There are three elements to data collection for student participants in my research into transitions into PTPG studies.  The first is a questionnaire, collecting mainly quantitative data about students who are new to PG studies, their course (and their reasons for selecting it), and their expectations of their course at the very beginning (either during induction or shortly afterwards).  The main purpose of this questionnaire is to facilitate the selection of an interview sample.  It takes 10-15 minutes to complete.

Participants who are selected for interview then take part in two further interviews.  The first interview takes place after completion and submission of the first taught module, but before a grade and feedback have been issued.  The exact timing of this interview will depend on when assessments are submitted, but it is envisaged that these interviews will take place between December 2016 and February 2017.  The second interview takes place after feedback has been received on the second module.  Again, the precise timing of this interview will depend on assignment submission, but it is anticipated that this will be between March and May 2017.  Experience of the pilot programme  and initial interviews suggests that each interview takes approximately 45 minutes.

So, those people who take part are committing a maximum of two hours in total of their lives spread across period of up to nine months.  Because the EdD is a professional doctorate, it will need to deliver both a contribution to knowledge, and a contribution to practice.  As I mentioned in a previous post, the contribution to practice will be to identify ways and interventions to better support new students into and through PTPG studies.  This will help to optimise successful outcomes and minimise stress for future PTPGstudents.

In the immortal words of Eddie Reader (question for self: should I own up to knowing the words of a Fairground Attraction hit?), “it’s got to be worth it”………

I’ve just re-read my previous post in preparation for this one, and it occurs to me that unless you know me or have been following my travails, it’s unlikely that you will have gleaned a clear idea of the rationale underpinning my EdD thesis.

The main reason that I’m researching the impact of expectations on student transitions into part-time postgraduate (PTPG studies) is because of my students.  I work in a MillionPlus University, and it’s fair to say that most of the students that I teach are what Leese (2010) would describe as non-traditional PG students, because they are not all progressing straight from their undergraduate degrees.  It’s also fair to say (until next month) that they are currently all part-time with what Tobbell et al. (2008) would describe as “complicated lives”.  Apart from answers to my research questions, what I really want to find out is how I, and the School of Education in which I teach, can support new PTPG students more effectively.

I first became interested in the topic of transitions into undergraduate HE studies when I was teaching on and managing HE in FE business provision at an FE College in the Midlands.  It was my anecdotal observation that the type of (L3) entry qualification that HND Business in FE students had impacted on their transition into, retention during and achievement on the programme.  Transition into UG studies was a hot topic at the time, because of the perceived need to measure and evaluate the impact of Widening Participation.  But there was very little on transition into HE in FE (Schofield and Dismore (2010) excepted – and even that was in a different discipline).So when I needed a topic for my MA Education dissertation I needed to look no further.  Both my qualitative and quantitative data blew my anecdotal observation out of the water, and that changed my life (and the lives of my then current and future students) for ever.

So when I moved from HE in FE to teach PTPG students in an HEI, it seemed logical to scope my EdD studies accordingly.  Whilst there is a small but growing body of research into transition into PG studies, much of it focuses on full time students (Morgan, 2015; inter alia).  Some studies (Scott et al., 2014) focus on types of transition; but there is little specifically relating to PT students.

So now you know both what and why……..