Messy method: the secrets of the doctorate

Home‎ > ‎

Messy method: the secrets of the doctorate

THE SECRETS OF THE DOCTORATE : An introduction to messy method as a means of creating knowledge: A primer for researchers.

(This is in the attachment "secrets of the doctorate2015 version" at the end of this web page.It is best to read this book in colour - on the screen after you download it, or after you print it).

A 2016 pod cast, based on "The Secrets of the Doctorate", from Newcastle University, is available on https://youtu.be/f3VyEXZvI-M

References and powerpoint slides are attached below

(FEEL FREE TO PASS ALL THIS ON TO FRIENDS AND COLLEAGUES BY EMAIL, FACEBOOK, TWITTER ETC. Ignore any pop-up messages about Windows vista not being able to read this version of Adobe Acrobat - it seems to work fine. I hope Windows 8 is OK. Also please note the third edition of Colin Robson's excellent book "Real World Research" refers to messy method)

BOOK DOWNLOAD INSTRUCTIONS

My technical skills are very limited but we have fixed all but one of the problems we found up to November 2010, however if any others crop up, please let me know. The only remaining problem is that the fancy font on the title page of "The Secrets of the Doctorate" book, only appears when you download the file - reading it on the website usually gives a rather boring font.

N.B. The file is very big. To save it, so you can read it or print it, click on "download" not "view" (which may give an unreadable Google version) then "save"

Printing may be very slow - but it is much nicer in colour!

BY THE WAY

The three pages of Faraday's diary mentioned in the book (p.49,50,51) taken from the 1932 edition, are also attached below.

N.B. The main website covers my published articles and the thesis concerning messy method. If you want these, please go back to the home page of this subsidiary website and follow the link to the main site www.nmellor.com (or simply try clicking this address and it might link)

VALIDITY via CITATIONS

COLLEAGUES WHO SUPPORT THE "MESSY METHOD" APPROACH

Tina Cook (from Northumbria University) worked from the earliest stages on developing the notion of messy method and her excellent thesis (a PhD by published work) is included as two attachments to this webpage. This describes her thinking behind a number of articles published between 1998 and 2006. You will need to access the articles yourself, they are not posted on this website.

Aisha Walker's creative  thesis (in an attachment below) also explores many aspects of messy method: Walker, S.A. (2003) The Contribution of Computer-Mediated Communication in Developing Argument Skills and Writing-Related Self-Esteem. PhD thesis, University of Leeds.

Máirín Glenn’s (2006) thesis draws on several aspects of the article “Notes from a method”. See: “Working with collaborative projects: my living theory of a holistic educational practice” PhD thesis, University of Limerick , September 2006  This is available on      http://www.eari.ie/Thesis%20Document%20Mairin%20Glenn.pdf

Ruth Deery’s (2003) thesis draws on the “notes from a method" 1998 article and my 1999 PhD thesis and Cook (1998) See: “Engaging with clinical supervision in a community midwifery setting: an action research study”  PhD thesis, University of Sheffield. This is available on         http://eprints.hud.ac.uk/6913/     (copy and paste this address, it will not link for some odd reason )

Alison Pearce's (2011) thesis is included below. There seems to be some problem opening it with Acrobat Reader but it opens OK with Google (sometimes) .

To add further to the strength / validity of the "messy method" approach:

Researchers may like to see where other colleagues have used the messy method ideas or simply cited an article (or a thesis). A simple way to do this is to search, for example, for articles by myself or Tina Cook through GOOGLE scholar. Then look at "cited by" (or some such option) which usually appears below the article's listing By 2016 over 200 citations had been noted.

(Please note, it may be that on some sytems, the names of the attachments below may not display correctly. If that occurs, either download the documents one at a time to find the one you want or click on the download arrow at the right, if you can see one, to read the document names).