Work plan for research project

It's a bit hard to plan two years ahead, but since I don't need to worry about coordinating financial and people resources, it's not a great problem. So here's first draft starting July 2008, with thanks to my student colleagues who shared their approaches.

Literature review
Month Activity
1- 27 Continue to read and review literature on public sector, consultants, clients and relevant method such as social network theory

Skills audit
Month Activity
1 - 22 Attend courses, seminars & conferences as appropriate
Rewrite my OUBS web page when it’s out of date
2-4 Learn any specific analysis skills such as the maths needed for social network analysis
6-10 Learn necessary software such as NVivo and software for social network analysis
1-28 Adjust plans as life gets in the way
9-10 Write a paper on the pilot case study results

Methodology
Month Activity
1-4 Review and decide methodology & methods
Choose options for analysis
4 Write something about the design, method and methods
4 Get ethics approval (skill B2, B3

Data collection
Month Activity
1-4 Identify 5 or 6 case studies, one of which can be a pilot study. Five might suffice, but six will cover contingencies such as lack of access
5 Interview pilot study
3-15 Identify & interview about 6 interviewees per case study, these being the equivalent of chief exec or primary client, senior responsible owner, project manager, a consultant, a user, relevant politician. .
5-15 From interview data and documentation identify potential relationships in networks and send questionnaires to confirm relationships. There can be hundreds on a project, so think about how many to choose, how to choose them and why
6-15 Devise and sent questionnaires on relationships to identified participants
6-20 Transcribe interview data and input questionnaire data

Analysis
Month Activity
7-20 Analyse earlier cases while collecting data for later cases
Meet supervisors regularly

Writing
Month Activity
15-23 Write drafts for supervisors
Continue to meet supervisors regularly
26 Proof read dissertation
28 Submit