Raewyn ConnellHow not to devise new research ideas
approval; applications for grants or tenders for contracts. I have two pieces of advice
about all this.
First, don’t hurry. If you are working in a team, give your colleagues time to think and
rewrite your draft plan. If there’s a deadline, give yourself elbow-room before the crunch
date. In the planning of research, hurry almost always results in banal research that
repeats, with small variations, what’s already been done by other people.
(That’s why I’m very critical of the trend today to make PhD students produce a detailed
research plan right at the start of their enrolment – or even before they enrol – when
they have not had the time to explore, think creatively, or make a few mistakes.)
Second, think about launch writing from the point of view of the readers. If you need a
grant, ask yourself what the granting body is trying to accomplish by funding research. If
you need to get permissions, ask yourself what issues the permission-granters are
worried about. In collaborations, make draft plans that address the problems your
colleagues think important, as well as the problems you do.
Internal writing
Once a research effort is under way, a ton of writing is required to keep it going. You
probably do more writing, certainly more varied writing, at this stage than any other.
Internal writing includes: emails to team members, drafts of questionnaires (a highly
skilled business, by the way), fieldwork diaries, notes of observations, interview
transcripts, minutes of meetings, progress reports, case studies, statistical analyses,