PhD Research Methodology

Outline of Research Process

Phase 1: essential first steps
Phase 2: data collection
Phase 3: analysis and
interpretation

Phase 1
Clarify the issue to be
researched and select research
method(s).
Essential because a question that
is unclear or too broad cannot be
answered.
The research method allows the
research to be conducted
according to a plan or design.

Phase 1 cont.
Clarifying the question and method
enables the researcher to be
clearer about the data that is
needed
Therefore to make a decision
about what sample size, or the
amount of data, is needed.

Cyborgs:
Interviews : I identified four
categories of people to interview:
performers working in the field of cyborg
performance art;
disabled people whose bodies had been
modified;
scientists making prosthetics;
and the main funders of technological
research the military.

Performers
The first category was relatively
easy I knew people who could put
me in touch with these performers,
and I quickly secured interviews
with two of the leading figures in
the field
Stelarc
Eduardo Kac.

Disabled People
The second category was the most difficult, in
many ways, not least because of the ethical
dimension of undertaking such interviews.
As it turned out, approaches to the prosthetic
department in the university for assistance in
identifying potential interviewees went
unanswered.
However, one disabled person, Ju Gosling, author
of the website My Not So Secret Life as a
Cyborg, attending a Performance Research
conference and giving a paper about her
experiences, gladly agreed to give me an
interview, and from her experience and
awareness of the issues gave me probably a far
more insightful interview than I might otherwise
have been able to achieve.

Scientists
For the third category I simply made
a search on the internet.
Most of the cutting edge prostheticians
seemed to be based in the US.
Of particular interest were the very
small number of neuro-prostheticians,
and the celebrated Utah Array a tiny
chipset that, once implanted in the
brain, can both read and transmit
signals between brain and computer.
Fascinated, I wrote to its inventor,
Professor Richard Norman, in Salt Lake
City, and he agreed to give me an
interview.

The Military
None of the other scientists I approached
was able to grant me an interview at the time
but one of them wrote to me to tell me about
the forthcoming conference, in Washington DC,
run by the US Department of Defence, entitled
Exoskeletons for Human Performance
Augmentation.
This would be perfect for the fourth category.
Having read Ballards Crash (Ballard 1995) I
was already interested in how the car forms an
inorganic skin to a specific and very modern
role played out by huge numbers of us in the
west every time we sit behind the wheel. How
much more so would the inorganic skin of a
military exoskeleton a high tech suit of
armour - make its impact upon our
personalities!?

Phase 2
Collecting the data
surveys, interviews, literature review,
participant observation, etc..
I undertook the interviews I had arranged,
recording them, then transcribing the
recordings
I attended the EHPA conference and made
copious notes throughout

Summarising and organising the data

Excerpts from and summaries of
transcripts
Thoughts arising from notes on conference

Phase 3
Analysis, interpretation
Relating the data to the research
question
Drawing conclusions
Assessing the limitations of the
study

Reporting and Writing up

Writing up occurs after the
research is done
Not everything that is done
is reported
Have to leave some stuff out!!
The research report summarises
the activities in such a way that
they are clear to the reader, and so
the reader could repeat the
research.

A Research Report
A Research Report should generally include:
Statement of problem
review of relevant literature
statement of hypothesis or research
objectives
description of research design
selection and operationalization of variables
description of sample selection procedure
description of how data was collected
data presented and summarised in words
conclusion, limitations, and implications
bibliography or references cited
appendices

Cyborgs Research Report

The Cyborgs Research Report included:
Statement of problem
statement of research objectives
description of research design
description of how data was collected
review of relevant literature
collected data, presented and summarised
in words
conclusion, limitations, and implications
bibliography and references cited
appendices - the interview transcripts and
the complete notes from the EHPA
conference