postgraduate research Archives - Enhancing Postgraduate Environments

Working with Literature

PostGrad — Fri, 24 Aug 2018 08:57:36 +0000

Literature reviews tend to be one of the toughest parts of thesis writing, and research. This is in part because the volume of reading is large at MA and PhD level, and usually involves connecting two or more bodies of literature. Keeping track of all of the reading, and being selective and strategic, is a challenge. In part, this is also because students may struggle to move from summarising and synthesising the reading, to using the reading to make an argument in relation to their own study’s focus. This Prezi provides an overview of what a postgraduate literature review should aim to be, and focused advice on how to read, and write, strategically to shape a strong, relevant contextual framework for a PhD or MA study. There is also a worksheet users can download to guide focused writing about their own contextual framework, or ‘literature review’ sections.

Developed by Sherran Clarence, Independent higher education consultant. Special thanks to Kenny Chiwarawara for the narration.

Explore these additional resources

Additional reading:

Questions for users:

For supervisors/PG support staff: Think about the literatures your students are working with: how could or should these be connected? Can you assist your students with ‘framing’ their field, through talking through the bigger picture of the research? How can you then guide them in connect their literatures together to create a context for their study, that relates to the bigger picture?
For students: Start with the worksheet; it is designed to helped you articulate for yourself what bodies of literature you are reading, why, and what the connections are (so far) between them. From here, you can hopefully then begin to write this section (if you are starting out), or revise this section if you already have a draft. The additional reading recommended above will provide further guidance and explanation.

Who might find this useful?

This material is primarily for postgraduate students, although the video and worksheet could be used in workshops run by postgraduate and/or writing support practitioners, to assist students with unpacking, articulating the structure of, and writing their literature review or contextual sections.

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Research design and methods

PostGrad — Fri, 13 Oct 2017 13:43:37 +0000

Methodology and methods are often confused in postgraduate research, especially in smaller scale, shorter studies, such as those completed in a coursework Honours or Masters degree programme. These terms mean quite different things, though with methodology referencing a more conceptual, abstracted understanding of what kind of study you are doing, and why, and methods understood as practical tools that you can use to realise your study design and purpose. This Prezi takes students through a basic explanation of what the different terms mean, and how they fit together in designing a research study. It then goes further to explore how methodological choices are made by crucially taking guidance from the research questions, and theoretical framework for the study. The additional reading recommended below, as well as the worksheet, enable further exploration of this topic, and an opportunity for students to link the video and reading materials with their own research study.

Developed by Sherran Clarence, Independent higher education consultant. Thanks to Carmel van Niekerk for the narration.

Who might find this useful?

This material is primarily for postgraduate scholars, to assist them in conceptualising and plotting out their methodology and methods, if they are starting out, or revising this section if they are further along in their study. It can also be utilised, with the worksheet, in postgraduate research workshops. The additional reading may be useful for supervisors and postgraduate mentors, to guide their students in developing this section of the research project.

Questions for users:

For supervisors/PG support staff: What methodologies do you typically use in your research – qualitative/quantitative, exploratory/causal and so on. Why and how do you use these? What aspects of your own research design process and decision-making can you share with your students, to help them to think about and construct their own? What reading, or other resources can you point them to, to get them started, or deepen their thinking?

For students: What is your research design? Why have you chosen this design? What data are you planning to generate, why, and how?

Explore these additional resources

Worksheet: Outlining a research design and its tools

Blogposts:

Things examiners look for in a methods chapter: https://patthomson.net/2017/06/26/three-things-examiners-look-for-in-methods-chapters/
Methodology isn’t methods: https://patthomson.net/2013/02/18/methodology-isnt-methods-or-what-goes-in-a-methods-chapter/
A metaphor for a methods chapter: https://patthomson.net/2013/01/24/the-methods-chapter-as-a-party/
Wits University Library guide to methodology and methods: http://libguides.wits.ac.za/c.php?g=145381&p=953599
Research methodology for science students: https://arxiv.org/pdf/physics/0601009.pdf
Research methodology in the social sciences: http://lynn-library.libguides.com/researchmethods

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Theory and concepts in PG research

PostGrad — Tue, 12 Sep 2017 07:13:29 +0000

This narrated PowerPoint presentation discusses the role of theory and concepts in postgraduate research. It unpacks the meaning of the two terms, and how they are related, making the case for theory as ‘tool’ in research that needs to be firmly connected to methodology, and data analysis. The video argues that postgraduate researchers need to select and ‘build’ a theoretical or conceptual framework for their study, and draw the theory they have chosen into the analysis of their data. This will enable researchers to analyse, rather than describe their data, in relation to the theory, and in relation to the field in which their research is situated. In other words, they will be able to use their data to make meaning of the natural or social world in ways that connect their small-scale studies with deeper, more abstracted or generalised meanings. In so doing, the postgraduate research findings can make a more powerful contribution to knowledge, and the communities of practice PG students are connected to.

Developed by Sherran Clarence, Independent higher education consultant. Thanks to Meshay Moses for the narration.

Who might find this useful?

This material is primarily for postgraduate students to use to unpack and think about their own theory and concepts, and the work they want them to do (with the worksheet). However, the video and/or worksheet could be used in workshops with students run by postgraduate and/or writing support practitioners.

Explore these additional resources

Useful blogposts:

Worksheet:

This related resource unpacks the process of moving from a research problem to a suitable framework that students could build. It can be used by students on their own, or supervisors and PG support staff could use this to assist students in making clear their argument for which theory and concepts they have chosen, and why.

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Bringing the Humans into Humanities

PostGrad — Mon, 27 Mar 2017 10:19:48 +0000

The Isikhumbuzo Applied History Unit works with a research methodology which takes on community participants as full partners who produce their own valued outputs. An example of how historical information enriched creative performances is offered. Postgraduates are urged to consider designing their research projects this way as part of the transformation of knowledge production. The distance between the world of the university and everyone else can thus be reduced.

Developed by Prof. Julia Wells, Head, Isikhumbuzo Applied History Unit, History Department, Rhodes University. Thanks to Masixole Heshu, Rhodes History student, Thapelo Mokoatsi, Rhodes student and IAHU, Athina Valha, Rhodes Drama Department, Makhosi Salukazana, Manager, Dakawa Arts and Crafts Centre, Lindixinwa Mahlasela, Albany Museum, Zongezele Matshoba, National English Literary Museum, Thandazile Madinda, Dakawa Arts and Crafts Centre, Mtutuzeli Mboto, Dakawa Arts and Crafts Centre

Who might find this useful?

Postgraduates who are in the process of defining and designing their research programmes.

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