Framing the PhD project: How to connect parts to a whole in a paper-based dissertation within qualitative Social Sciences - 2 ECTS

To participate, the PhD student must be working on a PhD dissertation using qualitative methods in the Social Sciences. Priority is given to PhD students in the final year, but other PhD students are also welcome. Each student must submit a presentation of up to three pages that includes the following core elements of their dissertation framework: a) Overall thesis narrative: What is the story in a nutshell? b) State-of-the-art and overarching research question; c) Overall theoretical approach and research design; d) The role of each paper in the narrative. It is expected that students engage actively in the break out sessions.

A core challenge in paper-based PhD dissertations is ensuring that the individual papers are connected by relating to an overarching research question, so that the papers systematically supplement each other, and collectively enable a solid overall conclusion. This course focuses on establishing robust linkages between the papers in a paper-based PhD dissertation by composing and writing an effective framework (”kappe”). This process is creative and experimental, involving movement back and forth between the whole and its parts, in order to identify a clear and engaging narrative within the disicplinary domain of the PhD dissertation. Participants will learn what different types of readers in the field of organization and management studies expect from a paper-based PhD dissertation, and how to craft a framework that meets these expectations.

The course adopts a pragmatist approach to composing a coherent paper-based PhD dissertation within a given research domain. It centers on the question: How can a framework be written to engage readers and withstand “assaults from a hostile environment” (Latour, 1987)? Four tools are introduced: “framing” (what is the domain and approach of the dissertation?), “storyline” (what is the relationship, logical structure, or golden thread across the papers?), “enrolment” (how can readers be engaged and objections minimized?), and “narration” (what type of story should be told, and how should it be told in terms of time and space?). The participants will employ the tools to each others’ framework outlines to help make them as effective as possible.