What do you think?
Rate this book
EBOOK: How to Get a PhD: A Handbook for Students and their Supervisors
It provides a practical, down-to-earth and realistic approach to studying for a PhD and offers support and reassurance for both students and supervisors.This brand new sixth edition has been thoroughly updated and revised throughout, and Long regarded as the PhD 'bible', this edition is brought right up-to-date for today’s student, retaining the straightforward and practical approach that has made it indispensable for students and supervisors across all academic disciplines. “How to Get a PhD stands out in the field due to its breadth and comprehensiveness. Whilst studying for a PhD, I bought several of these types of books. I wish instead I had saved my money and simply bought How to Get a PhD . I would recommend this for any PhD students, for anyone thinking about studying for a PhD, or indeed for new PhD supervisors.”
David Wilkins, Senior Research Fellow, Tilda Goldberg Centre, University of Bedfordshire, UK “A thoroughly useful book to recommend to students (and prospective students) to help guide them through the practicalities of achieving a PhD.”
Dr Russ Grant, University of York, UK and independent postgraduate teaching consultant
David Wilkins, Senior Research Fellow, Tilda Goldberg Centre, University of Bedfordshire, UK “A thoroughly useful book to recommend to students (and prospective students) to help guide them through the practicalities of achieving a PhD.”
Dr Russ Grant, University of York, UK and independent postgraduate teaching consultant
- GenresNonfictionAcademia
282 pages, Kindle Edition
First published September 1, 2010
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
Read
August 13, 2026Intelligence- or information-gathering – the ‘what’ questions
*****
There are a lot of things that we don’t know and that we could fi nd out.
What are the age, sex and subject distributions of doctoral students in British higher education?
*****
Since this work is descriptive, answering the ‘what’ questions, it can be considered as ‘intelligence-gathering’
*****
Research – the ‘why’ questions
*****
Research goes beyond description and requires analysis.
*****
expla-nations, relationships, comparisons, predictions, generalizations and the-ories.
*****
information is used for the purpose of developing understanding – by comparison, by relating to other factors, by theorizing and testing the theories.
*****
All research questions have comparisons in them,
*****
All research questions also involve generaliza-tion
*****
These are the focus of PhD study.
*****
Characteristics of good research
*****
Research is based on an open system of thought
*****
You are entitled to think anything.
*****
non-researchers often regard research results as being demonstrations of the obvious or trivial elaborations of established knowledge.
*****
The key to the approach is to keep fi rmly in mind that the classic position of a researcher is not that of one who knows the right answers but of one who is struggling to fi nd out what the right questions might be!
*****
Researchers examine data critically
*****
most important single element in distinguishing a research approach from others and researchers from practitioners and laypeople
*****
Researchers examine data and the sources of data critically so that the basic research approach to provocative state-ments
*****
is not to agree or disagree but to ask: ‘What is your evidence?’
*****
Researchers are continually having to ask: ‘Have you got the facts right? Can we get better data? Can the results be interpreted differently?’
*****
Politicians and managers, for example, often need to make decisions under constraints of public pressure or time.
Their need to act is more important than their need to understand.
*****
Researchers’ priorities are of course different. They have to go to great trouble to get systematic, valid and reliable data because their aim is to understand and interpret.
*****
Researchers generalize and specify the limits on their generalizations
*****
It is the aim of research to obtain valid generalizations because this is the most eff i cient way of applying understanding in a wide variety of appro-priate situations
*****
‘All generalizations are dangerous – including this one!’
*****
research may be said to proceed by insightful but dangerous generalizations, which is why the limits of the generalization – where it applies and where it does not apply – must be continually tested.
*****
The way generalizations can best be established is through the develop-ment of explanatory theory, and it is indeed the application of theory that turns intelligence-gathering into researc
*****
Would measuring the pH value of the water in a swimming pool be research? The answer would depend upon what we were going to do with the result, not on how complicated or how ‘scientif i c’ the measurement was. If the result were used to develop and test a theory of the factors that determine the acidity of water, it would be research; if it were used to make a decision on whether the pool was safe according to established criteria, then it would be intelligence-gathering.
*****
examination of the adequacy of generalizations, formulated as hypotheses, is the cornerstone of research.
*****
Hypotheses
*****
are imaginative and inspirational in character’; they are ‘adven-tures of the mind’
*****
A popular misconception about scientif i c method is that it is inductive:
that the formulation of scientif i c theory starts with the basic, raw evidence of the senses – simple, unbiased, unprejudiced observation.
*****
Out of these sensory data – commonly referred to as ‘facts’ – generalizations will form.
*****
The myth is that from a disorderly array of factual information an orderly, relevant theory will somehow emerge. However, the starting point of induction is an impossible one.
*****
There is no such thing as unbiased observation.
*****
Every act of observation we make is a function of what we have seen or otherwise experienced in the past.
*****
All scientif i c work of an experimental or exploratory nature starts with some expectation about the outcome.
--
Importante
*****
This expectation is a hypoth-esis.
*****
Hypotheses
*****
inf l uence the method
*****
It is in the light of an expectation that some obser-vations are held to be relevant and some irrelevant, that one methodology is chosen and others discarded, that some experiments are conducted and others are not.
*****
Hypotheses arise by guesswork or by inspiration, but having been for-mulated they can and must be tested rigorously, using the appropriate deductive methodology
*****
In a deductive argument, the truth of the con-clusion must necessarily follow from the truth of the starting premises
*****
There are a lot of things that we don’t know and that we could fi nd out.
What are the age, sex and subject distributions of doctoral students in British higher education?
*****
Since this work is descriptive, answering the ‘what’ questions, it can be considered as ‘intelligence-gathering’
*****
Research – the ‘why’ questions
*****
Research goes beyond description and requires analysis.
*****
expla-nations, relationships, comparisons, predictions, generalizations and the-ories.
*****
information is used for the purpose of developing understanding – by comparison, by relating to other factors, by theorizing and testing the theories.
*****
All research questions have comparisons in them,
*****
All research questions also involve generaliza-tion
*****
These are the focus of PhD study.
*****
Characteristics of good research
*****
Research is based on an open system of thought
*****
You are entitled to think anything.
*****
non-researchers often regard research results as being demonstrations of the obvious or trivial elaborations of established knowledge.
*****
The key to the approach is to keep fi rmly in mind that the classic position of a researcher is not that of one who knows the right answers but of one who is struggling to fi nd out what the right questions might be!
*****
Researchers examine data critically
*****
most important single element in distinguishing a research approach from others and researchers from practitioners and laypeople
*****
Researchers examine data and the sources of data critically so that the basic research approach to provocative state-ments
*****
is not to agree or disagree but to ask: ‘What is your evidence?’
*****
Researchers are continually having to ask: ‘Have you got the facts right? Can we get better data? Can the results be interpreted differently?’
*****
Politicians and managers, for example, often need to make decisions under constraints of public pressure or time.
Their need to act is more important than their need to understand.
*****
Researchers’ priorities are of course different. They have to go to great trouble to get systematic, valid and reliable data because their aim is to understand and interpret.
*****
Researchers generalize and specify the limits on their generalizations
*****
It is the aim of research to obtain valid generalizations because this is the most eff i cient way of applying understanding in a wide variety of appro-priate situations
*****
‘All generalizations are dangerous – including this one!’
*****
research may be said to proceed by insightful but dangerous generalizations, which is why the limits of the generalization – where it applies and where it does not apply – must be continually tested.
*****
The way generalizations can best be established is through the develop-ment of explanatory theory, and it is indeed the application of theory that turns intelligence-gathering into researc
*****
Would measuring the pH value of the water in a swimming pool be research? The answer would depend upon what we were going to do with the result, not on how complicated or how ‘scientif i c’ the measurement was. If the result were used to develop and test a theory of the factors that determine the acidity of water, it would be research; if it were used to make a decision on whether the pool was safe according to established criteria, then it would be intelligence-gathering.
*****
examination of the adequacy of generalizations, formulated as hypotheses, is the cornerstone of research.
*****
Hypotheses
*****
are imaginative and inspirational in character’; they are ‘adven-tures of the mind’
*****
A popular misconception about scientif i c method is that it is inductive:
that the formulation of scientif i c theory starts with the basic, raw evidence of the senses – simple, unbiased, unprejudiced observation.
*****
Out of these sensory data – commonly referred to as ‘facts’ – generalizations will form.
*****
The myth is that from a disorderly array of factual information an orderly, relevant theory will somehow emerge. However, the starting point of induction is an impossible one.
*****
There is no such thing as unbiased observation.
*****
Every act of observation we make is a function of what we have seen or otherwise experienced in the past.
*****
All scientif i c work of an experimental or exploratory nature starts with some expectation about the outcome.
--
Importante
*****
This expectation is a hypoth-esis.
*****
Hypotheses
*****
inf l uence the method
*****
It is in the light of an expectation that some obser-vations are held to be relevant and some irrelevant, that one methodology is chosen and others discarded, that some experiments are conducted and others are not.
*****
Hypotheses arise by guesswork or by inspiration, but having been for-mulated they can and must be tested rigorously, using the appropriate deductive methodology
*****
In a deductive argument, the truth of the con-clusion must necessarily follow from the truth of the starting premises
October 6, 2021
I read this book right before starting my PhD. I felt it was quite interesting and it made me think a lot about the relationship between the PhD candidates and their supervisors. It is an interesting read but it focus quite a lot on the UK system. I think this is a good start but there might be more general books out there.
June 2, 2024
Very relatable for me as a current postgraduate student. It really tells you the things to look out for. Although it is written in a UK education system, I think we can apply the "theories" to experiences in other countries as well. Definitely will go back to this book whenever I need some motivation.
August 7, 2020
a good reference book about the process of general phd research and some precautions.
May 8, 2021
I have the first edition and it was helpful in assisting me at the outset
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews