THINKING LIKE A RESEARCHER: A TARGET FOR CANDIDATES AND A CHALLENGE FOR SUPERVISORS

1. North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus 1st February, 2012 BRAIN BAG LUNCH THINKING LIKE A RESEARCHER: A TARGET FOR CANDIDATES AND A CHALLENGE FOR SUPERVISORS Professor Emeritus Vernon Trafford Anglia Ruskin University Chelmsford, Essex CM1 1SQ United Kingdom vntrafford@aol.com // www.vernontrafford.com

2. When high levels of thinking about the research process are evident in a thesis they are recognized by examiners. An examiner’s delight: Very, very occasionally I have so enjoyed reading a thesis as an examiner that I have read it again wearing my other hat as a fellow academic. Just to enjoy it once more was a bonus. Professor Vernon Trafford

3. A CANDIDATE’S REFLECTION Candidate A I was a few months into my research, thinking a doctorate wasn’t all that hard after all ~ when I realised that I had missed the point. I couldnot understand or explain what was happening in my research with the conceptual tools that I had at my disposal. I had then realised that the doctorate was not a big Masters dissertation! My ability to conceptualise was clearly inadequate for my journey. I then read extensively to build a foundation and framework of concepts that allowed me to understand and, more importantly, to interpret facts. Then I was OK, and could make real progress with my thesis. Professor Vernon Trafford

4. CANDIDATES’ EXPERIENCES OF DEVELOPMENTAL TRANSITIONS Each new concept looked interesting and provided insights on my data. I felt like using it to analyse my data, but a week later a different theory seemed just as promising. I was conceptually lost. I moved from not knowing what was expected of me at the doctoral level when I enrolled to being confident and actually knowing what research was all about. After grasping the nature of conceptualization (undertaking) the rest of my research was almost a matter of mechanics. By the time that I finished my doctorate I felt as if I really understood the tools of my trade, and, moreover, I could select and use them confidently. After my viva I suddenly realised that from now on my supervisor did not expect to be involved with my research unless I specifically asked him for advice. Professor Vernon Trafford

5. ASPIRATIONS BY SUPERVISORS OF CANDIDATES ‘Understand the underlying purposes of research.’ ‘Plan architectures for the research and the thesis.’ ‘Produce text that reflects unquestioned scholarship.’ ‘Audit the text for coherence, theoretical and methodological consistency plus compliance with protocols.’ ‘Defend their thesis with confidence in its scholarship.’ ‘Claim that their research makes a modest, reasonable and defensible contribution to professional knowledge.’ ‘Know that their doctoral studies are a prelude to high-value independent post-doctoral research.’ I want to help them: Professor Vernon Trafford

6. SUPERVISORS’ EXPERIENCES OF DEVELOPMENTAL TRANSITIONS Each candidate arrives with different expectations of how I will help them to gain their doctorate ~ some already appreciate what doctoral research entails, but most do not. I am not expert in the fields of every candidate who I supervise, but my experience equips me to ask questions about research to make them think academically. I help them to put themselves in the mind of others who read their work and so ensure that they cannot be faulted ~ they should think and behave as mature researchers. Making the transition from just doing research to understanding what research is really all about becomes evident to me when the language that candidates use becomes scholarly. They may not notice but I do! Professor Vernon Trafford

7. THESES ARE EXPECTED TO CONTAIN EVIDENCE OF . . . . Originality and contribution to knowledge Critical thinking Understanding research Understanding research Confident use of the lexicon Confident use of the lexicon Confident use of the lexicon Confident use of the lexicon Post-doctoral capability THE THESIS Episteme Episteme Episteme Episteme Episteme Episteme Episteme Episteme Episteme Explicit scholarship Explicit scholarship Explicit scholarship Explicit scholarship Explicit scholarship Explicit scholarship Explicit scholarship Explicit scholarship Use of conceptualisation Use of conceptualisation Use of conceptualisation Use of conceptualisation Use of conceptualisation Use of conceptualisation Professor Vernon Trafford

8. CANDIDATES WHO THINK LIKE RESEARCHERS Recognise and understand the complexity, simplicity, scope and limitations of doctoral-level research Understand that schools of thought represent options for thought with overlapping implications DISPLAYING EPISTEME Develop, express and defend arguments in writing and speech with clarity and confidence Are aware of, alert to, and able to use conceptual links between issues in appropriate ways Professor Vernon Trafford

9. THINKING LIKE, OR EXHIBITING, A . . . . . EPISTEME ~ thinking like a researcher within systems of ideas or ways of understanding that experienced researchers can instantly recognise. This pluralist concept is evident when candidates display doctorateness in their approach to research, presentation of their thesis and during its defence that includes explanation and conceptual grasp. Exhibiting episteme is dependent upon possessing understanding of something and having the capability to apply that understanding in appropriate ways. Source: Perkins, 2006 Professor Vernon Trafford

10. WHEN CANDIDATES ‘THINK LIKE A RESEARCHER’ UNDERSTANDING THE EXPECTATIONS OF OTHERS REGARDING THE CONDUCT OF RESEARCH AT THIS ‘LEVEL’ OF SCHOLARSHIP CONFIDENT CHOICE, AND USE OF, RESEARCH APPROACHES BY MAKING EXPLICIT THE LINKAGES BETWEEN KEY COMPONENTS IN THE RESEARCH PROCESS UNDERTAKING AND REPORTING ON RESEARCH SO THAT OTHERS INSTANTLY RECOGNISE, AND ACCEPT, ITS SCHOLARLY MERIT EPISTEME Professor Vernon Trafford

11. EVIDENCE OF EPISTEME IN DOCTORAL RESEARCH DEFENDING Findings, originality, decisions, scholarship and the research process in academic discourse, plus displaying the potential to undertake unsupervised post-doctoral research. ACQUIRING Knowledge of, and capabilities in, undertaking ‘high quality’ research plus appreciating how it is a process of combing originality, choice, meaning-making and scholarship. DEMONSTRATING Understanding research as an integrated process of scholarship, informed strategies, decisions and the appropriate use of techniques. • Formative assessment • Debate/defence of research • Constant auditing of thesis • Summative assessments • Final audit of the thesis • The viva Professor Vernon Trafford

12. MAKING THINKING VISIBLE By producing draft and finished text, taking part in group discussions, making poster presentations, presenting at in-house workshops and conferences, submitting journal articles candidates are: Developing ideas or text for discussion Presenting initial ideas or text for informal discussion Contributing to discussions of ideas or text for others Defending own ideas at formal events Becoming thoughtful researchers Supervisors can then monitor and advise for improvement . . . Candidates can then explain, defend, learn to improve it . . . Source: Adapted from Ritchhart and Perkins, 2008

13. LEVELS OF THINKING IN THE RESEARCH PROCESS Research approach Methodology Methods Instruments Paradigms Candidates’ understanding of, and ability to explain, these links are justifying WHY their research is coherent. Examiners usually want to know more about WHY and HOW than WHAT or WHO issues. Supervisors normally devote more time to developing candidates’ critical thinking than to exploring the straightforward methodologies of doing research. What are the links ? How and where are they described in theses? Professor Vernon Trafford

14. ROUTES OF PROGRESS TO EPISTEME Late developer Prior knowledge U N D E R S T A N D I N G U N D E R S T A N D I N G U N D E R S T A N D I N G U N D E R S T A N D I N G T I M E Regulatory presumptions Gradual learner T I M E T I M E T I M E Professor Vernon Trafford

15. EVIDENCE OF EPISTEME IN PRACTICE In the thesis Influence of Supervisors’ guidance Evidence of Candidates’ scholarship AND Potential for Examiners’ understanding of the text In doctoral defences Motives behind Examiners’ questions about the text and to the candidate AND Depth of Candidates’ understanding and capacity for scholarly responses Professor Vernon Trafford

16. THE LONG VIEW OF PREPARING FOR THE VIVA Candidates use examiners’ assessment criteria to guide them as they undertake and draft their research. Understanding and addressing these criteria IS preparing for the viva. The quality of the thesis determines the outcome of the viva. Producing a thesis that will pass IS preparing for the viva. Supervision, through constantly asking (Socratic) questions, is both challenging and developmental. Defending and engaging academically IS preparing for the viva. Critical re-reading of the text strengthens and refines arguments and improves the presentation. Auditing clarity of meaning throughout the text IS preparing for the viva. Constructive reviews reinforce understanding and show potential for research synergy and cohesion. Achieving understanding of research as a total process IS preparing for the viva. From: Trafford and Leshem, 2008: 11-32, 192 ASSUMPTION or ACTIVITY IMPLIED CONCLUSION Professor Vernon Trafford

17. DEVELOPING RESEARCHER CAPABILITIES PROTOCOLS Respecting academic conventions and courtesies Using conferences for presenting ideas, networking and extending CVs Understanding the regulatory frameworks in which research is undertaken Anticipating the social, interpersonal and scholarly dynamics of the doctoral viva DOCTORAL EDUCATION Recognising and resolving threshold concepts Academic structuring, writing and referencing Demonstrating doctorateness throughout research Appreciation of originality and scholarshipin research Making scholarly thinking explicit and coherent throughout the text of the thesis Developing capabilities in critical approaches and defending an academic stance RESEARCH PROCESS Planning, scheduling, producing and auditing Familiarity withappropriate schools of thought about research Developing skills in the choice and application of research techniques Appreciating research as a coherent integration of different components Professor Vernon Trafford

18. IMPLICATIONS FOR SUPERVISORS Very few candidates present accounts of doctoral research that is either poorly designed or inappropriately conducted. Thus, this suggests that they have understood the fundamentals of undertaking research. Examiners are particularly concerned to know how candidates have conceptualised their research and have demonstrated their scholarship. Thus, the questions ask candidates to explain / justify their research reasoning and choices. Evidence showsthat the priority / strategy of supervisors to raise a candidate’s level of conceptual thinking may clash with most candidates’ preference to discuss their topic, issues of content, chosen methodology or fieldwork. Thus, enabling candidates to think like researchers is a behavioural rather than a technical supervisory tactic. Professor Vernon Trafford

19. STEPPING STONES TO DEVELOPING EPISTEME FOR CANDIDATES WITHIN THE UNIVERSITY Auditing their own work Reading and thinking and writing Presenting at Dept:/Faculty workshops Explaining/justifying all research decisions Critiquing the work of others ~ for discussion Participating in research communities of practice Engaging in mature scholarly discussions with supervisor(s) EXTERNAL TO THE UNIVERSITY Submitting articles for publication Networking in discipline/subject areas Informed correspondence with experts Joint writing with supervisors and/or peers Participating/attending/reporting on, workshops Participating in research communities of practice Presenting research-in-action posters at academic events Professor Vernon Trafford

20. SOCIAL AND TECHNICAL INTERCONNECTEDNESS Undertaking technical processes effectively depends as much on possessing the ‘how’ technical skills as understanding the ‘why’ aspects of the entire process. Source: Adapted from Emery and Trist, 1960 Professor Vernon Trafford

21. SO SIMPLE AND YET SO COMPLEX There is nothing so practical as a good theory. Source: Lewin, 1952:169 Professor Vernon Trafford

22. THE BEGINNING OR THE END? WhenVaughan Choppinggained his doctorate at Chelmsford, on Monday, 2nd February, 2004, the final question at his viva was: ‘What have you learned from your doctoral studies?’ Vaughan’s answer was ‘I now appreciate the role and value of good theory.’ Professor Vernon Trafford

23. SOURCES Emery, F.E. and Trist, E.L. 1960. Socio-technical systems. In: West Churchman, C. and Cerhulst , M. (Eds) Management sciences: models and techniques. New York: Pergamon. Volume 2. Honey, P. and Mumford A. 1982. A manual of learning styles. Maidenhead: Peter Honey Publications. Land, R., Meyer, J.H.F. and Smith, J. (Eds) 2008. Threshold concepts within the disciplines. Rotterdam: Sense Publications. Leshem, S. and Trafford, V.N. 2007. Overlooking the conceptual framework. Innovations in Teaching and Education International. 44. 1. 93 -105. Meyer, J.H.F and Land, R. (Eds) 2006. Overcoming barriers to student understanding: threshold concepts and troublesome knowledge. London: Routledge. Perkins, D. 2003. New horizons for learning. www.newhorizons.org Accessed 26.03.10 Perkins, D. 2006. Constructivism and troublesome knowledge. In: Land, R. and Meyer, J.H.F. (Eds.) Overcoming barriers to student understanding: threshold concepts and troublesome knowledge. London: Routledge. Ritchhart, R. and Perkins, D. 2008. Making thinking visible. Educational leadership. 65.5.57-61. Trafford, V.N. and Leshem, S. 2002. Anatomy of a doctoral viva. Journal of Graduate Education. 3. 2. 33 - 40. Trafford, V.N. Conceptual frameworks as a threshold concept in doctorateness. In: Land, R., Meyer, J.H.F. and Smith, J. (Eds) 2006. Threshold concepts within the disciplines. Rotterdam: Sense publications. Trafford, V.N and Leshem. S. 2008. Stepping stones to achieving your doctorate. Maidenhead: Open University Press. Professor Vernon Trafford