Global Anthological Journal of Action Learning

Volume 3. Issue 2. 1999

http://www.free-press.com/journals/gajal/articles/gajal-article-077.htm

ATHERTON FELLOWSHIP - REFLECTION

INTERIM REPORT FOR APC CAPETOWN 22ND - 25TH APRIL 1999.

LENGTH OF DOCTORAL PROGRAMMES AND THE ROLE OF REFLECTION

We can safely assert that there is a minimum time for a Doctoral programme This will be dependent on the subject of the Doctoral thesis, the design of the study, the literature review, the gathering of data, its analysis and conclusions, all of which will take a finite time.

These times will be also be situationally dependent, involving the time available, the resources available and the experience of the researcher. New Associates working part time on their own will need a longer time than a business person who has, say, completed a Masters Degree and has access to equipment, money and systems and substantial experience of project management.

The traditional view asserts that a great deal of Reflection is needed for a Doctoral thesis before it is finalised in order to improve the quality of the work. How long should Reflection take? Are there diminishing returns? What research is available to be consulted on the subject of Reflection? Is Reflection itself a process that is situationally dependent?

Is Reflection a lone ranger? Recent discussions recorded in the Global Doctorate Meeting Place have concerned research methodology. Hans Maurer’s experience indicates that there is a considerable place for Reflection when determining methodology. Sharing ideas with others, supervisors and the ‘Comrades in Adversity’, i.e. other members of the Global Doctoral programme. Abby Day Peters, in the same forum, indicates that Reflection may need to be generated by the third person intervening, as Set Advisers do, with requests for summaries of discussions and meetings. She also suggests that the Reflection between supervisor and researcher should preferably take place before exposing the ideas to the ‘Comrades in Adversity’ or other public forums. This may however reduce the scope for others to make contributions and merely stunt the process.

PROPOSED PROGRAMME OF WORK

I propose to begin by breaking down the work involved in estimating the length of time that a Doctoral thesis should take into two parts. First, I would like to establish the length of time required by the rest of the processes involved, excluding the time necessary for Reflection.

Experience in the estimation of the length of time that an activity is likely to take has shown that the quality and accuracy of the estimates is much improved by breaking down complex activities into their component parts. Comparison of the estimates of the same activity created by a number of different people, when they attempt to estimate the length of the activity without breaking it down show a wide variation in accuracy. When these same people estimate the same overall activity, but this time by estimating the time taken for each of its component parts, the amount of variation between estimators is considerably reduced. This technique is an old one going under the name of analytical estimating.

A variation of this process, called comparative estimating, was developed, mainly to reduce the amount of time spent in preparing analytical estimates. In this process, activities are generally grouped into classes in which the subject matter to be estimated is broadly the same and benchmarks are established for a range of the types of activities by using analytical estimating techniques to create the estimates. In practice, one chooses a number of examples ranging from simple to complex within the class. Once estimated, these are used as benchmarks against which any particular example within that class can be slotted by comparing it with the nearest available benchmark.

I propose to begin this part of the study by examining a number of Doctoral theses that have been completed under IMC’s auspices and classifying them by type. At this stage it would be foolish to attempt to second-guess what the types will be, but some interesting possibilities came to mind as being present:

Experimental programmes, which set up a hypothesis to be tested by comparing the behaviour of a control group with an experimental group, may show a distinct pattern of activities

Doctoral subjects which rely primarily on quantitative methodology may also demonstrate a distinct pattern.

Doctoral theses which rely primarily on surveys to gather the information required are another possibility.

The next step would be to establish for each group the pattern of work that is entailed in completing the thesis. Each step in the process of completion of each type would be subjected to an attempt to estimate the length of time required for that step. I would consider contacting the authors of selected theses to ask if they can recall the length of time required to complete each step.

PROGRESS TO DATE

Internet Search

The results of the first attempt to use the Internet to search for work that had already been on Doctoral Research proved overwhelming when the word Doctoral Research resulted in 17,520.970 hits. Careful specification of the search criteria pared this down to 101,927 hits. From this list I found a few, apparently promising leads.

A number of new books have been published on conducting research, but examination of the synopses, tables of contents and comments from readers revealed little on the subject of Reflection. One book ‘Practical Research: Planning and Design by Paul D. Leedy, Timothy J. Newby (Contributor), Peggy A. Ertmer (Contributor) from an examination of the table of contents seemed to contain useful information on types of research. The authors suggest the following classification:-

Common qualitative research designs

Historical research

Non-experimental quantitative research

The experimental study

The Helsinki School of Economics offer a programme entitled Managing Doctoral Research. It appears to be biased towards Accounting and Finance Studies but it is a most useful site with many of links to different topics on Doctoral Research, including a useful set of reviews of research and Doctoral dissertation advice guides. Unfortunately, I could find nothing on Reflection mentioned in any of the reviews.

The Louis University of Illinois had what appeared to be a promising article on the subject. The first paragraph reads - ‘In traditional doctoral programmes the dissertation is frequently a final academic hurdle unrelated to coursework, unrelated to practice as a lived experience, and expressed in a highly academic and frequently abstract style. However, in this doctoral programme the dissertation has been recast as a rigorous, sustained intellectual inquiry across the curriculum. To emphasise its radical refocussing of doctoral research on practice, this activity has been named the "Critical Engagement Project." All research is a reflection on practice, but often practice is viewed abstractly, commodified, objectified without reference to social, cultural or political context.’

In practice the article is quite difficult to understand and appears to be more about how the process of Reflection impacts on the learning of a student.

The University of Western Australia had a promising entry under the heading of "Issues of Teaching and Learning" in their newsletter summarised in the following paragraph.

"Action research can most simply be seen as a process, grounded in the day to day practice of teaching which involves a cycle of planning, acting observing and reflecting. Engagement in such a process would normally be prompted by the need to understand an aspect of the teaching/learning context more deeply or by the desire to extend one’s practice further. In response to this, the teacher might plan a particular intervention, implement the plan, collect data of some kind to ‘observe’ the impact of the action, and engage in some kind of Reflection on the outcomes. Action Research is also characterised as involving groups of colleagues working collaboratively together, either on the same project or supporting each other with each individual project. Action Research is also further characterised by the importance of bringing a critical stance to the action research process. Such a critical stance would be beyond consideration of the techniques and methods of teaching and learning to consideration of wider issues related to the social and institutional contexts of teaching and learning, and to issues of power and control in education. The concept of the ‘critical friend’, introduced by Stenhouse in 1975, suggests a role in the action research process for colleagues as both supporters and constructive critics of each others’ work. The end of the academic year could well be a time for engaging a group of colleagues as critical friends in a collaborative process of action research, for both reviewing the previous teaching year and supporting each other in the forthcoming year"

However, as can be seen from the text, there is little about the part that Reflection plays in the process, just that Reflection seems a good idea.

I found a very comprehensive guide to carrying out research by Kennedy entitled ‘How to do Research". The site contained some twenty pages of questions concerning research but none of these appeared to cover the subject of Reflection.

I am forced to the conclusion that I am not going to find major existing sources on the subject and will have to rely on conducting a specific investigation into the part that Reflection plays in Doctoral research.

THE OUTLINE PLAN

Categorise Doctoral Studies by type

At this stage, there appear to be two main types of studies: quantitative and qualitative, each of which can be divided into two sub types. The quantitative break down into experimental and non-experimental studies and the qualitative types into qualitative and historical.

Experimental studies.

These are studies in which a hypothesis is set up to be tested by a series of time-based experiments. A typical example might be a study of the impact of supervisors on the performance of the operators reporting to them. Some objective measures of performance would have to be determined, the factors outside the control of the supervisors would have to be isolated and any other factors that might bias the results identified. The basic conditions of the study would be varied to see the impact on operator performance. The study would have to be designed, planned in detail and carried out, the results analysed and conclusions drawn out.

Non-experimental quantitative studies

Studies which are trying to deduce causal relationships are an example of this type. Prediction of turning points in Stock Exchange indices are also an example of this type. The essence of these studies is the isolation and definition of the variables that are thought to be important. A set of variables are identified and tried out using statistical measures to evaluate the relationships. These studies often involve repeated runs of the data trying out new variables to see which give the best results.

Qualitative studies

These studies appear to make up the largest group in the IMC Doctoral Studies. A typical example might be ‘Developing a culture of continuous improvement in an organisation." Typical of the methods used are comparison of reference groups, focus groups and interviews to gather subjective data concerning the issue that is germane to the research and relating these in terms of their impact on the achievement of the objective of the study. The same basic information would be used to develop interventions for the implementation of strategies to achieve the required results.

Historical studies

This type of study researches what has happened in a subject area over a long period of time and analyses it to draw out the lessons to be learned and uses these to develop guidelines for the future. A typical example would be the study of the credit card industry to document its development, isolate the critical events, highlighting pitfalls and failures, successes and opportunities. The study acts as a document of reference for the future.

The categorisation will be done on the set of Doctoral Studies currently being undertaken by IMC Associates using the GRDB information as a source.

Identify the processes involved in each type

I am the proposing two questionnaires to gather data on this. One would be sent to a sample of Associates carrying out each type of research that asks them to describe the processes they expect to use. The second would be sent to Associates who have successfully completed their research.

Critically examine the activities to isolate the part played by Reflection

From the analysis of the questionnaires, I will attempt to identify the points in the process in which Reflection plays a major part and send out further questionnaires to explore the issue.

Evaluate the length of time of the activities that make up the Processes

The breakdown of the processes will enable the evaluation of the time required for these activities. I will provide a breakdown of the processes and ask a selected sample of those who have completed their research in each of the categories to estimate the time they took to complete them. From this information, I will attempt to create a set of benchmarks which can be used as a means of estimating the time required. The benchmarks will have to reflect different degrees of complexity and differing situations.

Estimate the length of time needed for Reflection

My feeling at this stage is that the estimation of the time required for Reflection will best be obtained by a series of in-depth interviews or focus groups to explore this issue and produce guidelines. These will be done with Associates who have completed their studies.