Project managing your postgrad research october 2012

Project managing your
postgraduate research
Carolyne Jacobs

Wednesday 10th October 2012

Project managing your postgrad research
Introductions
 CJ

 Group

 Moodle PhD resources – a quick tour


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.
+
 PM methodology and tools


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)

Practical (10 mins in total)
 Take 5 mins each 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)


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?

Consider your 5 yr objectives for 5 mins:
 What are they?
 Are they achievable? Realistic? Are they
SMART?
 What will stop you achieving your
objectives?
 What will help you achieve them?


Identifying requirements

 Getting the grasp of key concepts

 What is the difference between
methodology and methods?


Requirements
 Getting the grasp of key concepts

 What is ontology?

 What is epistemology?


Requirements

 What is ontology? Your view of the world

 What is epistemology?


Requirements

 What is ontology? Your view of the world

 What is epistemology? How knowledge is
acquired


Requirements
Ontology View of the world
Do you think the world exists externally to
human beings?

or.....

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


Requirements
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)?


Requirements
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??


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
 Discuss your ontological and epistemological
approach (groups of 4 for15 mins in total)

Break
 10 minutes


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?


Requirements 2
 Which literature resources are available
for your research?

 How can you find out about other
sources?


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.)
Thinking time (5 mins)
Sharing your thoughts and ideas (10 mins)

Milestone

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


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!)


Reflecting on your

PhD/research experiences to
date
 The highs and lows (30 mins in total)
 Individually (5 mins):
○ write down 3 of your highs and lows (use yellow
sitcky notes 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 notes)
 highs can be used in future research or your practice
(small orange notes)
 Group discussion


Project Management

methodology
 Agile
 Flexible system with short deadlines for
tasks, self-organisation. Include frequent
meetings and visible tracking

 Waterfall method
 More structured with clear project stages
 Prince 2 methodology for technical projects
For your research you are likely to take the relevant
elements and manage in your own way.


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

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


Practical (30 + mins)
 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!


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 postgrad research october 2012

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