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Comment by Ricardo Morais on Wednesday

Thank you Rituu. You may read more at www.ideapuzzle.com (we offer 1-day free trial of our online software and ebook to new registered users).

Comment by Rituu B Nanda on Wednesday

Thanks Ricardo for your sharing. Very useful.

Comment by Ricardo Morais on Wednesday

Click here to download the Power Point of the seminar "How to design and defend your PhD".

Comment by Ricardo Morais on Wednesday

The 118th edition of the seminar "How to design and defend your PhD" toke place at Catholic University of Porto, for doctoral students and supervisors as well as directors of doctoral schools and programmes from the main Portuguese universities. The main conclusions of the seminar were the following:

1. PhD completion is a global issue with national authorities in Australia, Canada, United Kingdom, USA, and India reporting that about 50% of doctoral students are unable to conclude their PhD;

2. Philosophy, Sociology, History and Psychology of Science provide an helicopter view of issues related with research in general and PhD research in particular;

3. Idea Puzzle 21 decisions emphasize the dilemma between context and focus behind obvious research timelines, deliverables and tasks;

4. In terms of theory, Idea Puzzle 21 decisions emphasize the interdependency between the research question and the research gap, streams of thought and theoretical keywords;

5. In terms of data, Idea Puzzle 21 decisions emphasize the interdependency between the sample and the unit of analysis, unit of observation, and types of data collected;

6. In terms of method, Idea Puzzle 21 decisions emphasize the interdependency between the research strategy and the philosophical stance, data collection and analysis techniques, and quality criteria tactics;

7. In terms of rhetoric and authorship, Idea Puzzle 21 decisions emphasize the interdependency between persuasion, logic, and credibility as well as human, social and economic capital (wisdom, trust, and time).   

Comment by Ricardo Morais on Wednesday

The 117th edition of the seminar "How to design and defend your PhD" toke place at Catholic University of Porto, for students of Management for the Creative Industries. The main conclusions of this seminar were the following:

1. Research is more than "methodology", it also includes theory, data, rhetoric, and authorship;

2. Research timelines, deliverables, and tasks are the "tip of the iceberg" of a research project;

3. Below explicit tasks such as "literature review" and "data collection" there are implicit decisions such as "which streams of thought to review" and "which types of data to collect";

4. Research is dilemmatic by nature: on the one hand, the range of theoretical, empirical and methodological options is vast, but on the other, the timelines to conclude the research are short;

5. The only way to solve the dilemma between vast options and short timelines is to focus your research with explicit decisions and criteria about theory, data, method, rhetoric, and authorship.

Comment by Ricardo Morais on May 8, 2012 at 13:15

The final thoughts at the 116th edition of the seminar "How to design and defend your PhD" were the following:

1. PhD research involves 5 ingredients: theory, data, method, rhetoric, and authorship;

2. Each ingredient, in turn, is part of a larger context e.g. all scientific publications (theoretical context), all data (empirical context), all research methods (methodological context), all arguments (rhetoric context), and your CV (authorial context);

3. In practice, however, your PhD will be a sample of such 5 contexts: some theories, some data, some method, some arguments, and some synergies with your CV;

4. In order to sample some theory, data, method, rhetoric, and authorship to be included in your PhD, you need to decide your focus;

5. In order to decide the focus of your PhD, you need to be aware of critical decisions and understand the interdependency between them (e.g. imature topic > exploratory questions > qualitative method > small sample > analytical generalisation vs. mature topic > advanced questions > quantitative method > large sample > statistical generalisation);

6. Idea Puzzle recommends 21 decisions in order to help you focus your PhD and accelerate its conclusion: 5 theoretical decisions, 5 empirical decisions, 5 methodological decisions, 3 rhetoric decisions, and 3 authorical decisions;

7. These 21 decisions help you focus your PhD both within and between each of the 5 contexts (theoretical, empirical, methodological, rhetoric and authorial). The result is a focused research design that reduces the uncertainty of your PhD.

According to the American Council of Graduate Schools, 43% of doctoral students are unable to conclude their PhD in ten years (Sowell 2008). We believe Idea Puzzle 21 decisions can reduce this figure.

Comment by Ricardo Morais on April 25, 2012 at 13:57

Design and defend your PhD with Idea Puzzle® 21 decisions

Idea Puzzle is looking for PhD students who wish to joint our Global Network of Idea Puzzle® Country Ambassadors. Check the current list of Ambassadors at www.ideapuzzle.com and join us!

Comment by NEWTON ASAKHULU MUKOLWE on February 19, 2012 at 14:55

Hi All!

The main purpose of my study is to analyze the effects of examination anxiety on academic performance. It will do this by also checking on the loading effects of such mediator variables/correlates as academic procrastination, locus of control and academic resilience on examination anxiety. It will also analyze the effects of sex differences on the relationship between the above mediator variables and test anxiety, and also on the relationship between test anxiety and academic performance. AM PUZZLED ON RESEARCH DESIGN TO USE. PLEASE HELP.

Comment by manal saeed on January 25, 2012 at 10:04

 Hi All

I am preparing my Phd proposal and would like to seek some help regarding mixed methods research - my topic is cancer patient  satisfaction of hospital care and implication for improvement- it is mixed methods study , I am struggling in choosing mixed methods design type .first I choose explanatory sequential methods and with reading I find out this need to be concurrent embeddd strategy because am surveying only patients and then interviewing patients and also staff to get 2 different pictures that provide an overall assessment of the problem .. So would like to know if any one have example of embedded design or Please can you advice? 

Comment by Asafa Tafarra Dibaba, PhD on December 16, 2011 at 4:07

Dear Sara,

I deeply appreciate your suggestions and really thank you for your time and very kind words. Lets keep in touch and that the more we share the more we have. 

Peace!

Asafa

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