原本幫我的學生弄了專供研究討論的網站,想讓跨越不同地區國家的研究生可以互動討論,但是成果一直不彰。原先放在搜狐博客上的研究網站確實曾經昌盛一時,許多學生相信也因此獲益良多,但因為搜狐博客的安全機制有問題,無法抵禦無關人士的其他目的的攻擊,最後只好傷心關站。現在幫學生新設的網站防衛機能極佳,但是因為是國外網站,由於大陸官方的互聯網政策相當封閉,許多連往國外的線路是被屏閉掉的,許多學生無法從國內連上來,使得新網站冷清寥落,乏人問津。那就沒辦法嘍,學生只好主動一點努力學習,不能再像小時後那樣被動讀書,等著老師在屁股後面追打,如果再不能喚起積極學習的精神,那就只好任其自生自滅了。
早上回覆一位新收博士生的來信,是關於提交研究提案的討論。國外學校規定,學生在修完基本的博士班課程之後,必須先提交一份研究提案,通過審核以後,才正式成為博士生。這位學生剛剛修完必要的課程,自己很用功地寫了一個研究提案就交出去了,也沒和老師有過任何商量,所以當然就被槍斃掉了。但是他十分希望能唸博士班,向學校提出更換老師的要求,於是學校重新將他指派給我。但是看看他寫的研究提案,和我的標準相較,實在差得太遠,於是寫了一封信給他,強調了撰寫研究提案的基本功夫在哪裡,感覺還是可以作為我其他新學生的借鏡,於是決定貼在這裡,如果我的新學生中剛好有人有緣看到,那也不枉費今天上午花了一個多小時時間寫這封信。
Hi xxx,
I remember that I have given you some comments on this draft before my last last visit to Singapore. I've just thought that you may give me your revised one this time. However, the following is my comments:
1. This draft is not ready for submission for a PhD degree studies.
2. For PhD studies, it is not suitable to merely rely on others' frameworks to form your research model.
3. To form your research model, it is better to start from comparing a few competing theories that can effectively describe the phenomena of interest. Then try to identify key variables across these theories to form your research model.
4. You need to re-write your proposal based on my instructions, if you want to, based on the following steps.
a. Use one sentence, only one sentence, to clearly state the key purpose of your research. I mean your key research question of interest. This sentence should be able to show the importance of this research idea that can actually have real impact upon the development of relevant knowledge.
b. State line by line, but briefly, what have already been done in the literature concerning this research question. Here the causal relationships between different academic works are very important. You have to specify what was done by whom and thus cause who else came out of certain other specific thinking. And finally how all these conceptual causal ideas lead to your all important single research question.
c. State briefly why these previous studies cannot address your research question. Was it because of a gap in thinking? Or was it because of difficulty in research method (techniques? sample?)
d. Based on this single sentence to develop your very own purposes of the study.
e. Based on your research purposes, try to identify how far you are gong to do this research (define your research scope).
f. Based on your research purposes, try to organize key concepts from previous studies. (This should refer to statements b and c.) You need to provide me a mind map/framework (but not your research model) to clarify the gaps and connections among these key concepts.
g. Based on the gaps identified from statements b, c, and f, you need to identify possible candidate variables that may be used to bridge these gaps.
h. Form your research model based on these variables obtained from statement g.
i. Refer to relevant literature, and of course utilize your own mental efforts, make sure that each line in your research model is logically connected and well supported.
After this, we can have further discussions to elaborate your research model then.
Kind regards,
Peter