This document summarizes a presentation on managing postgraduate research. It discusses why project management is important for research due to deadlines, commitments and limitations. It covers scoping the research, developing a business case, identifying requirements, designing the research methodology and tools, and planning resources and time. The presentation provides tips on developing a literature review, research design, analyzing and reporting findings, and using project management tools and methodologies to plan the research.

1. Managing your
postgraduate research
Carolyne Jacobs
Tuesday 14th October 2014

2. Tuesday 14th October 2014
Managing your postgrad research
Introductions
 CJ
 Group
 Moodle postgrad resources– a quick tour
 Vitae setup by Research Councils UK and
Career Development Organisation
guidance, resources, discussion groups

3. Tuesday 14th October 2014
Managing your postgrad research
Why project manage your
postgrad 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

4. Tuesday 14th October 2014
Managing your postgrad research
Outline of today’s session
(in Project Management speak)
 Scoping - anticipated achievements,
boundaries, areas ‘in scope’
 Business case – underpinning rationale
 Requirements – essential elements
 Design – tools and techniques
 Resources – time, consumables, etc.
+
 PM methodology and tools

5. Tuesday 14th October 2014
Managing your postgrad research
Scope
 What is your project about?
 What do you want to achieve?
Business case
 Why are you doing it?
 How will it benefit you
professionally/personally)?
 Analogies (CJ’s examples – UoP
projects, own PhD and research)

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Managing your postgrad research
Practical
 Take 10 mins (5 mins each person) to
explain your research to the person
sitting next to you including:
1. What your project is about
2. What you want to achieve
3. Why you are doing it (how will it benefit
you professionally/personally)

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Managing your postgrad research
Business Case
The overall aim is to achieve your
postgrad qualification, but how does it fit
into your longer term plan for the next 5
years?
University of Birmingham video
(5.42 and 11.32)

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Managing your postgrad research
Identifying requirements
 Getting the grasp of key concepts
 What is the difference between
methodology and methods?

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Managing your postgrad research
Requirements
 Getting the grasp of key concepts
 What is ontology?
 What is epistemology?

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Managing your postgrad research
Requirements
 What is ontology? Your view of the world
 What is epistemology?

11. Tuesday 14th October 2014
Managing your postgrad research
Requirements
 What is ontology? Your view of the type of
world/environment where your research will
take place
 What is epistemology? How knowledge is
acquired

12. Tuesday 14th October 2014
Managing your postgrad research
Requirements
Ontology View of your research world -
Do you think the world exists externally to
human beings?
or.....
Do you think that people contribute to, and
have an impact on, the environment where
your research is taking place?
Project managing your postgrad research

13. Tuesday 14th October 2014
Managing your postgrad research
Requirements
Epistemology How will knowledge be gained
in your research?
 By gathering data and seeking out
rules/patterns or cause/effect (positivist)?
 Or interpreting and taking into account
context, experience and views
(interpretivist)?
Project managing your postgrad research

14. Tuesday 14th October 2014
Managing your postgrad research
Requirements
Why is this important?
 The type of research environment that your research
takes place in and how you will acquire knowledge
(gather data) influences how you plan your research
Examples:
 Effect of volcanic activity on rocks
objectivist?? research design??
 Impact of social networking on integration
constructivist?? research design??

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Managing your postgrad research
Requirements
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
 Look for context and interpretation? Are you: ‘viewing
events and social world through the eyes of the
people being studied?’ (Bryman, 2008)
 Bryman 4th edition 2012
Project managing your postgrad research

16. Tuesday 14th October 2014
Managing your postgrad research
Methodological approach
 Quantitative
 Experiment, historical, correlational (using
reports, logs, data)
 Qualitative
 Ethnographic research, action research,
survey, case study.

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Managing your postgrad research
Design
 The tools and techniques you use depend
on your approach
….examples from CJ

18. Tuesday 14th October 2014
Managing your postgrad research
Identifying your methodology
Is your research:
 Scientific/positivist or interpretivist?
Why?
Will you use a:
 Quantitative or qualitative approach
Why?
What tools and techniques will you use?
(Discuss in group for 15 mins)

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Managing your postgrad research
 Managing your research (video)

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Managing your postgrad research
Break
10 minutes

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Managing your postgrad research
Requirements 2
 After determining your approach, what
next??
 What distinguishes doctoral research
from other research?
 How do you find out if your research is
unique?

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Managing your postgrad research
Requirements 2
 Which literature resources are available
for your research?
 How can you find out about other
sources?

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Managing your postgrad research
Design
How will you undertake your research?
 How will you identify literature resources?
 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.)

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Managing your postgrad research
Milestone
(completion deadline)
 Gaps in the literature
 Identifying your research questions

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Managing your postgrad research
Recap
We have considered:
 Your approach/methodology
 Literature review
 Research design (population, sample,
tools and techniques)

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Managing your postgrad research
Discovery
15-20 mins - discuss in groups of 4 the your thoughts on the
following relating to your research:
 Methodology – which methodological
approach will you take? Why?
 Literature review – which resources will
you investigate? Where can you access?
 Population, sample, tools and techniques-what/
who will you focus on? How will you
gain access/acquire data? What tools will
you use to gather data?

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

28.  Will you need to spend any money?
 What resources will you need? (printing,
postage, s/w, web-based resources)
(longer than you expect!)
Tuesday 14th October 2014
Managing your postgrad research
Resources
 How much time will your research take?
 How much time have you got?
(less than you expect!)

29. Tuesday 14th October 2014
Managing your postgrad research
Managing your time effectively
 Prioritise
 Recognise strengths and weaknesses
 Be realistic
 Plan ahead, take all your activities into
account and building in some flexibility
 Create weekly or monthly plans, plus a
‘to do’ list
 Be generous with your timings.

30. Tuesday 14th October 2014
Managing your postgrad research
Reflecting on your
PhD/research experiences to
date
 The good and bad points (30 mins in total)
 Individually (5 mins):
○ write down 3 good things (each on a separate yellow
sticky note)
○ write down 3 things bad -or not so good (each on a
separate green sticky note)
 Together (20 -25 mins):
○ Look for common themes
○ Sort on large sheets of paper
○ Discuss and note how
 to resolve the bad points
 How good points can be used in future research/ practice
 Group discussion

31. Tuesday 14th October 2014
Managing your postgrad research
Project Management
methodology
 Traditional
 Structured with clear project tasks,
timescales and milestones
 Agile
 Flexible system with short deadlines for
tasks, self-organisation. Include frequent
meetings and visible tracking
For your research you are likely to take the relevant
elements and manage in your own way.

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Managing your postgrad research
Planning tools
 MsProject
 Gantter
 Excel
 Paper
It doesn’t really matter. It is the thinking and
organising in your mind that is important….

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Managing your postgrad research
Planning
 Demo using Gantter.com

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Managing your postgrad research
Practical
 Identify:
 The key stages of your project
 Likely timescales
 Milestones (key completion dates)
 Use one of the project tools to create an
outline project plan
But remember this is a working document and
will change – frequently!

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Managing your postgrad research
Ending with…
New ideas and thoughts about how you will
approach your research
Comments?
Questions?

36. Tuesday 14th October 2014
Managing your postgrad research
Thank you
Dr Carolyne Jacobs,
Department of Curriculum and Quality
Enhancement
University of Portsmouth
Carolyne.jacobs@port.ac.uk
www.moodle.port.ac.uk/

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Managing your postgrad research
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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Managing your postgrad research
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