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Making Your Doctoral Research Project Ambitious
Developing Large-Scale Studies with Real-World Impact
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Book Description
This book presents the doctoral dissertation process as not just a way of getting a qualification or even a method of learning how to do research better, but as a substantial and significant piece of research in its own right. The book will inspire current and prospective PhD scholars to take up ambitious and large-scale study projects, dedicating this most important time to a worthy piece of research.
This edited collection provides real and outstanding examples of multiple research design methodologies which will allow doctoral researchers to develop a wide set of research skills, leading to the development of a high-quality academic thesis from which peer reviewed research papers and books can emerge. Each main chapter presents the summary of a doctoral thesis, followed by focused aspects from the projects where the contributors highlight the development of a research design, the process involved in executing the design, and present selected findings with their implications. Each chapter concludes with the researchers’ experiences of learning through this journey and the implications of the process for the development of the discipline and their own career.
Ideal reading for doctoral students and supervisors, this book is a source of encouragement and motivation for new researchers seeking to challenge general perceptions in the social sciences that PhD or other doctoral research projects must be small-scale rather trivial studies, but can instead produce robust findings that have real-world implications.
Table of Contents
Chapter 1 - INTRODUCTION Thinking bigger: The importance of an ambitious doctoral research project
Nadia Siddiqui and Stephen Gorard
Part 1 EDUCATIONAL EFFECTIVENESS
Chapter 2 – School value-added measures: Undertaking policy- and practice-relevant methodological research
Thomas Perry
Chapter 3 - Is Progress 8 a valid and reliable measure of school effectiveness?
Mark Ledger
Chapter 4 – The stability problem in using value-added measurements for teacher performance evaluation
Ismail Aslantas
Chapter 5 - Does academic selection promote effectiveness and equity? Evaluating a classic topic using a new approach
Bin Wei Lu
Chapter 6 - Does instructional leadership make schools more effective? Evidence from the Maldives
Ismail Shafeeu
Part 2 EDUCATIONAL IMPROVEMENT
Chapter 7 – Can co-operative learning and group-work help English language learners in Thailand?
Phanatdao Chantarasiri
Chapter 8 - The role of metacognition in the learning of English as a foreign language
Meechai Wongdaeng
Chapter 9 - Can Philosophy for Children improve critical thinking and attainment for Chinese secondary students?
Cai Wei Wu
Chapter 10 - Evaluating the impact of instruction on the critical thinking skills of English language learners in higher education
Nada el-Soufi
Chapter 11 - Can improving the ‘academic buoyancy’ of secondary school students improve their school attendance?
Sophie Anderson
Chapter 12 – Understanding the moral values of primary school children: a comparative study
Shi Pian
Part 3 EVALUATING EDUCATION POLICY
Chapter 13 – Free Schools in England: researching a (controversial) new policy reform using a mixed methods approach
Rebecca Morris
Chapter 14 – Does absence from school influence attainment, and what is the best way to handle it?
Haifaa Alabbad
Chapter 15 – Do expensive STEM enrichment activities make any difference to science and maths outcomes at school?
Pallavi Banerjee
Chapter 16 – How fair are the indicators used in contextualised admission policies in China?
Yiyi Tan
Chapter 17 – International comparisons at the crossroads of policy, practice and research: the case of school leavers’ and graduates’ information systems
Rita Hordósy
Chapter 18 – Evidence translation strategies to promote the use of research results in schools: What works best?
Caner Erkan
Chapter 19 – CONCLUSION The implications of these studies for new researchers
Stephen Gorard and Nadia Siddiqui
Editor(s)
Biography
Nadia Siddiqui is Associate Professor and Deputy Director of the Durham University Evidence Centre for Education (DECE), UK.
Stephen Gorard is Professor and Director of the Durham University Evidence Centre for Education (DECE), UK and a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences.