in the literature
 Identifying your research questions


Breakout session
A quick online tour
 Vitae setup by Research Councils UK
and Career Development Organisation

 Guidance
 Downloads
 Discussion groups


Design
How will you undertake your research?
 What approach will you use?
 experiment?
 case study?
 ethnographic research?
 survey?
 Who or what is the population/data source?
 How will you choose the sample? (How do you know
it is representative and not bias?)
 How will you gather the data? (interviews, online
questionnaires, etc.)
Thinking time (5 mins)
Sharing your thoughts and ideas (10 mins)


Recap
We have considered:
 Your approach/methodology

 Literature review

 Research design (population, sample,
tools and techniques)


Other areas to consider
 How will you analyse your data?
 How will you report your findings?
 How will you disseminate your findings?


Resources
 Will you need to spend any money?
 What resources will you need?
(Printing, postage, online s/w)
 How much time will your research take?
(longer than you expect!)
 How much time can you allocate?
(less than you expect!)


Planning tools
 MsProject
 Gantter
 Smartsheet
 Excel
 Paper

It doesn’t really matter. It is the thinking and
organising in your mind that is important….


Ending with…
New ideas and thoughts about how you will
approach your research

Comments?

Questions?


Thank you
Carolyne Jacobs,
Department of Curriculum and Quality
Enhancement
University of Portsmouth

Carolyne.jacobs@port.ac.uk

www.port.ac.uk/victory

SMART
 Specific: in both meaning and focus.
 Measurable: so that you know when you are achieving
progress and can declare success.
 Advantageous: what's in this for you? If you can see no
personal advantages, don't waste your time; you won't be
seriously motivated towards success.
 Realistic: make sure that you are being realistic: you can get
feedback to help you do this. Setting learning targets in this way
will, through experience, gradually improve your ability to
manage your own self-development and learning.
 Time limited: set deadlines and 'milestones', times when you
will sit down and reflect on and review your progress

(Ref: www.vitae.ac.uk/researchers/1221/Setting%20objectives.html)
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Project managing your ph d 24 nov 2011

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