The guidelines have been designed to help improve the quality of data produced during postgraduate research and ensure there is documented evidence of their reliability. They do not provide a guaranteed formula for instant success but indicators for personal use and interpretation by postgraduates and their supervisors.
The guidelines complement the recent documents produced by the Royal Society of Chemistry and the Research councils. Together with the other documents, the guidelines will help researchers plan their studies, design experiments, measure and interpret quality data and provide help in constructing a record of Continuing Professional Development.
The guidelines have been prepared by the LGC with the assistance of a specially formed working group of staff from a number of universities. The RSC and the Research Councils were also consulted. Other staff and research students have reviewed the material and their comments have been incorporated.
Contents
- Why guidelines are required
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction
- What is postgraduate research
The range of skills required to perform effective research
- Scope of research
Putting your training and reading into practice
- How to design your experiments
Tackling the problem
- How to carry out experimental work and perform measurements
Making measurements that are fit for purpose
- Handling your data
Checking and validating your data
- Interpretation and reporting
Does your data fit your hypothesis?
- Monitoring postgraduate studies
An effective supervision programme
- General applicability of research methods
Using research principles in your career
- References