Welcome back to my blog, where I talk about being an illustrator and a researcher. What’s the most important thing when starting research?

The first thing one would consider when approaching this field would be the research proposal. Well, when to begin with the research proposal? What’s needed in a proposal?

There are a number of good resources that will guide you through the process. My school, Loughborough University, for example, has great resources on their website. Bear in mind, also, that every school’s proposal format is different. When I was applying for PhD positions, some were asking for a 500-word abstract, and others wanted up to 2,500. I remember that Loughborough’s requirement was closer to the 2,000-word mark. So, the first-first thing to do is to research schools/universities that are good fits for your interest and read into their website to see what word count, format and headings they prefer.

A passing tip: deeply consider the kinds of words and language they use! It will be a good indicator of what kind of research they want and what they prioritise. For example: do they keep using a certain word, like transdisciplinary? Do they provide a lengthy description of their prestigious history? Do they say that they actively support practice-based research?

At this point, let’s assume that you have a research idea, some reading around the topic and a school that you’re interested in. Then, you’re ready to start writing the proposal!

How much to include in the proposal is often a confusing and debatable process of writing the proposal. How much literature review is a good amount, and how sure should one be about the research? Here is what I see based on my experience.

From about the second week of being a PhD candidate, what I’ve discovered is that the only thing that will stay constant in a PhD journey is change. Things always change; the topic changes, the focus changes, participants change, the methods change and the outcome changes. This is an inevitable part of the PhD as the candidate starts to unravel and discover a cosmos of already-done research that is too dangerously close to what they’ve been meaning to do. Every day is a whirlwind of new discoveries that leads to a whole load of ‘oh shit…’ and a healthy amount of ‘what now…?’ That is normal; the whole point of a PhD is that no one has ever tread on the path, so of course the process of paving an unknown path is confusing, counterintuitive, and wildly unprecedented.

I’m not sharing this to scare you, but to point out how important it is to know what to be flexible about and what to keep. And the one thing to keep is the research direction: what is the general direction, and a gap that hasn’t been filled, that drives the research? Metaphorically, let’s say that I need to travel from Loughborough to London. That would be the research direction – Southwards, to be metaphorically accurate! Then if the train doesn’t run (which is oh-so-common), the bus is an option; if that fails, heck, the plane could be an option! If that fails as well, I can always walk. The how one reaches the eventual outcome of a research project is subject to change, but the direction remains. Having said that, sometimes even the topic or the focus of a topic may need to change. It’s just another day of researching.

So, imagine a PhD interviewer’s position when a proposal promises a concrete set of outcomes. Why do a PhD for a project that already has a projected ending? How does this person know that this will work, when seemingly the project hasn’t been done before? These are the kinds of questions that a proposal offers the outcome instead of the beginning.

Don’t get me wrong; it’s good to be aware of possible endings. What I want to emphasise is the difference between possibilities instead of promises. One could mention similar projects that have been done, and state how these outcomes could inspire the outcome of this project. There will be a collection of methodologies and analyses that other projects have implemented that would be very useful for this particular project too. The important distinction is the difference between could from will.

Then, what determines the starting point and the direction? The research gap. As I’ve mentioned in the previous post about research gaps, identifying, contextualising and seeking to resolve research gaps provides the logical first steps that would lead to a fruitful and rewarding PhD experience. So, in the proposal, let’s start at the beginning: provide the whole picture of what/where the gap is, and stay flexible with could-s in the methodologies, analysis and the outcome.

(As I’m writing this, it suddenly dawned on me that this may not be the case for other subjects like STEM. So, as always, take these posts with a grain of salt. I am not speaking about/for all doctoral experiences, and I only know what I know!)