Adjusting your project
Hear from experts and students about adjusting your research.
Expert panel advice
This webinar addresses the challenges researchers face adjusting their research plans and how they tackle that.
Student stories
Read how students have adjusted their research and dealt with change.
Rescoping your project
As coronavirus spread globally in early 2020 and it started to become clear that Australia would be significantly affected, some UQ PhD candidates and their supervisors were thrown into planning on how to adjust their projects within the new restrictions. Danielle Jeffery was one of these candidates. She is pursuing a PhD at the School of Education in Spanish language studies.
Danielle and her supervisors were anticipating a rescope on her project from the end of February. As the government rushed to gain control of the situation, Ms Jeffery needed to wait on the Department of Education for guidance as her project involved visiting and collecting data at schools.
Read our Q&A with Danielle below about how she and her advisors approached the rescoping of her project.
How did you and your supervisors approach the idea of rescoping?
My supervisors and I were on alert for a potential rescope from the end of February. I also indicated that I had a back-up option should things come to that, so we were all aware of what may come. March was a bit of a waiting game as I had already confirmed a number of teachers who were willing to participate in my original Action Research study and was just waiting on Principals to sign off on it. While I was waiting, the situation with COVID-19 was becoming increasingly serious and finally the Department of Education advised that all research on school sites would be postponed indefinitely. Luckily, I had been able to think over potential options in early March and was working on a paper with another RHD student which included a method I could incorporate called scroll-back interviews. I did need to do my own research regarding this method as my supervisors had not used it. However, it is quite straight-forward, and they were open and accommodating. The main consideration for how COVID-19 would impact the new method was whether the interviews would be conducted online or face-to-face which we simply addressed by asking permission for both in my ethics application. In addition, I had been planning the original study and realised it probably wasn’t the best approach anyway and that my idea for rescoping made much more sense. In the end, we didn’t really have a choice but to rescope, as the Department of Education postponed research on school sites, and I was not comfortable with returning in 2020 knowing schools would be catching up on missed/disrupted schooling.
What were your key considerations when working on rescoping this project?
My biggest concern was the additional burden my original project would place on my participants if I were to wait it out and resume my research later in the year. I was very uncomfortable with asking participants to take part in action research after schools were closed down and they were catching up from lost face-to-face hours. Ultimately, we made the decision to rescope in order to avoid overburdening participants in 2020. My ethics application is still valid for the original project should I wish to revisit it later, but I don’t think this will be the case. Another consideration was doing another ethics application for a rescope. Knowing how long it can take, we hoped to be able to put through an amendment to fast-track the process. In addition, we also considered the methods/methodologies I already had some knowledge and experience of to minimise the learning curve when introducing them to my project. My timeline was also considered as I have mid-candidature in July. If my rescoping were major, it would have been very difficult to progress to mid-candidature on-time.
Have you seen a significant change in your project? What are the key adjustments that you have made?
The change to the project does not feel too significant although it is very different. The reason it does not feel so significant is most likely because I have been working on a number of papers using the methods and methodologies I have now incorporated. However, some of these might have been less familiar to my supervisors but not so much that they were impossible to use.
The biggest adjustments were:
- Workload. I had to increase my workload to maintain sufficient progress for my upcoming milestone. I had to wait 4-5 months to begin writing my methodology chapter which I had planned to start in Jan/Feb. As the impact of COVID-19 was looming at this time, I put off starting this chapter in anticipation of a rescope (although hoping it wouldn’t come to that). By the end of April when I had resubmitted ethics and recruited again, I wasn’t really able to start writing it until May. I also had a very quick and enthusiastic response to my call for participants meaning I conducted and transcribed almost all the interviews in May. My teaching commitments also doubled during this time to account for going online, rewriting curricula and marking assessments that were pushed back. It was great to get my interviews done so quickly and I am lucky to have done so, but it was still quite stressful as it happened much quicker than I expected.
- Incorporating new methods and methodologies. When I rescoped my project to include the scroll-back interviews, I was also able to incorporate a method/methodology (decolonial critical discourse analysis) that I had recently used in a paper. While this was not an issue once I had written my methodology chapter, having to explain it and pitch it to my supervisors in a very short time frame before I had the chance to complete my research was extremely stressful. Although they were very accommodating and open to my ideas, I still felt pressure to be able to communicate my ideas in more detail than I felt I had time to prepare for. All the changes to method also mean a reframing of my methodology requiring deep engagement with the literature in a short time frame. I think my project now looks great and I am very happy with it, but it involved an incredible amount of work and deep thinking at a time when I was completely overwhelmed with teaching, marking, interviewing, transcribing and also worrying about my future work security.
Do you feel you have gained some benefit from this process?
Yes. Despite how incredibly stressful and overwhelming it was, I feel my project is much, much stronger, and that I would never have been able to design it in this way if it were not for the circumstances. I’ve also learned to advocate for methods I think are worthwhile and gained confidence in my own ability to do so. I have also benefitted from learning multiple methods even though I may not have been able to completely implement all of them.
What was the most challenging aspect of the process?
The most challenging aspect was working on my initial project knowing it would most likely been discontinued and therefore the work I had put in wasted and then having to re-write everything in a very short time frame.
Do you have any advice for other candidates and their advisory teams? Any resources or publications you would point people to in order to help them on their journey?
My advice would be to ensure that you are working on smaller side projects with different methods requiring minimal effort in regards to ethics (this seems to be a good option for projects working towards a paper anyway) but perhaps a similar theoretical framework as your thesis. This way it is fairly straight-forward to alter the method and incorporate your thesis topic and theoretical framework. It also means that you will already have a lot of the background literature on different methods, possibly not at the level of detail needed but still a solid head start.
I haven’t got any additional publications or resources but the most helpful strategy for me has been attending a number of conferences where I was able to see presentations on a range of methods. I actually got the idea for my rescoping from a conference presentation I saw in December 2019.
Adjusting your project remotely
Many of our HDR candidates have together with their projects been thrown into uncertainty during the COVID-19 pandemic. Numerous candidates have had to rescope their project to fit with new restrictions that we are now all familiar with.
PhD candidate Bin Yang has been in China since early 2020, and hasn’t been allowed to return to Australia after commencing at UQ in 2019. He was able to continue his research remotely after rethinking his project.
How did you and your supervisors approach the idea of rescoping?
Due to the travel ban, I have been restricted in returning to Australia since February. We didn't know how long the ban would last. Therefore, my supervisors, Prof. Bernard Degnan and Prof. Sandie Degnan, set up regular weekly meetings for me on Zoom to discuss the progress of the project and how to adjust the content and schedule of my PhD project for the next period to minimize the impact of the travel ban on the progress of my project.
What were your key considerations when working on rescoping this project?
My PhD project consists of field work, lab work and bioinformatics data analysis. Since I am not able to return to Brisbane until the end of the travel ban, the fieldwork and lab work in my PhD project has to be temporarily suspended. My key considerations were to prioritize the work that can be done remotely, such as online writing courses and bioinformatic analyses, and after the ban is lifted, to focus on the field work and lab work.
Have you seen a significant change in your project? What are the key adjustments that you have made?
Yes, the content and schedule for my project have changed significantly. After I completed my Confirmation Milestone in May, I've been doing further and more detailed analyses of an existing dataset. In the meantime, I have learnt new bioinformatic approaches and tools, which not only facilitated my analyses of existing data, but also laid the foundation for my future analyses of new datasets generated by fieldwork and lab work.
Do you feel you have gained some benefit from this process?
Yes, while the process might be a little tough, I gained some benefits as well. The most notable benefit is the ability to use online resources for self-study. During this time, I have not only improved my academic writing skills through a variety of online courses and literature, but I have also acquired various bioinformatic approaches.
What was the most challenging aspect of the process?
From my perspective, the most challenging aspect was the uncertainty of how long the travel ban will last, which led to frequent adjustments of the content and schedule of my PhD project. Fortunately, my supervisors cared enough about my situation and gave me lots of helpful suggestions at every weekly meeting. In addition, I have been in regular contact with other members of the lab to discuss the analyses and results. They also have been very supportive.
Do you have any advice for other candidates and their advisory teams? Any resources or publications you would point people to in order to help them on their journey?
Keep calm, stay patient, and connect with lab members, especially your supervisors.
Learning to let go
Sometimes the most challenging part of adjusting is letting go of elements that you love about your project. This is a PhD candidate’s account of their challenging and stressful attempt to adjust the parameters of their project to fit within the new restrictions we are all now familiar with.
How did you and your supervisors approach the idea of adjusting your project?
My research is aiming to understand why hotel employees do not engage with sustainability initiatives. I focus on room attendants and housekeeping work due to its well-know initiatives (i.e. reusing towels) and the environmental impact of cleaning. My research design included three phases: speaking to management about expectations of sustainable behaviours, observing room attendants in their day-to-day work and interviewing them.
At the end of February, I was just finalising my management interviews and scheduling my observations. At this stage, Covid-19 was only tangentially on the agenda of the properties I was working with. However, starting March, the first thing I noticed was an increasing delay in response to emails from my industry partners. This made planning my observations challenging. I had to start thinking about alternative options for data collection. My supervisors kept calm and stayed optimistic. Their attitude helped me to not panic.
Given the introduction of social distancing rules, I was forced to abandon my observation plans and move my interviews online. At the end of March, when Australia closed its borders to all non-residents, the properties I had been working with informed me that they could no longer participate in my research. They had to let all their housekeeping staff go. Even online interviews were not feasible as their staff were distraught given the current situation. It was heartbreaking to get this feedback as I had been working with the properties for some time.
My MCR was scheduled for beginning of April and I decided to go ahead. I presented several alternative plans to continue my data collection. Fortunately, I passed, however my committee acknowledged that tourism and hospitality has been one of the hardest hit industries. Rescoping would be difficult given the long-term impacts and availability of alternative data sources and required more time.
Have you seen a significant change in your project? What are the key adjustments that you have made?
After my MCR I tried several different avenues for adjusting. I was looking at different ways to use my already available data to answer my research questions. I also investigated new strategies to collect my outstanding data. However, as the project is intrinsically linked to an industry that was shut down globally, it was quite difficult to predict how and if these strategies would work.
In addition to reviewing academic literature, I kept up to date with industry developments via newsletters and webinars. In May, it crystallised that the industry’s focus moving forward would be on hygiene and safety. Recovery efforts needed to focus on establishing trust in cleanliness to attract future guests. However, it also meant that continuation of current sustainability efforts would be impacted. Additionally, it was still unclear when and if hotels would be able to re-open. My re-scoping efforts were seriously undermined, hence I decided to take an interruption of 6 weeks.
Do you feel you have gained some benefit from this process?
I learnt that a researcher needs to be flexible. Whilst you can (and should be!) passionate about your topic, you need to adapt to challenges that you will encounter along the way. My research project had been borne out of my long-term industry experience and is very close to my heart so being flexible has been a steep learning curve.
I also learnt to be kind to myself. There is no need to force yourself to continue with your research if your mind is not up to the task. At that point it is better to let go, interrupt and focus on nursing your mind back to full energy. I read a lot of books during my interruption. Reading always had a nurturing and recovering effect on me.
I also learnt to speak openly about my challenges. This can be to your supervisors, fellow PhDs, or even a professional. There is no shame in seeking help. On the contrary, speaking about your challenges allows you to organise and articulate them better for your own benefit. Sometimes you just need someone to listen to be able to help yourself making decisions.
What was the most challenging aspect of the process?
Knowing when to stop and take a break. Nobody wants to admit that they are at breaking point. It takes some strength to make this decision.
Do you have any advice for other candidates and their advisory teams? Any resources or publications you would point people to to help them on their journey?
Letting go. Firstly, learn to let go of research avenues that are not feasible anymore regardless of how close the project is to your heart. Build flexible and alternative strategies into your design from the start. I believe no research ever goes to plan. Secondly, let go of your research and focus on your mental health once you realise that your batteries are empty. How does the saying go? “You cannot pour from an empty cup.”