Paul van Hooft
p.a.vanhooft@uva.nl
020 525 2786
REC B. 8.22
Strategy for the 21st Century
Introduction
What is the most important question to ask yourself before you start
writing anything?
Writing
‘Who am I writing for, who is the audience?’
Who is the intended audience of your thesis?
The second reader and your supervisor, first and foremost.
Then, and only then, whoever else you would like to show this to
(Potential employers - ministry, research institutes, NGOs,
consultancies; family and friends; etc.). For example, as a writing
sample.
Audience
Consider the thesis a very special and specific exam, where you show
that you have picked up a set of academic skills in the past 4 years:
• To be an independent and creative thinker;
• To see problems and gaps in our knowledge that need to be
answered;
• Awareness of theories and how to apply them;
• Awareness of different research skills to test or explore these
theories;
• The ingenuity and the commitment to collect empirical skills;
• The writing skills to clearly articulate them.
Thesis is an exam
Indeed, this matches how it is described in the thesis manual:
• Independently conducting social-scientific research
• Research plan including, a defined research question, a clear research strategy and time
planning;
• Using sound methodological principles and research techniques;
• The creative use of relevant theoretical insights;
• Ability to draw conclusions from one’s own research;
• Clear, systematic and accountable reporting of the research;
• Translating the results into a theoretical-scientific and practical-social meaning (and
relevance).
Learning objectives (thesis manual)
• Working title.
• Description of the topic and the aim of the thesis including a motivation and details of
the scientific and social relevance.
• (At least a preliminary) formulation of the problem.
• Theoretical framework
• Short design of the research to be executed (nature of the data to be collected,
method(s) used).
• Global and well-reasoned preliminary table of contents.
• Preliminary bibliography (reference literature).
• Schedule.
Thesis proposal (thesis manual)
I will – of course - help you with this ‘exam’.
I will point out problems during these steps in the research (though
some problems will only be apparent in later stages).
However.
I will not provide the solutions (though I will suggest/hint at them). I
am not the co-author.
The goal is not that a good thesis is written, the goal is that you show
whether you have the skills to write a good thesis.
Role of the supervisor
Next six sessions we will construct the research design that covers all
these elements.
We will discuss these elements in class.
You will write assignments on the different components of the
research design.
In class we will discuss research design through your theses, as they
develop.
Process
The assignments are simply a way of streamlining the construction of
the research design.
Think of them as building the components of your thesis. You are
thinking on paper, not simply checking the boxes.
The assignments are, however, mandatory.
Failure to hand them in or attend will lead to me asking you to leave.
Process
(...), 2014-2015
“For all you procrastinators: make sure you
have a full draft of your thesis (like you would
submit it!) one month before the deadline. You
will need that last month very badly.
It's doable, but for God's sake, start on time
and follow Paul’s deadlines.”
Testimonials
For the
session of
Part of research design
Deadline
Feb 11
Assignment: Formulate research question , motivate,
and identify relevant literature Feb 09. 09:00.
Feb 25
Assignment: reformulate research question, motivate,
and identify relevant literature
Feb 23. 09:00.
Mar 04
Assignment: literature review and research question Mar 02. 09:00.
4-5 pages
Mar 11 Assignment: (a).concepts; (b). hypotheses Mar 09. 09:00.
2-4 pages
Mar 18 Assignment: identify appropriate methods and data Mar 16. 09:00.
2-4 pages.
Mar 25
Assignment: present research proposals for peer
review
Mar 23. 09:00.
12 pages minimum
Apr 03
Assignment: present research proposals for peer
review
April 1. 09.00
12 pages minimum
April 24
Chapters 1 and 2 April 19. 09.00
May 17 2 empirical chapters
May 12. 09.00
Last check
Full Draft (optional) Week of 10th of June.
What is a good research question?
Research question
• One that is important;
• One that is innovative;
• One that can actually be answered (including in the negative).
• The crucial first step. You absolutely must build up expertise.
• Mapping the geography of the approximate topic.
• To understand:
• What are key theories and causal mechanisms? And how
• What are key concepts?
• What are key operationalisations?
• What are key pieces of empirics?
Literature review
• How did other people seek to answer the same or similar questions?
• What have other people who have asked the same or similar questions
found?
• What are the key authors, and key arguments?
• Research should refer to ongoing debates in our field: how does our
research contribute to existing theories and empirical works?
Literature review
Literature review
Helps clarify contibution through refinement of prior research:
1. Challenge existing findings: why do you suspect they are flawed? E.g.
conceptualization, measurement, analyses, interpretation…
2. Clarify/extend existing findings: are they applicable to other contexts?
Are the explanatory mechanisms correct?
• focus on a key subpopulation
• use a new (sub)population
• use a different time period
• Propose new/contextualize old explanations
• List at least 20 articles and/or books relevant to your topic
• Group these according to parts of the research you think are relevant –
how do they help you investigate the topic?
• (Describe topic and preliminary question)
• Handed in by Monday morning, 09:00.
Literature review
• Don’t review yet.
• BUT, instead, systemically explore:
• Abstracts, conclusions.
• Check their literature reviews and references lists.
• What are the key works (articles and books);
• Who are the key authors;
• The key arguments and concepts.
Literature review