Guidelines for developing the HDR thesis proposal

Transcription

1 Guidelines for developing the HDR thesis proposal Overview All early childhood HDR candidates are required to deliver a research proposal during the first year of enrolment. It is expected that the thesis proposal will be developed and submitted for review within the first 6-8 months by full-time candidates and within 8-10 months by part-time candidates. The primary purpose of preparing a thesis proposal is to enable candidates to focus and define their research plans in a formal way. The research proposal enables candidates to demonstrate their capacity to engage in genuine enquiry. Thesis proposals will be reviewed by one or two reviewers depending on the nature of the proposed study as follows: Candidates planning to produce a traditional thesis will have two reviewers Candidates planning to produce a thesis by publications, will have one reviewer; either the candidate or her/his supervisors can also request two reviewers, as appropriate. Candidates will be required to submit a thesis proposal, including an overview of the aims and scope of the thesis, research question(s), conceptual orientation, types of data and research methods, and data analysis strategies to be used. This document must be submitted electronically, for review within the stipulated period of the candidature. The specific date for submission is to be negotiated between the candidate and the supervisors. Review criteria The reviewer(s) will read the thesis proposal document and prepare written feedback for the candidate using the following questions: Are the research aims sufficient in scope to constitute a PhD/Masters research thesis? Is the theoretical orientation and methodology appropriate to address the aims of the proposed research study? Is the project feasible within the time frame available for this candidature? Has the candidate demonstrated a capacity to provide a critical review of the literature? Is the proposal written in formal academic English, and a recognised referencing and style guide? The review process is regarded as an important milestone in the research candidature and is designed as a supportive intervention to receive constructive feedback. By doing the review in the first year of the candidature also enables candidates to refine and/or redirect their investigations in time efficient ways. Achieving endorsement and/or agreement in principle to proceed with the PhD through this process is also a hurdle requirement to be completed within the first twelve months of candidature. Review procedure

2 1. Candidate to submit the thesis proposal for review electronically, to her/his supervisors on an agreed date within 6-8 months (for full-time candidates) or 8-10 months (for part-time candidates) of their candidature. 2. Principal supervisor to electronically forward the thesis proposal, including the contact details of the reviewer(s) who are available for reviewing the thesis proposal, to the HDR Academic Adviser (Early Childhood), Associate Professor Manjula Waniganayake 3. The HDR Academic Adviser, to forward the thesis proposal together with the necessary documentation to prepare a review report guidelines to the reviewer(s) recommended, stipulating a deadline within 2-3 weeks of submission, for returning the review reports. 4. Upon receipt of these reports, the HDR Academic Adviser will forward these to the Principal Supervisor, who will make the necessary arrangements to discuss the review reports with the candidate in a timely manner. 5. Following the review meeting between the candidate and her/his supervisors, set a deadline to meet appropriate amendments and/or submit the Thesis Proposal Confirmation report within one month of the review reports being received. 6. This report will be sent to the HDR Administrator, Margaret Fegent (Margaret.Fegent@mq.edu.au) who will ensure it is attached to the University s Candidature Commencement Report due at the end of the first year of enrolment, and submitted to the HDRO as appropriate. When a major rewrite is recommended, the candidate and supervisors will negotiate an appropriate deadline and advice the HDR Academic Adviser of this deadline, and follow the steps identified above to ensure the review of the revised thesis proposal. Format of the thesis proposal The thesis proposal will be a minimum of 5000 words and up to 10,000 words, and consist of commentary on some of the essential elements of a thesis including the following: 1 Project title and summary 5. Research design, including ethical considerations 2 Aims, significance and expected outcomes 6. Time line and budget 3 Critical review of literature 7. Thesis writing plans 4 Theoretical orientation 8. References Candidates are required to discuss the content to be covered under each of these elements with their supervisors. This discussion may include possible sources or resources that could assist in developing and strengthening the candidate s ability to articulate his/her research plans. This includes practical guides and information briefs prepared by our library on undertaking data base searches and preparing critical reviews of literature. A variety of books have also been published on the doctoral research experience as well as designing and formatting thesis based research. 1. Project title and summary: Provide a succinct project title indicating the question or problem to be investigated. In no more than 100 words of plain language, provide a summary of the proposed research study referring to its aims, significance and expected outcomes.

3 2. Aims, significance and expected outcomes: What do you hope to discover through your research? This section should state briefly, either in a series of points, or in two or three paragraphs, the main issues to be explored, problems to be solved, and/or the main aspects of the topic to be researched. In this section, the candidate is also required to discuss significance of the proposed research study, including a clear justification of how the research will lead to significant outcomes. Anticipated outcomes of the proposed investigation includes how the research aims to make a difference, such as shedding new light or producing new evidence on an important problem, investigating a new methodology, advancing conceptual understanding, professional practice in early childhood, informing governmental policy, or community capacity building. 3. Critical review of literature: This review, together with section 4, on theoretical orientation, will be the main substance of the proposal and will lay the basis for your discussions of methodology and the research work to be undertaken during your candidature. The literature review should explain the relation of your topic and research aims to significant literature and recent/current research in your field. The form of the literature review may vary according to the nature of the field: curriculum, history, child development, and/or leadership in early childhood. This review will contextualise your proposed research topic/question, and demonstrate your awareness of similar or relevant research. The literature review will be fairly detailed, summarising salient findings, arguments, theories and other developments, but it does not have to be a comprehensive review of all literature in the field. In some fields, where perhaps relatively little has been published, it may well amount to this; in others the published literature may be so large that to read and review all studies would be a task more suitable to the writing of a thesis, not a thesis proposal. Be clear to assist the reviewers by stipulating the boundaries of the literature review you have presented in this proposal. You may wish to make certain qualitative judgments concerning the relevant literature. For instance, which pieces of research/writing seem to have been most successful, or to be most promising, and which less so? What are the major lines of criticism that can be leveled at previous work. What major omissions/neglected emphases may be identified in the area? Once again, however, the evaluation of a body of literature can become a large task and can turn into an open-ended venture. And you should consult your supervisors on this. Although some evaluation of previous research is in order, this should be presented in the context of the main purpose of the review. It is possible that with some topics there may be very little relevant published material, or that there may be only materials of potential but as yet undemonstrated relevance. If you propose to attempt this, your literature review may need to consider what it is about your chosen topic that means it falls in a thinly researched area, or what it is about the area that has caused it to be neglected. What have researchers preferred to study instead? Why is the neglected area nevertheless of significance? Some topics may require attention to more than one kind of literature - e.g., psychological/sociological, history/curriculum etc. Such interdisciplinary undertakings can raise questions of balance and integration, and are obviously much

4 more readily undertaken if there are existing interdisciplinary models to follow. Consultation with relevant staff other than your supervisors may be helpful at this stage to identify appropriate literature. 4. Theoretical orientation: You have settled on a topic, clarified your major aims, and reviewed other relevant work. In view of this, where, tentatively, do you stand on the topic? If there are various theories on your topic/area, which one(s) will you use in your conceptual framework for your thesis? Which themes or trends do you wish to follow up from the literature as you have reviewed it? In sum, what are the main considerations that will guide you in your search? Perhaps the best way to approach this section of the proposal is to try to set down your main hypothesis or your expectations about your topic. In view of past theory and research, and your emerging issues, what are the areas in which you expect to have findings? Clearly, especially for empirical theses, there will be some topics where it is essential to formulate explicit hypotheses before any research can be conducted. This does not mean, in any way, that all hypotheses or theoretical positions must be finalised and stated in your research proposal. New hypotheses, and refinements of existing ones, may be expected at various stages of your research. It may be helpful to think about problems or areas where, although as yet you do not have any clear hypotheses, you can nevertheless see that you may need to develop them at some stage. Finally, some research will be more influenced by values than others - educational, moral, political or religious - and researchers with different values will make different judgments of emphasis or interpretation. If you think this is the case, you should say so and indicate your own position. This is quite independent of the question of whether values can be justified by your own or anyone else's theorising or research, including the proposed research. Clarity and rational presentation are required, not conformity to a particular "line" or school of thinking. This is a different matter, of course, from the conduct of research once the methodology has been chosen. The thesis should be presented in conformity with the rules and canons of the methods employed, and, if new methods or variations on existing methods are adopted, these should be explained and justified. 5. Research design: This section will address questions including which research tradition, procedures, research techniques and methods do you propose to use? and what resources and approaches to analysis of data are to be employed? Provide a brief statement explaining how your proposed methodology is suited to your topic. It will presumably follow from, or be consistent with, your stated theoretical orientation and problems/issues to be examined. With some topics, there may be several available alternative research methods. Sometimes it will be possible to use more than one method in the same study, sometimes not. When choosing from among alternatives, you should give reasons for your choice indicating the distinctive contribution and advantages of the method(s) chosen. Again, these reasons would be drawn from, or at least compatible with, your stated theoretical position.

5 Candidates are also required to identify ethical considerations impacting on the study. Early identification of potentially challenging issues of ethical concern as well as an awareness of external agencies who may need to be contacted for additional compliance, can assist in satisfying the university s ethical protocols efficiently. 6. Tentative time-line and indicative budget: Consider the Candidature Management Plan relevant for your degree provided in the Higher Degree Research Guide for Candidates and Supervisors (2009: pp 12-14) and prepare a tentative time-line for your research thesis. Identify, in their expected order, the steps you plan to take, indicating so far as possible, the duration of each step. Details of the types of research procedures or methods to be employed need to be indicated in this section. In some, if not most kinds of research, there will be stages where the next step is very largely contingent on the outcomes of the preceding phase, and it will not be possible to forecast exactly what the next step will be. It might be a case of, for example, indicating that step 2 could be (a) or (b) or (c), depending on what happens in step 1. If so, state what would be involved in (a), (b), and (c) so that it will be clear what some of your options might be after completion of each step as appropirate. Perhaps it will not be possible to be even this precise; if so, you should explain why. In identifying the scope of your thesis, it is also important to discuss any financial support you may require in undertaking your research work. Accordingly, candidates are urged to develop a budget proposal for the duration of their candidature. Once the budget has been negotiated with your supervisors, this could be used as the foundation for any funding applications available through either your home Department or Central University resources. It is essential that the best estimates for costs to be incurred are provided and justified for all budget items. This justification must be made in relation to the aims and the research plan of the project. Candidates are reminded to consult both the Faculty of Human Sciences funding policy on HDR research and the departmental guidelines on financial support available to doctoral candidates, to identify expenditure items such as equipment and travel costs that are eligible for university funding. Note also that in the final year of candidature, you are eligible to seek funding (currently $4000) through the University s Postgraduate Research Funds (PGRF) scheme. (Refer URL: The main point of this section is to demonstrate the practicability of your proposed research, given the current state of the literature, your theoretical orientation and your methodological choices, and to indicate a tentative projected time schedule and sequence for the research for its writing up. 7. Thesis writing plans: There are at least two avenues available to HDR candidates to finalise their thesis for examination. Some candidates prefer to produce a traditional thesis based on a chapter outline, and others opt to produce a thesis by publishing content in refereed journals during the period of candidature. In finalizing the thesis proposal, thesis writing plans must be made clear as follows: Candidates completing a traditional thesis are required to provide a tentative chapter outline.

6 Candidates undertaking a thesis by publication are required to provide a tentative list of journal articles with a proposed title/topic and possible avenues for publication. This section may be very tentative and will very likely be modified, perhaps fundamentally, over the duration of the candidature. The main point of this section is to demonstrate the feasibility of writing the research in a suitable format and in a continuous manner throughout the candidature. 8. References: This is a list of all publications cited or quoted in your proposal (all sections not just the literature review) plus any others you think important in relation to the proposed thesis. Please consult with your supervisors regarding the appropriate referencing and style guide to be used in writing your thesis related research. The reader should be able to judge the relevant context of publications for your thesis by reading your references. It may also be helpful in assessing the likelihood of available means of publication of your thesis, or parts of it. It is assumed that it is desirable for traditional theses - especially at doctoral level - to be published in whole or part, as well as, inform the basis of external publications produced by candidates. IMPORTANT: Take a look at the various documents that are used in the administration of the HDR Thesis Proposals which are contained at the back of this Handbook. These documents are: Proforma letter sent to the HDR thesis proposal reviewers to be completed by the HDR Academic Adviser. Early Childhood HDR Thesis Proposal Review Report to be completed by the reviewers Thesis proposal feedback memo to completed by the HDR Academic Adviser when sending the review report(s) to the Principal Supervisor Thesis proposal Acceptance memo to be completed by the Principal Supervisor, following discussion of feedback with candidate and sent to the HDR Academic Adviser, for endorsement and submission to the Head of Department.