So, having spent the last couple of weeks powered-down and in the offline world, i returned to things today with some slight trepidation facing an all-dayer of research training. The trepidation stems from the fact that my experience of research training to date has been, how can i put it...mixed. You can understand that there will always be a focus on getting students through their PhDs and ensuring they all receive a consistent approach to the PhD training process. The problem with that is that the PhD, by its very nature, is such a specific and individualised programme it's difficult to see how generic, one-size-fits-all training can help the individual.
My previous research experience has been threefold: one dissertation as an undergrad and two as a masters student, with the universities i studied at offering some basic training in research (quant vs qual etc...). That means i started my PhD not knowing my ontology from my epistemology and being continually frustrated with trying to work out what my various research framework, strategy, methodology, approach, design etc looked like (P.S. not much clearer a year in).
So my point is, where is that point at the start of the PhD process that says, "Simon, you are a somewhat unique individual and we can see from your previous experience that you are sadly missing an understanding of basic research philosophy, so we're delighted to tell you that we have laid on this personalised plan to get you up to speed on all things research." Quite! Now i realise that producing a package tailored to every individual would be nigh-on impossible, but where is the recognition that, despite my dearth of research knowledge, i may actually have done other things, learned other things, damn it, might even be good at some other things and that some of that could be taken into consideration/mitigation when forumlating my training programme?
I'd like to have had that imaginary conversation at the start of my PhD, one that recognises i'm busy with my teaching commitments as a full-time member of staff, so the research training i subsequently attended was then targeted at what i really needed, rather than having to have ticked every compulsory course box. After all, without beating the point to death, the PhD is a highly-personalised programme of research so the rhetoric that supports that ideal needs to itself be supported by those responsible for ensuring PhD progression with personalised and targeted research training for the benefit of the PhD student. And on that point, today's training was, happily, something i had nothing to worry about.
My previous research experience has been threefold: one dissertation as an undergrad and two as a masters student, with the universities i studied at offering some basic training in research (quant vs qual etc...). That means i started my PhD not knowing my ontology from my epistemology and being continually frustrated with trying to work out what my various research framework, strategy, methodology, approach, design etc looked like (P.S. not much clearer a year in).
So my point is, where is that point at the start of the PhD process that says, "Simon, you are a somewhat unique individual and we can see from your previous experience that you are sadly missing an understanding of basic research philosophy, so we're delighted to tell you that we have laid on this personalised plan to get you up to speed on all things research." Quite! Now i realise that producing a package tailored to every individual would be nigh-on impossible, but where is the recognition that, despite my dearth of research knowledge, i may actually have done other things, learned other things, damn it, might even be good at some other things and that some of that could be taken into consideration/mitigation when forumlating my training programme?
I'd like to have had that imaginary conversation at the start of my PhD, one that recognises i'm busy with my teaching commitments as a full-time member of staff, so the research training i subsequently attended was then targeted at what i really needed, rather than having to have ticked every compulsory course box. After all, without beating the point to death, the PhD is a highly-personalised programme of research so the rhetoric that supports that ideal needs to itself be supported by those responsible for ensuring PhD progression with personalised and targeted research training for the benefit of the PhD student. And on that point, today's training was, happily, something i had nothing to worry about.
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