| List of figures | p. ix |
| Preface | p. xi |
| Introduction | p. 1 |
| The structure of the book | p. 2 |
| The nature of doctoral research | p. 7 |
| Introduction | p. 7 |
| The nature of the doctoral process | p. 8 |
| Applying to funding bodies | p. 10 |
| Between contributing to knowledge and gaining qualifications | p. 11 |
| The right place to study | p. 13 |
| Matters of time | p. 14 |
| Your choice of subject | p. 15 |
| Before you start | p. 16 |
| Referencing and other tips | p. 17 |
| Professional associations | p. 19 |
| Summary | p. 20 |
| Further reading | p. 21 |
| Addendum: books on research and doctoral studies | p. 21 |
| The 'nuts and bolts' of research | p. 25 |
| Introduction | p. 25 |
| The tools and terminology of research | p. 26 |
| Ontology | p. 26 |
| Epistemology | p. 27 |
| Differing ontological and epistemological views | p. 28 |
| Key concepts in research | p. 29 |
| Methods | p. 29 |
| Quantitative research | p. 31 |
| Qualitative research | p. 33 |
| The quantitative-qualitative dichotomy: a false antithesis | p. 34 |
| Methodology | p. 36 |
| Theory | p. 37 |
| Model, ideal type and typology | p. 40 |
| Paradigm | p. 43 |
| Concepts | p. 44 |
| The abuse of concepts | p. 45 |
| Disciplines, discourses and interdisciplinarity | p. 46 |
| 'Interdisciplinarity' or 'post-disciplinarity' | p. 47 |
| Summary | p. 49 |
| Further reading | p. 50 |
| Getting started | p. 51 |
| Introduction | p. 51 |
| Getting started | p. 52 |
| The literature review, research questions and hypotheses | p. 54 |
| The initial 'dip' (stage 1) | p. 56 |
| 'Second' literature review, research questions and hypotheses (stage 2) | p. 57 |
| Full-scale critical literature review (stage 3) | p. 60 |
| Levels and units of analysis in research | p. 62 |
| Deciding on levels and units of analysis | p. 65 |
| Types of study | p. 66 |
| Comparative studies | p. 69 |
| Summary | p. 71 |
| Further reading | p. 72 |
| Methods, fieldwork and stages of research | p. 73 |
| Introduction | p. 73 |
| Methods: different types of enquiry | p. 74 |
| Interview technique | p. 74 |
| Structured interviews | |
| Semi-structured and unstructured interviews | |
| Group interviews of focus groups | |
| Questionnaire or survey technique | p. 77 |
| The observation technique | p. 78 |
| Documentary analysis | p. 80 |
| The archival technique | |
| Documents | |
| Discourse analysis | |
| Print media | |
| Triangulation: mixing methods and data | p. 83 |
| Method and data triangulation | p. 84 |
| Fieldwork | p. 85 |
| Categorising data | p. 87 |
| Stages of the research process | p. 87 |
| The story so far | p. 88 |
| The stages of doctoral research | p. 90 |
| Stage I | |
| Stage II | |
| Stage III | |
| Summary | p. 94 |
| Further reading | p. 94 |
| Supervision, the viva and other matters of importance | p. 97 |
| Introduction | p. 97 |
| Supervisors and supervisions | p. 98 |
| Stages of the supervision process | p. 99 |
| Initial period | |
| Main period | |
| Fieldwork period | |
| The final period | |
| Supervision training and joint supervisions | p. 102 |
| The viva | p. 103 |
| The actors involved in, and the substance of, the viva | p. 106 |
| Who will be examining you in the viva? | |
| How does the viva procedure work? | |
| What are the examiners examining in the viva? | |
| What are the different outcomes of the viva? | |
| The process of writing a thesis | p. 110 |
| Drafting and redrafting | p. 111 |
| Papers | p. 112 |
| Writing strategies | p. 113 |
| Structure | p. 114 |
| Publication: working papers, journals and books | p. 115 |
| Working papers and journals | p. 115 |
| Books | p. 116 |
| Ethics and plagiarism in research | p. 118 |
| Ethics | p. 118 |
| Plagiarism | p. 120 |
| Training and dissemination | p. 122 |
| Postgraduate research training | p. 122 |
| Seminars, conferences and workshops | p. 123 |
| Seminars | |
| Conferences and workshops | |
| The utility of a PhD | p. 126 |
| Timekeeping skills | p. 126 |
| Communication skills | p. 127 |
| Teamwork and networking skills | p. 127 |
| IT skills | p. 128 |
| Teaching | p. 128 |
| Summary | p. 128 |
| Further reading | p. 129 |
| Glossary of research terms | p. 131 |
| Examples of reference systems | p. 143 |
| Bibliography | p. 145 |
| Index | p. 151 |
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