Project Planner

This stage will:

• Allow you to plan your research effectively
• Define and explain the different phases of a research project
• Provide helpful suggestions for when things don’t go according to plan

Practicality—the actual, messy, real business of getting good research done—matters just as much as the methods or approaches that you choose. We can have a well-developed and appropriate methodological position and still make a complete mess of getting our research done. The reverse is equally true. Research is a craft. We can be very competent research craft workers, but if we don’t know how we are making and justifying our claims for knowing the world, then our research will go nowhere useful.

This section is about being a good craftsperson—our competence in the practical side of things when we do research. A lot of this is common to any good work in a craft, whether as a stonemason, potter, surgeon, gardener, or social researcher.