Reviewing literature, reading methods, publishing opinions: PhD journal months 8 & 9
Welcome to a very late review of PhD happenings in May and June. Even though I often end up posting these journals sometime after the period in question, I still find it useful to reflect back on what progress was made: the words that were written; the readings that sparked something; the events I was glad I attended. Writing these late reviews has definitely been made easier by the brief daily 'done list' I've been keeping since sometime in February. These have been incredibly useful for quantifying how I spend my days and tracking progress in different areas; I can highly recommend the practice of writing a bullet point list of (big or small) tasks completed as a nice way of closing off the workday (especially if like me your workplace is also your home).
This time was mostly about reading for, planning, and drafting a literature review of research into the educational outcomes of white working-class girls, which ended up being over 8,000 new words written across May/June. Not all of this writing will end up in my final thesis, but it feels good to have too many words that can be edited down, rather than too few. What will be an interesting challenge will be turning this, along with 4,500 words previously written on the discourses of widening participation, into a much more concise literature review section of around 2,500 words for my RF2 (confirmation of PhD) progress report. (At the moment, that is looking like a problem for Future Jess when I get back from maternity leave).
A good chunk of June was also spent reading methods literature and outlining the methodology section of my RF2 progress report. After focusing on the literature review for so long, I actually found it a real tonic to immerse myself in thinking and reading about methods. My plan is to use a narrative approach for the interview aspect of my study, and discourse analysis for critically examining how the problem, solution, and subjects of the widening participation are constructed in policy documents. Finding out about the Biographic Narrative Interview Method (BNIM) and adaptations of this method has been illuminating, as has learning about Bacchi's (2009) and Allan's (2008) critical approaches to policy discourse analysis. I'm looking forward to taking a deeper dive into these methods and undertaking some piloting as one of my first post-maternity leave tasks.
One achievement it was nice to unlock this month was writing an opinion piece and getting it published on a UK HE sector policy news site. Pitching a blog idea to Wonkhe and having it accepted was one of my professional development goals for the next few years so it felt good to tick this off before my break in study. My new goal is to pitch/write a second (and maybe even third?!) piece by the end of the PhD.
Finally, given that I'm writing these journals as a tool to help me reflect on the ups and downs of the PhD process, it would be remiss of me not to talk about the impact of being pregnant during this time. It turns out that I wildly underestimated how much late pregnancy would affect my productivity. While I knew morning sickness would likely be tough in the first trimester (and it was, right into the second trimester), I hadn't realised how much fatigue, physical discomfort, and emotional turbulence would be a factor later on. Much of the time I find it's difficult to think about anything other than being pregnant and what's coming next, which (perhaps naively) I really hadn't predicted. This time has required a process of adjusting my expectations and accepting what I am able to do - and what I'm not - and prioritising health and wellbeing above PhD work sometimes.
May and June development
General doctoral skills
- WRDTP: Getting to grips with academic writing (session 1/3)
- Sheffield Hallam: Professional Skills for Research Leadership (two day event)
- BSA Emotions Study Group: The Role of Self and Emotion within Qualitative Data Analysis
- WRDTP conference 2021: Demystifying the Media and Think Tank World (with Arianna Giovannini, Maya Goodfellow, and Kate Proctor)
- WRDTP conference 2021: Developing your research brand
- Book launch: Mike Savage - The Return of Inequality
- Eurostudents conference: What does it mean to be a contemporary higher education student?