Cancelled! Writing the PhD dissertation: Structure, Quality and Contribution - Autumn 2024 - CPH

               Welcome to Writing the PhD dissertation: Structure, Quality and Contribution - Autumn 2024 - CPH

This course is aimed for PhD students at Social science and Humanties. PhD students enrolled at Aalborg University have priority.


Course organiser:

Ninna Meier, Institut for Sociologi og Socialt Arbejde, The Organizational Sociology Research Group

Date:

12,13,14 November, 2024

Time:

Day 1: 10-17

Day 2: 9-17

Day 3: 9-15.30

Seats:

16

ECTS:

3

Deadline for enrolment:

1 September 2024 - you will be notified about the selection. 

Deadline for paper upload if accepted: 

25 October 2024 (Confirmation of participation after deadline).

Lecturers:

Ninna Meier

Caitlin McMullin

Venue:

Lokalet Studio 2, Frederikskaj 10B, Bygning C, 1. sal., 2450 København SV, Aalborg University, Campus Copenhagen. 

Please note: The sign says building C - see map below.


Seats:

16 Confirmation of participation after the deadline. Paper deadline October 25th, 2024.

Course description, incl. learning objectives and prerequisite:

Form and content are linked in academic writing. Thus, structure, coherence, and flow are important elements that support the quality of a PhD dissertation. PhD students must learn to make decisions about their research and writing while they are doing this research and while they are writing their PhD dissertation. Thus, the ’academic craft’ involves systematic reflection and choices about focus, research question, unit of analysis, theory and concepts, philosophy of science approach, design, methods, ethics, and analysis. However, the academic craft is also demonstrated through how those choices are presented and argued for in writing and through one’s capacity to develop a text in which these choices and their consequences are clearly presented and reflected upon. This work starts in the beginning of the PhD process and lasts until the defense. The course is therefore designed to be useful to PhD students at any stage of the process. It is important to note that the course organizers will draw on research and examples from their own work and research fields. The course will thus be substantially focused on social science and qualitative research and will be open to participants from social science and humanities. Moreover, participation requires active engagement with the course literature, one’s own work, and contributions to the discussions that take place during the course.


The Purpose of the PhD course is to focus on the academic craft that is needed to write and edit the constitutive parts of a dissertation so that these parts join to a structured and coherent academic text of high quality where the boundary conditions and contributions of the dissertation are clearly presented and discussed. During the course lectures, group and solo exercises, and shared discussions we will expand participants’ ’toolbox’ and experiences with making the necessary decisions about and in their writing.

The course material draws on social science and humanities research into academic writing, especially regarding clarity, concepts/constructs, form-content relationships, the role of theory, context, quality criteria (e.g., reliability, coherence, transparency, and analytical generalizability). It is also a very practical course with a strong focus on participants’ own PhD project and writing, with exercises and time for discussions and advancing participants’ own text. 

Teaching methods:

The course consists of three main elements: 1) writing exercises (based on participant’s own research) and tools/techniques, 2) lectures, group discussions, and feedback/sparring with course organizers and other PhD students, and 3)course literature on academic writing.

The three days of the course each have a main theme. Every day will consist of lectures and discussions based on the course material, guided writing exercises, group reflections, and feedback. Participants will receive feedback on their ambitions for and challenges with writing by the course organisers, as well as from the other participants. We will also examine and discuss how the craft involved in structuring a dissertation is related to the content of the text and therefor also the specific phenomenon/object under study, the methods used to examine this, and the empirical material that is produced.

Day 1: Structure. We begin by discussing how the overall structure of a dissertation relates to – and hopefully supports – the dissemination of the research that it represents. We discuss different approaches to working with structure and structuring dissertation texts, as well as explore how structure can be linked to the ’voice’ of the PhD researcher.  

Day 2: Quality. On day two, we zoom in on quality in research and in academic writing as both process and product. We discuss different contributions to understanding what quality in writing might be and how quality in writing relates to quality in the rest of the research process. Through exercises, presentations, and discussions we develop a nuanced vocabulary for talking about and working with quality; how to discuss quality in one’s own writing in writing and we explore the ways in which quality criteria are so important for research in general and for the craft of writing a PhD dissertation in practice.

Day 3: Contribution. On the last day we focus on the contribution of a PhD dissertation. What is a contribution? To research? To theory and/or methods? To a field of practice? To policy? Where, how, and why is this contribution made? Often, a PhD dissertation can be said to contribute to one or more fields of research – so how do you choose where to focus and how to argue for your contribution? Through exercises and discussions, we will explore how the craft of writing and structuring a PhD dissertation also supports the clear presentation of the dissertation’s contribution and perspectives.

Description of paper requirements, if applicable:

Course participants are – after acceptance into the course is confirmed – expected to submit a 10-page (max) paper/essay in which they present their research question and their PhD project (max 1 page) and discuss these in relation to one or more of the key concepts of the course (structure, coherence, quality, contribution) based on contributions from the course literature and including reflections upon their own ambitions for and challenges with regards to writing.

Key literature:

Mandatory literature:

Alvesson, M. and Sandberg, J. (2024), The Art of Phenomena Construction: A Framework for Coming Up with Research Phenomena beyond ‘the Usual Suspects’. Journal of Management Studies, early view version. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/joms.12969

Alvesson, M., Hardy, C., & Harley, B. (2008). Reflecting on reflexivity: Reflexive textual practices in organization and management theory. Journal of Management Studies, 45(3), 480-501.

Cloutier, C., & Ravasi, D. (2021). Using tables to enhance trustworthiness in qualitative research. Strategic Organization, 19(1), 113–133. https://doi.org/10.1177/1476127020979329

Jarzabkowski, P., Langley, A., & Nigam, A. (2021). Navigating the tensions of quality in qualitative research. Strategic Organization, 19(1), 70-80. 

Locke, K., Feldman, M., & Golden-Biddle, K. (2022). Coding Practices and Iterativity: Beyond Templates for Analyzing Qualitative Data. Organizational Research Methods, 25(2), 262-284.

Meier, N. & Wegener, C. (2017). Writing with resonance. Journal of Management Inquiry, 26(2), 193–201.

Patriotta, G. (2017). Crafting papers for publication: Novelty and convention in academic writing. Journal of Management Studies, 54(5), 747-759.

Pratt, M. G., Kaplan, S., & Whittington, R. (2020). Editorial Essay: The Tumult over Transparency: Decoupling Transparency from Replication in Establishing Trustworthy Qualitative Research. Administrative Science Quarterly, 65(1), 1-19. 

Ragins, R. B. (2012). Editor's comments: Reflections on the craft of clear writing. Academy of Management Review, 37(4), 493-501.

Suddaby, R. (2010). Editor's comments: Construct clarity in theories of management and organization. Academy of Management Review, 35(3), 346-357.

 

Suggested literature:

Golden-Biddle, K., & Locke, K. (1993). Appealing work: An investigation of how ethnographic texts convince. Organization Science, 4(4), 595-616.

Graebner, M. E., Martin, J. A., & Roundy, P. T. (2012). Qualitative data: Cooking without a recipe. Strategic Organization, 10(3), 276–284. https://doi.org/10.1177/1476127012452821

KAMLER, B and THOMSON, P 2014 Helping doctoral students write: Pedagogies for supervision. London: Routledge. Second edition

Locke, K., Golden - Biddle, K., & Feldman, M. S. (2008). Making doubt generative: Rethinking the role of doubt in the research process. Organization Science, 19(6), 907-918

Meier, N. & Dopson, S. (2021): What is context? Methodological reflections on the relationship between context, actors, and change. In Managing Healthcare Organisations in Challenging Policy Contexts. (2021). Edited by Roman Kislov, Diane Burns, Bjorn Erik Mork & Kathleen Montgomery. London: Palgrave Macmillan.

Pratt, M. G., Sonenshein, S., & Feldman, M. S. (2022). Moving beyond templates: A bricolage approach to conducting trustworthy qualitative research. Organizational Research Methods, 25(2), 211-238. doi:10.1177/1094428120927466

THOMSON, P and KAMLER, B 2013 Writing for peer reviewed journals. Strategies for getting published. London: Routledge

Timmermans, S., & Tavory, I. (2012). Theory construction in qualitative research: From grounded theory to abductive analysis. Sociological Theory, 30(3), 167-186.

Tracy, S. (2013). Qualitative Research Methods. Collecting Evidence, Crafting Analysis, Communicating Impact. Chapters 12 and 13. Blackwell Books.

Van Maanen, J. (1996). Commentary: On the matter of voice. Journal of Management Inquiry, 5(4), 375-381. doi:10.1177/105649269654012

Weick, K. E. (1989). Theory construction as disciplined imagination. Academy of Management Review, 14(4), 516-531.

Weick, K. E. (1995). What Theory is Not, Theorizing Is. Administrative Science Quarterly, 40(3), 385–390. https://doi.org/10.2307/2393789

Important information concerning PhD courses: 

The Doctoral School has decided to introduce a no-show fee of DKK 3000 for each course where the student does not show up. Cancellations are accepted no later than 2 weeks before the start of the course. Registered illness is of course an acceptable reason for not showing up on those days. Furthermore, all courses open for registration approximately four months before start. 

For inquiries regarding registration, cancellation or waiting list, please contact the PhD administration at aauphd@adm.aau.dk