Working on a doctorate
A long-time wannabe writer, I decided to start a blog to practice writing and typing skills (working on a PhD requires both, and yes, dedication too). But I am also motivated as this can be a way to explore ideas and to reflect on my doctoral research, so be prepared, dear reader, to sometimes have to slog thorough my blog.
Reflection is key to developing a research imagination, which is critical to making a contribution to knowledge (the major criterion for being awarded a doctorate). One way of doing this is to keep a research diary, of which this blog will form part. The diary will also be useful in writing up the dissertation.
A well-developed research imagination is also core to successful commercial research. In the marketing communications business, insight drives strategy which drives execution. And insight does not simply spring from data that have been collected. You have to put the data in context: the client's business, the marketplace, the changing environment locally and globally, the majority and minority views and attitudes in the society, demographic shifts, and so on. This requires the ability to synthesize, analyse, and interpret data, and to imagine what it might mean.
So this forum should help me further develop these skills, as well as test ideas and thinking for my PhD. Your thoughts are most welcome, as they will surely help push my thinking forward. So please, keep reading and let me know what you think. Of course, if you skip these PhD interludes I'll never know.
Reflection is key to developing a research imagination, which is critical to making a contribution to knowledge (the major criterion for being awarded a doctorate). One way of doing this is to keep a research diary, of which this blog will form part. The diary will also be useful in writing up the dissertation.
A well-developed research imagination is also core to successful commercial research. In the marketing communications business, insight drives strategy which drives execution. And insight does not simply spring from data that have been collected. You have to put the data in context: the client's business, the marketplace, the changing environment locally and globally, the majority and minority views and attitudes in the society, demographic shifts, and so on. This requires the ability to synthesize, analyse, and interpret data, and to imagine what it might mean.
So this forum should help me further develop these skills, as well as test ideas and thinking for my PhD. Your thoughts are most welcome, as they will surely help push my thinking forward. So please, keep reading and let me know what you think. Of course, if you skip these PhD interludes I'll never know.
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