JAS 3 Cohort 4

Dear Cohort 4 fellows:

We are looking forward to welcoming you to JAS 3.

Overall, the purpose of JAS 3 is to provide you with protected space to do the following:

• analyse and write up your thesis 

• present sections of your work

• critique your own work

• offer collegial critique to other fellows

• make use of the resource people who will be available to you during JAS 3.

It is best if you are well prepared and thus we think it helpful to make our expectations of you explicit. These include that: 

•  you will bring your data with you and that you will have adequate data to analyse

• we suggest that prior to coming you draw up a plan of what you want to get out of JAS 3

• you should have already a detailed  analysis plan (we have appended some useful examples of these to assist you in case you do not have this yet) - you will be using this on the first day of the JAS

• as you well know you cannot write without reading and we assume that you have been doing an on-going literature search. Please make sure that you bring the relevant literature and your endnote library with you to JAS 3. You will need this when interpreting and writing up your data

• prior to JAS 3 please make sure you have had a detailed discussion with your supervisor(s) so that you are well prepared to make the best use of JAS and are able to bring your supervisors expertise to bear on the way your approach your PhD write up

During the JAS we expect you to be able to articulate your needs and be self-directed and thus make full and appropriate use of the resource people available.  Find out which of the facilitators have what kind of skills and make use of them. Some will be qualitative researchers; some are quantitative; some will be able to assist you in saying what you mean and interpreting your data; some will be able to assist with searching data bases and so on. Remember some of the resources will be located in other fellows.

At the end of each week you will benefit most out of the JAS is you review what you have achieved and make a work plan for the next week – you need it at the diagnostic session at the start of every week. Can you please also email a copy of this at the end of each week to carta@aphrc.org

Remember, often in academic work you may have to make a judgement call about competing advice. You will have excellent and important advice primarily from your supervisor(s). At JAS 3 you will also get feedback from the various facilitators or fellows– this may not always be the same, we hope it will be complimentary but it could be contradictory. You need to make your own judgment of how to use the advice and to be able to justify why you are taking a particular approach to your analysis or interpretation of your data. The important thing is that your justification is coherent and well argued. Being open to critique and engaging with it however is important and to be able to change your mind based on evidence and argument. We believe that JAS 3 will be a very creative time and we with you all the best as your progress to the next stage of your PhD. We look forward to welcoming you to Ibadan. 

Appended to this are some data analysis plans that you may want to look at to inform how you do this, we have included one that speaks to qualitative and one that speaks to quantitative approaches to research. Also we strongly suggest that you look at this website in thinking about writing up your PhD. See http://www.monash.edu.au/lls/hdr/write/5.8.html

Regards,

CARTA Team