Framework for effective PhD research

1. “I have just registered for my Ph.D; what
should I do?”: REST and REQUEST framework
for effective Ph.D research progress
Dr. OMER MAHFOODH
omer@usm.my
omer197435@gmail.com
School of Languages, Literacies and Translation
Universiti Sains Malaysia
2020
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2. How to start my PhD?
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3.  Participant 1
 My supervisor asked me to read and meet him
regularly to explain to him what I read.
 Participant 2
 My supervisor asked me to spend the first half of
my first year on reading. He did not want to see
me during this period.
 Participant 3
 My supervisor asked me to start writing and to
meet him every week.
 Participant 4
 My supervisor asked me to write literature review.
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4.  Participant 5
 My supervisor asked me to write the statement of
the problem.
 Participant 6
 My supervisor asked me to give him a suggested
table of content.
 Participant 7
 My supervisor asked me to write on only four
sections: background to the study, statement of
the problem, research questions, and
significance of the study.
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5. PhD Research
vs.
PhD Thesis
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6. 6
PhD
Research
PhD
Thesis
Written product of your PhD research.
It is submitted for proposal defence and
viva examination.
Academic practices
- Reading research articles & books
- Writing your PhD proposal, research
articles, drafts of your PhD
- Data/corpus collection and analysis
- Listening to presenters in
workshops, conferences & proposal
defences
- Presenting your research in proposal
defence & conference
- Discussion of your research with
your supervisors.

7. PhD research proposal vs.
PhD thesis
PhD research proposal
Chapter
One
Introduction
Chapter
Chapter
Two
Literature
Review
Chapter
Three
Methodology
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PhD thesis for viva
Chapter
One
Introduction
Chapter
Chapter
Two
Literature Review
Chapter
Three
Methodology
Chapter
Four
Results
Chapter
five
Discussion &
Conclusions

8. PhD Research Proposal:
major phases
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9. 9
Research Articles,
books, theses &
book chapters
Choosing the broad field and specific area
of research
Construction of the
Statement of the Problem
Generation of the research
objectives/hypotheses
Supervisor(s)
Sources of
feedback/content
Others (e.g.
conferences, peers)
Your experience
Methods of data
collection
Overview of related studies
The Research Proposal: Three chapters
(Introduction, Literature Review and Methodology)
RelatedTheoriesTechniques
ofanalysis

10. Chapter One: Introduction
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Background
Statement of the problem
Research objectives
Limitations of the study
Significance of the study
Definition of key terms

11. Chapter Two: Literature Review
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Related theories
Review of related studies

12. Chapter Three: Methodology
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Research Approach
(Quantitative, Qualitative, or
Mixed methods)
Sample
Methods of data collection
Technique of analysis

13. 13
Statement of
the problem
Research
objectives
Methods of
data collection
Review of
related
studies
Core of PhD
Research

14. Begin your PhD research with a
review of related studies
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15. •Formulate the keywords.
•Find related studies through searching in:
•Scopus
https://www.scopus.com/search/form.uri?di
splay=basic
•Google Scholar https://scholar.google.com/
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17. In ‘search’ key in your main key word/s
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18. Refine your search
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19. Search
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21. Refine your search through limiting it to only
Research Articles
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23. 23

24. Add another criterion/variable for search
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25. 25

26. 26

27. Select them all
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28. Export them to Excel
Select what to be exported
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29. 29

30. Name the Excel sheet ‘REST’
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32. 32

33. 33

34. Delete highlighted columns
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35. Filter the list of related studies based on the
type of publication
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36. Use the ‘Sort & Filter’ to arrange them based
on your need
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37. For example, you can sort them based on
the year of publication
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40. Add one column to put an ID for each
Research Article
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41. Create ID for each research Article based on
name of first author + year
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43. 43
How data were analysed
Major findings
Your critical comments
Study ID
(first author & year of publication )
Year of publication
Purpose of the study
Context & Sample
How data were collected
REST
9Componentsforreviewing
previousrelatedstudies
Theory used in the study

44. Create Excel sheet and name it “Review”
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45. Copy the columns of Study ID and Year and paste
in “Review” Excel sheet.
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46. 46
Purpose
Context & Sample
Data collection
Data analysis
Theory
Major findings
Critical comments

47. • Reading and reviewing
• Start reading the Research Articles you
downloaded while filling in REST table with
phrases/short sentences. Do not try to use
complete statements.
• Summarization
• When you finish this form, summarize each
study (Research Article) in 200-300 words.
• Compile the summaries of all Research Articles
you reviewed.
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48. • Thematization of previous studies
• You can thematize the studies you reviewed and
summarized based on themes that are common
among some studies.
• GAPS in previous studies
• Identify issues that were not addressed by the
researchers or the problems they documented in
these studies.
• Write the statement of the problem
• https://www.slideshare.net/omer1974
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49. REQUEST (5 components)
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Research Question
Sample
Data collection
Data analysis
Theory

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51. 51

52. Summary
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53. REST and REQUEST framework
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Discipline and specific
field of your research
Review of Related studies
(Searching, downloading, reviewing,
summarizing & thematizing)
REST framework
(9 components)
Statement of the Problem ARGP framework
Research Questions REQUEST framework
Sources of feedback/ content
(Books, Research Articles &
supervisors)

54. •Start your PhD research with a review of related
studies. Review only Research Articles/Papers
using the framework I suggested.
•Develop your knowledge about your field of
research through reading Books, Book Chapters,
Review Articles, and Research Articles.
•Construct your Statement of the Problem
based on what previous studies have not
addressed or have not addressed adequately.
•Generate your Research Questions connecting
them to your sample, methods of data
collection, techniques of analyzing your data.
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55. THANK YOU
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For questions
https://forms.gle/nwf8rNr8tWjf34ZV7