epistemic practices:

(a new course in research methods)

 

 

This is a core module for all doctoral researchers working through the gradcam programme of study. Through a team-based and participatory teaching and learning process the researcher is presented with the opportunity to:

  • Acquire a specific set of core research competencies
  • Critically contextualise and comparatively analyse different research undertakings
  • Reflexively deploy critical research competencies in framing and planning the major research project
  • Acquire practical experience in research writing competencies
  • Develop practical applications of competency in communicating research undertakings to specialist and non-specialist audiences
  • Apply critical reflection skills in communicating key aspects of their major research project

 

See previous semester's programme here.

 

autumn semester 2010

 

Sessions take place between 14:30-17:30 in the GradCAM seminar room, John's Street.

 

16/9/10

 

15:00-16:30 Welcome and Induction.
Dr. Mick Wilson

What is research? What is a doctorate? What is a structured programme?
What do I have to produce to achieve a PhD in my home institution?
What is GradCAM? How can it work for me?

 

23/9/10

 

14:30-17:30 Mapping the context of a research project.
Dr. Mick Wilson

What is the context within which a contribution to knowledge is made?
How is the context discovered? How is the context described?
What is the appropriate context mapping for work that crosses disciplines?
What is the appropriate context mapping for research through cultural production?
What is the appropriate context for research through historical, theoretical or critical writing?
What is the function of citation, referencing and bibliography?
What about material I dislike and/or disagree with?

 

30/9/10

 

*13:00-15:30 Approaches to Collaborative Arts Practice Chu Yuan + Mick Wilson
Dublin Civic Offices, Wood Quay, Dublin 1
email communications@create-ireland.ie to reserve a place.
See http://www.create-ireland.ie

Chu Yuan is a Malaysian visual artist and cultural worker. She often works across media, using soft sculpture, installation, performance, painting, photography and text to express responses to context-specific situations and issues. Since 2000, she is the project director of iFIMA, a not-for-profit organisation focused on forging intercultural and context responsive collaborations and knowledge-sharing, and has been active in researching and proposing new approaches in collaborative and participative art practices. She co-founded NICA in Burma where she was based from 2003 to 2006. She received the IDEAS scholarship to pursue her PhD with Gray’s School of Art at the Robert Gordon University, Scotland, where she is currently researching on how art as a form of knowledge can be constructive in the imagining, exploring and realising of alternatives to what is possible today.

 

*15:30-17:30 Choosing, describing and defending ways of working.
Martin McCabe and Dr. Mick Wilson

How do I go about actually ‘doing’ my research project?
Why do I need to consider the question of method?
Is serendipity a method?
What is ‘methodology’?
Is this the same as ‘scientific method’ – (whatever that might be)?
How do I decide where to start and what to do next?
Why do I have to justify choices made about how to conduct the research?

 

7/10/10

 

14:30-17:30 Workshop on Writing and Reading for Research.
Dr. Lisa Godson

NOTE: This workshop will be re-scheduled when Dr. Godson returns from sick leave. In its place Dr. Mick WIlson will lead a session addressing the question of disciplinary alignment, interdisciplinarity and transdisciplinarity in research and doctoral work.

How do I summarise another person’s text?
How do I describe another person’s work?
How do I give feedback to another person about their work?
How do I discuss a text within a seminar process?
How do I read a text for a seminar?
What is the purpose of note-taking while reading?
What is the difference between intensive and extensive reading?
How do I decide what to read?
How do I keep up to date?
How do I keep informed about my field of practice, history, theory, or criticism?

 

14/10/10

 

14:30-17:30 Research Ethics
Dr. Mick Wilson

What is ethics? What is research ethics? What is ethos?
Practical examples of ethical questions in a research proposal.
Consent forms and participant consultation.
Why bother with ethical questions in developing a research project?
Does desk research require ethical reflection?
What are the ethical issues in ownership of research and the distribution of knowledge?
Participant action research and challenges to traditional models of knowledge and responsibility.

 

21/10/10

 

14:30-17:30 Communicating Research - with Supervisors, Peers and with Publics.
Dr. Lisa Godson

What is the supervisory team for?
What is my role and responsibility in communications with supervisors?
What are the typical issues that arise? How can these be addressed?
Who else should I be in communication with?
What are the purposes of research communications?
What are the differences between posters, abstracts, proposals, presentations, formal papers, demonstrations, exhibitions, performances, review presentations, project pitches and other formats?
What are the differences between communication during and communication at the end of the research process?
Who and/or what does communication serve?
Simple techniques and issues in oral presentation: preparation, timing, address, use of media, and listening to responses. Overcoming shyness, nervousness, lack of confidence, evasiveness and defensiveness.

 

28/10/10 and 4/11/10

Break

 

11/11/10

14:30-17:30 The Case Study Approach
Dr. Mick Wilson

What is a case study?
What are case study approaches good for?
What kind of knowledge claims can be made through using a case study approach?
Five exemplary case studies: Art, Music, Education, History, Criticism. How do I select a case for study?
How do I justify the choice of case-study as an approach?
How many cases do I need to study?

 

18/11/10

 

14:30-17:30 The Proof of Concept, the Prototype and the Demonstration Piece
Dr. Lisa Godson

What is ‘proof of concept’?
What are prototypes and demonstration pieces?
What is the difference between applied research, basic research, and development work?
What is ‘translational’ research?
What kind of knowledges and what kinds of situations can these strategies apply to?
Five exemplary projects: Art, Design, Music, Education, History

 

25/11/10

 

14:30-17:30 Collaboration and Networking in Research
Martin McCabe

Knowledge communities and the role of peer groups in research
Classic models of knowledge change and the cumulative growth of knowledge and research
The academy and the journal as networking systems
The transformation of digital networking and the continuing significance of informal and face-to-face communications in research communities
Anxieties of ownership and anxieties of influence.
The challenge of collaboration and group research cultures.
The peer group and the principal investigator model.
Changing labour patterns in intellectual and cultural work.
Precariousness, employment and entrepreneurship in the contemporary ‘knowledge economy’ and questions of individual and collective agency.
Revisiting the question what is a doctorate anyway? What is it for?

 

2/12/10

 

14:30-17:30 The Interview
Dr. Lisa Godson

What is the potential of interviewing in research practice? How can the interview be used? What are structured interviews and how are these developed and prepared? How is the interview used and documented in the final write up and reporting of a research project?

 

9/12/10

 

14:30-17:30 The Exhibition and the Performance as Research Instruments
Dr. Mick Wilson

What is the potential of exhibition and live performance in research practice?
How can these be used?
How is the live cultural event used and documented in the final write up and reporting of a research project?

 

16/12/10

 

14:30-17:30 Guest Speaker: ‘How I finished and survived my PhD’
Chair: Dr Lisa Godson.

 

 

 

 

 

For additional information on the collaborating institutions consult www.dit.ie, www.ncad.ie, www.iadt.ie and www.ulster.ac.uk.