Well, after many months of work, meetings with my supervisors, drafts and redrafts of numerous documents and forms, along with the actual candidacy meeting I outlined in my last post, this week I have received full approval to undertake my research for real.

This point, in the words of a friend who is about 75% complete with her PhD, is where the fun really starts and I am oh so happy to be finally here.  I do understand why the entry process is so complex and lengthy though.  In Australia where I am studying, PhD students represent a substantial investment by both the university and society in general and as such they need to weed out the impractical subjects, students who are not necessarily committed at the start or who are pursuing a PhD for unsure reasons, but, it has certainly been a long and tortuous exercise, one I am so happy to have complete.

So, what does the immediate future have in store for my academic life?

Well, my next challenge is to get access to the subjects I need to interview for my data collection, this, I understand, can be a pretty painful exercise its self, I am hopeful/optimistic with my own research as I have 25 years experience in the industry I am conducting the research in and still work within it, giving me a number of good contacts already, but converting those contacts into actual interview candidates who fit the profile of my research will still be a challenge.  Then, once I establish the contacts and subjects I have to undertake the actual interviews, which in my case will involve some travel both domestically in Australia and internationally, to meet with and interview my subjects.

So, yes, the fun is definitely starting, but I suspect some of the frustrations are still to be experienced…

My candidacy has finally happened, I had my interview late last month, it feels great to have completed that stage of the application process, to be one step closer to starting yet still not quite over the start line is, however, a little frustrating.

The candidacy interview was a very interesting process, I imagine it is a different experience for every student going through it, for some it will be immensely stressful and testing, for others it will be a very casual formality they just need to go through, for me it was somewhere in between.

As a mature student, meeting with groups of senior personnel from other organisations who have some decision making authority over my future is a relatively common activity, I meet regularly with clients and prospective clients as part of my job and in many ways the candidacy exercise was little different, except that in this case the subject was so personal and I had to defend my own views and ideas alone against the panel.

So, as to the details of the candidacy process…

I have posted a couple of times previously regarding the process I have had to follow to get to the point of attending my candidacy interview, firstly a year or so I had to apply to actually start the whole process, I then was given conditional candidacy, where I had to complete two pre requisite units, which I did last semester, following which I had to submit my 10 page candidacy document which then became the basis for my candidacy panel meeting.

Before the meeting I met numerous times with my supervisors who worked with me on how to approach the meeting, what to try to address, what not to raise etc.  We also decided that we would avoid the standard approach of these meetings where the candidate (me) produces a PowerPoint slide show to give first before the questions started, I instead produced a 2 sided A3 document, folded twice along its length into a pamphlet style which outlined all of the major aspects of my research proposal so that I could hand a copy to each person attending and use it as a mechanism to raise and discuss facets of my research.  I worked on this pamphlet for a month or so prior to the meeting, had 20 copies produced and took them along to the meeting with me.

The meeting was held on campus and was open to anyone in the faculty to attend and ask questions, a pretty scary possibility was that a lot of people could turn up with a lot of strong and different views, leading to a pretty tense and draining meeting.  In my case, there was a conference also on campus at the same time which resulted in a smaller group attending but still the discussion was lively and every aspect of my proposal was tested and reviewed.  I had 20 minutes to present my research proposal, followed by an open and lengthy discussion where all of the attending academics tested me on my views and intent with my research.

After about 90 minutes I was asked to leave the room so the panel could discuss my proposal in depth, this discussion lasted for the better part of 30 minutes, after which I was asked to return, many of the panel left at this stage, leaving only the chair of the panel, my supervisor and me to close out the discussion.  The good news at this point was that I was given verbal approval that my research would be accepted and I would be admitted as a full candidate, however, I was also given a list of things to address in my research proposal, things to strengthen, revise, rewrite or rephrase before the final draft of the 10 page document could be forwarded to the University board for my final acceptance.

The reworked document went back to my supervisor about 3 weeks ago now and is due to be submitted to the board during the November board meeting, meaning I should be all signed up for the end of the year, ready to really start the journey I have only been planning so far.

Hopefully I will be able to update this blog with a post stating that I have been finally accepted in the next few weeks, in the mean time, please do post any questions or comments you may have on my ramping discussions.

I have spent the last few weeks working on my candidacy document, this is a 10 page document (no more than 10 pages plus references is allowed) that sets out for the candidacy board the what, why, who, when and where of my proposed research, it has to be substantial enough for the board to see that I have a valid research plan, one that will advance the field of knowledge, that can be done in a the proposed time frame, will have internal and external validity, is ethically sound and has a feasible budget.

My university, like all others I imagine, has very structured guidelines as to how to prepare this document, this extends down to a list of headings and proposed subject matter for each section, some of the sections even have proscribed lengths such as the abstract is to be approximately 1/2 a page in length etc.  This document is essentially the key to getting approval to start the research and as such has taken a great deal of drafting, re drafting, polishing and agonising over and as of three days ago, it is in the hands of my supervisor to forward to the board.  The board will have a few weeks to look over it then in about 5 weeks time I have to present the proposal in person to the board, at which time the board members will have the opportunity to quiz me on any aspect of the proposal they think needs to be questioned.

I have very mixed feelings about this candidacy meeting, on the one hand I desperately want to get started with my research and as such, the opportunity to explain it to them is something I am keen to take, on the other hand, I have all sorts of nagging questions in the back of my head around how I justify my chosen methodology, the background to my research etc, I know this is a perfectly normal and common fear and I keep telling myself that I will be fine, but the nerves will be there until after the day.

So, for the next few weeks I will spend my time reading and re reading my 10 page document and worrying about the possible questions while at the same time preparing my presentation and talking points for the meeting, the clock is ticking and getting louder by the day…

So, as I mentioned in an earlier post, here are some reflections on the Qualitative research unit I have just completed.  Firstly, as a bit of background, my research is proposed to be conducted using mixed methods with a primary qualitative drive followed by a subsequent quantitative part, as such, when I was given conditional candidacy, one of the conditions was that I completed a Qualitative research unit.

The Qualitative unit was structured such that the first 4 weeks were going over the various qualitative theories, for me, this was very new and like trying to learn a new language, lots of new terms and concepts I had not encountered previously. The next part of the unit got into the more practical aspects of qualitative research, how to collect qualitative data, how to manage the data and how to analyse it.  This part was also where the assignments were focused.

The unit assignments were to prepare for, conduct and then discuss an interview, this was a really great exercise, I personally learnt a great deal from it that will be very useful in my own research, it taught me a great deal about bracketing, preparing the interview questions and transcribing the software, in the transcription I came across a tremendous piece of software called “listen & type“, this is Mac specific software that lets you control an audio file using the key board so you are not having to keep going to the mouse to stop and start the recording, the software is only about $20 and is available on line at the link above.

The second assignment was to take a number of student interview transcripts and code and analyse them using NVivo 9 and Decision Explorer both really great pieces of software which I will try to discuss in a bit more detail in future posts, from this analysis we were then to begin to develop theories around the subject of the interviews, which was eminently possible after using the software to help analyse the data.

All in all, the unit was, for me, a complete success.  I learnt a great deal about the process of formalised research and gained a lot of new insights into how my own research could be refined and focused.  Now all I need are the results from the units.

So, when I received my conditional candidacy I did so with the requirement that I complete two nominated units, Introduction to Research Methodology and Advanced Research methodology – Qualitative.  I received the former because I don’t have any formal research background and the latter because I am looking at qualitatively driven mixed methods research, so the majority of my work will be in the qualitative field and as such I need to know what I am doing there.

I have just, today, finished the units and while I have learnt a great deal, it has been an intensive ride this last three months, though not one I regret.  I have come to a much greater understanding of the processes I need to follow and also have been able, through the unit work and assignments, to be able to refine and define my own research question much better.

It will be a few weeks now until the marks for the units are released, I need an average of 70% or more in each unit to proceed to my candidacy proposal so it is not plain sailing, but if I can maintain the grades I got during the mid unit assignments I should be OK there, then it is on to polishing my candidacy proposal and presenting my case to the committee, after which, all being well, I can finally embark on my real research.

I’ll put up a few posts this next few weeks on the specifics from the two units, I will also take a chance to catch my breath after the semester, it has been a busy one.

So, last week I had my orientation morning, there were around 100 of us gathered in one of the halls on campus, we were addressed by several members of both faculty and the student body who did a great job of explaining the whole PhD process to us. For me, some of the key learnings were;

• At any one time there are around 3,000 students taking Higher Degree by Research courses at the University, so, I am most definitely not alone on this journey, though I do feel that it may feel like we are all travelling along the same road and can really only see each other’s headlights and tail lights.
• Of the students who make it to the point of submitting their Thesis, less than 1% will fail, so if I can make it to the end of the journey my chances should be pretty good.
• There are a lot of assistance facilities, short courses and lectures, specialists and student bodies out there to help me along my way.
• There is some financial assistance available for some activities, though as a part time student working full time I am less likely to be so dependent on these than a full time student living on a grant.
• Full candidacy will take up to 6 months… So I know where the second half of this year will be going
• Food on campus, at least in the guild bar, is not what I am used to as a mature student in my mid to late 40′s, the University was kind enough to put on lunch after the orientation though to me, plates of chips and potato wedges are not lunch.

All in all, it was a very worthwhile half day, I have learnt a lot more about where I am heading with the formalities of the research process, now to get on with it. First lecture starts at 6 tomorrow evening.

So, after a semester of off time, next week marks my return to academic work, I have orientation next Thursday, this is a session held specially for post grad by research masters and PhD students so it will be really interesting to see what they have to tell us all…

The week following is just a week of consolidation then on 28th February I start the formal units required as pre requisites for me to start the PhD.  So, watch this space, I will hopefully, finally start to post more regularly.

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Well, I have just received my research enrolment advice for 2011 and, reading it really struck home how long a journey I am actually embarking on…

The first 6 months of my journey will take me through the rigours of research theory with a general research methods and an advanced qualitative research unit, so far so good, then come July of 2011, the thesis study semesters start, and this is where the time frame has really hit me, with the July 2011 start comes a completion of June 2019, that is 8 years and 6 months from now.

Don’t get me wrong here, I am very much looking forward to the journey, and my plan is certainly to finish before the end of the 8 years but seeing it written out like that in black and white is still a pretty eye opening experience, and the clock does not even start until March of next year.

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Well, for the first time in both my professional and academic career I had the opportunity to present a conference paper this week. The Conference was the Australian Institute of Project Management 2010 annual conference, held in Darwin in the Northern Territory.

My paper was closely aligned with my PhD theme, and once I got over the nerves of presenting to a room of about 120 of my industry peers, I understand the paper its self was both well received and has sparked a bit of interesting the subject in the community, so all in all, feeling pretty good about things.

Next years conference is the annual international congress of IPMA, a much bigger event and having got my first paper out of the way, I am now really inspired to start on one for this next conference, even though it is still 12 months away…

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Well, after a months wait I heard on Monday that my application to start my PhD has been processed and I have a conditional candidacy offer, it is conditional on my completing two academic units, one a general research theories, the other a specific unit on quantitative research, these two units are very relevant and are subjects I would have wanted to study regardless of them being conditional. Once these are complete, I then have to go through my candidacy process and be fully accepted, but that is for the second half of 2011.

I am really happy to have passed over this first very small hurdle, there is an enormous journey ahead of me, one which I am sure will have both highs and lows, periods of frustration, panic and boredom, but these are all part of the process, I just hope I can remember that when the lows occur…

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