Restarting Stalled Research

by Paul C. Rosenblatt

Overview

Written for researchers and graduate students writing dissertations, this unique book offers detailed advice and perspective on many issues that can stall a research project and reveals what can be done to successfully resume it. Using a direct yet conversational style, author Paul C. Rosenblatt draws on his decades of experience to cover many diverse topics. The text guides readers through challenges such as clarifying the end goal of a project; resolving common and not-so-common writing problems; dealing with rejection and revision decisions; handling difficulties involving dissertation advisers and committee members; coping with issues of researcher motivation or self-esteem; and much more.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781483385181
Publisher:	SAGE Publications
Publication date:	05/06/2015
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	216
File size:	465 KB

About the Author

Paul C. Rosenblatt has a doctorate in psychology from Northwestern University and is Professor Emeritus of Family Social Science at the University of Minnesota. He has taught in university departments in family social science, psychology, sociology, and anthropology. His multidisciplinary background enables him to offer a substantial range of examples and illustrations in the book. He has advised 36 students through to the PhD and served on roughly 450 other doctoral committees. He has been a research consultant to university-based, government-based, medical-based, and industry-based research projects. Dr. Rosenblatt has mentored dozens of faculty members at his university and at universities around the world. He has fellow status in national professional organizations in psychology, anthropology, and the family field and has been and/or is on editorial boards of scholarly journals in psychology, sociology, anthropology, the family field, and the field of dying, death, and bereavement. He has published 13 books, including The Impact of Racism on African American Families: Literature as Social Science; Knowing and Not Knowing in Intimate Relationships (with E. Wielding); Shared Obliviousness in Family Systems; Two in a Bed: The Social System of Couple Bed Sharing; and African American Grief (with B. R. Wallace).

Table of Contents

Introduction
Acknowledgments
About the Author
Chapter 1. Problems in Deciding What the Research Is About
When the Problem Is Conceptual
If You Do Not Know What You Are Doing in Your Research
When the Problem Is with the Model of How to Do Research
When the Project Seems Outdated
Chapter 2. Restarting Your Writing
Writer’s Block
Dealing with Editorial Rejection or a Revise-and-Resubmit Editorial Decision
Dealing with Unreasonable Demands for Dissertation Revision
General Guidelines and Resources for Moving Writing Forward
Chapter 3. Social Relationship Issues Connected to Research Being Stalled
Problems with Research Collaborators
Dealing with a Research Assistant’s Dishonesty, Poor Functioning, or Incompetence
Problems with Advisers or Committee Members
If You Have Lost Your Adviser
Who Owns the Data?
Dealing with Powerful, Possibly Dangerous Gatekeepers
Problems with People You Want to Study
Stalled Because You Do Not Have a Research Peer Group
Chapter 4. Self of Researcher
If You Do Not Know What to Do Next on Your Research
If You Have Lost Your Motivation
If You Do Not Feel Good Enough about Yourself to Do the Work
Getting Out of the Mental Rut You Are in About Being Stalled
Chapter 5. Stalled Because of a Shortage of Resources
If You Have No Research Funds
Research Assistant Troubles
If Your Records Are Not Good Enough
When the Problem Seems to Be with Quality or Amount of Data
Issues with Data Resources: Stalled When Working with Someone Else’s Data
Stalled Because of the Time, Focus, and Energy Demands of the Rest of Your Life
Chapter 6. When to Quit
Consider Consulting with Someone First
Liquidating a Project
Maybe Research Is Not for You
Appendix. Advice for Research Consultants, Mentors, and Dissertation Advisers Helping Others With Stalled Projects
References
Index

Editorial Reviews

This book addresses common writing issues in a clear and matter-of-fact, but thoughtful and thorough manner. The author addresses issues often outside the control of the researcher—funding, ownership of data, collaborative relationships, student-chair and mentor relationships, and concerns about reputation after abandoning a research project. All need addressing and I applaud the author for doing so in a forthright manner.

Roma B. Angel

Readers will find themselves in these pages, and find themselves attended to without judgment, without impatience, and without ridicule.”

Karin Lindstrom Bremer

I believe this text could be a helpful tool to assist dissertation students who become bogged in the research mire.”

William Figg