What to expect as an emergent researcher? That was the debate on the challenges of the Ph.D. journey discussed in the online event that has taken place online on 20.10.2021. The event was a pre-conference workshop, opening the series of events organized under the STRATEGICA International Conference 2021, organized by the team of the project Academic Advance: developing the interdisciplinary research excellence capacity of SNSPA in the field of Management [ro. Academic Advance: dezvoltarea capacității de cercetare interdisciplinară de excelență a SNSPA în domeniul Management]. Attendance was open to STRATEGICA participants and to students of CIVICA.
During the workshop the attendees learnt more about the numerous challenges that the doctoral pursuit raises, and received practical tools that would help them navigate the research and academic environments. Some of the topics that were covered included: the development of research skills (intellectual skills, knowledge, self-management), the rigors of working with the doctoral coordinator and with the members of the supervisory committee, essentials regarding time management, fundamentals of research impact, as well as the steps to be taken from coming with a research paper idea to having your paper published.
The keynote speakers were Professor Emeritus Constantin Brătianu, President of the International Association for Knowledge Management (IAKM), professor of Strategic Management and Knowledge Management at the UNESCO Department for Business Administration, Bucharest University of Economic Studies (ASE) and at the National University of Political Studies and Public Administration (SNSPA), Romania, and Professor Dan-Cristian Dabija, PhD, Full Professor at the Department of Marketing, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, Babeș-Bolyai University, Romania.
The event was moderated by Professor Florina Pînzaru, project Director and Dean of the Faculty of Management, SNSPA, Romania.
The two keynote speakers have many pieces of advice, essential to a young researcher and doctoral student.
Professor Brătianu introduced the 5 Rs model for conducting research. The 5Rs stand for: read, reflect, research model, research data, results.
READ
The researcher’s mindset is different from any other mindset that a persona may have. Acquiring a researcher mindset requires reading hundreds of papers and tens of books and book chapters. The normal reading pace for a researcher is 100 to 150 papers/ month, to which they should add books, reports, and other materials. While reading, the researcher needs to take notes (what is interesting? what connects to my doctoral research idea?) and write down all the details regarding the reference, in order to be able to use and cite the information in the future.
REFLECT
Sometimes the literature gives no clear definition of a concept, other times there are too many definitions, while in some extreme cases the existing definitions are conflicting. A researcher needs to get their own interpretation of the concepts or constructs they are learning about, namely to write their own „working definition”, incorporating characteristics from the various sources they read.
A researcher needs to pay attention to cultural bias. The academic literature is subjected to it as much as any other form of literature. Bias needs to be eliminated by the researcher prior to working with the concept or theory.
Other pitfalls are also common: there are situations when researchers can be seduced by the popularity of an author or of an institution. The halo effect can be very damaging. This is why researchers need to exercise their best judgement and make extensive use of their critical thinking.
RESEARCH MODEL
The concepts or constructs explain only a part of the reality, and the models work in a linear form. A researcher needs to identify the most important variables, the independent and dependent variables, the moderators, and investigate the relationships between variables, to identify potential causality relations. However, any research model is a simplification of reality and should be viewed as such. Reality is not linear, so any model will have limited power to explain reality.
RESEARCH DATA
An essential distinction that impacts the research quality is the one between qualitative data and quantitative data. A researcher needs to understand types of data, to understand statistics, and the various tools that can be used to collect and to work with data. Using a certain instrument, such as SPSS or PLS SEM, do not guarantee anything. The researcher needs to know what they want to investigate, so that they would be able to use the appropriate methods of working with data, and to interpret the results.
RESULTS INTERPRETATION
The results of a research initiative can only partially explain reality. A researcher has to present their findings in a mirror with the existing literature and explain why there are differences, nuances, particularities. Context and culture are two essential elements that can impact behaviour, and thinking patterns, leading to differences. They need to be acknowledged.
Professor Dabija underlined that time management, structuring your research pursuit, choosing the relevant journals for publishing your work, networking, and promoting one’s research results are keys to a successful doctoral pursuit.
TIME is important. Time is needed for reading, for grouping the articles in clusters, for reflecting, for identifying and understanding the research gap, for creating a research model, for learning about various collection and analysis tools, econometrics, statistics and how they can be used in various situations, for thinking about the research design, for collecting data, for working with data, and for other aspects that define the doctoral experience. Time planning is crucial.
STRUCTURE is important. Defining relevant keywords for the thesis and for the search inquiries in the most important data bases are useful for structuring the activities specific to working on collecting sources. Some of the important databases/ press houses, relevant to the field of Management, are: Clarivate Analytics, Emerald, Springer, Wiley, Taylor&Francis, SAGE, Routledge, Oxford Press, Cambridge Press etc. The students are advised to use e-nformation.ro to connect to some of them.
PUBLISHING in relevant journals is important. Young researchers are advised to consult with their Professor when choosing a journal, and focus on highly relevant journals, such as the ones listed under Core economics. To ensure a good quality of the paper, researchers shall work with a person specialised in proofreading, or, at least software. Open access journals could be an option for researchers who do not have the opportunity to pay high publication taxes. Special issues could also be of interest.
NETWORKING and promoting your work are important. Open accounts on Publons, SSRN, ResearchGate, Academia.edu, ORCID. Young researchers are urged to promote their research on social media, on their personal website (if they have one), to join a professional association (i.e. IAKM) and debate with the other members.
The workshop ended with a series of questions and answers.
*Summary of the workshop: University Lecturer, Ph.D., Andreea Mitan.
