Project Management for Research

A Guide for Graduate Students

Adedeji B. Badiru, Christina F. Rusnock, Vhance V. Valencia

• Publisher: CRC Press
• Year: 2018
• ISBN:
  9781315360102
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Project Management
• Index: Business

Graduate research is a complicated process, which many undergraduate students aspire to undertake. The complexity of the process can lead to failures for even the most brilliant students. Success at the graduate research level requires not only a high level of intellectual ability but also a high level of project management skills. Unfortunately, many graduate students have trouble planning and implementing their research.

Project Management for Research: A Guide for Graduate Students reflects the needs of today's graduate students. All graduate students need mentoring and management guidance that has little to do with their actual classroom performance. Graduate students do a better job with their research programs if a self-paced guide is available to them. This book provides such a guide. It covers topics ranging from how to select an appropriate research problem to how to schedule and execute research tasks. The authors take a project management approach to planning and implementing graduate research in any discipline. They use a conversational tone to address the individual graduate student.

This book helps graduate students and advisors answer most of the basic questions of conducting and presenting graduate research, thereby alleviating frustration on the part of both student and advisor. It presents specific guidelines and examples throughout the text along with more detailed examples in reader-friendly appendices at the end. By being more organized and prepared to handle basic research management functions, graduate students, along with their advisors, will have more time for actual intellectual mentoring and knowledge transfer, resulting in a more rewarding research experience.

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Appendix 1: 50 ways to improve your research project

 

 

  1. Abide by the rules of the project

  2. Align corporate projects with organizational needs

  3. Align home projects with family needs

  4. Allocate sufficient resources to meet project objectives

  5. Be good, so that you can receive goodness from others

  6. Be specific with requirements

  7. Check on project milestones

  8. Commit to whatever you are doing

  9. Communicate to solicit cooperation

10. Cooperate so that you may receive cooperation in return

11. Coordinate with others so that the load can be shared

12. Define goals clearly upfront

13. Delegate so that others may learn the path to success

14. Do not cut corners; corners can come back around

15. Document the project for future reference

16. Don’t despair; there is success at the end of the project tunnel

17. Embrace ethics as a platform for project success

18. Embrace new ideas

19. Enjoy leisure as a break from project monotony

20. Evaluate the consequences of project actions

21. Focus on the end goal

22. Get organized

23. Homestead for personal projects

24. Integrate project outcomes with the operating environment

25. Justify each time or resource expenditure on the project

26. Keep project scope within reason

27. Know that time is everything; once lost, it cannot be recovered

28. Make accountability a requirement for project execution

29. Manage yourself as a critical resource for your project

30. Measure everything to provide a metric of assessment

31. Network with potential project allies

32. Operate lean and cut-out fluff

33. Place tools where they belong

34. Plan and plan again

35. Practice continuous improvement

36. Preempt project problems by asking “what-if” questions

37. Promise only what you can deliver

38. Question everything with a constructive open mind

39. Recognize that there is always room for improvement

40. Replan when the plan is not going well

41. Schedule each activity so that it can get done

42. Set standards so that your project will have a target

43. Sleep enough so that you can be rejuvenated for your project

44. Take care of your health as a project asset; no health no success

45. Take corrective actions at the earliest opportunity

46. Take responsibility for what you are responsible for

47. Treat your people well; they are your most enduring project resource

48. View everything as a project

49. Observe safety requirements; accidents divert attention

50. Simplify your process.

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Appendix 2: How to get topic approval

To get approval of your research advisor for your proposed research topic, develop a topic justification outline similar to the one presented below. Make it concise enough to fit within not more than two pages. This outline is not a formal research proposal, but a brief indication of the justification for the research.

Topic: Specify the topic area or title

Problem area: Identify the problem area to focus on

Importance of the problem: Describe the implications of the problem

Existing or conventional approach: Describe the method of solving the problem

Shortcomings of the existing approach: Explain the drawbacks of the exi...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• Preface
• Authors
• Section I: An introduction and overview to project management for research
• Section II: Preplanning and exploration: What do you plan to do?
• Section III: Planning: Making a schedule and getting organized!
• Section IV: Project execution and control
• Section V: Project phase-out: When is research complete?
• Appendix 1: 50 ways to improve your research project
• Appendix 2: How to get topic approval
• Appendix 3: Research proposal evaluation checklist
• Appendix 4: Benefits of industry-sponsored research
• Appendix 5: Sample three-semester master’s thesis schedule
• Appendix 6: Sample work breakdown structure
• Appendix 7: Sample thesis outline
• Appendix 8: Tips for literature review
• Appendix 9: Research methodologies and strategies
• Appendix 10: Sample methodology phasing
• Appendix 11: Sample methodology section of research proposal presentation
• Appendix 12: Guidelines for creating an academic poster
• Appendix 13: Project-relevant quotes
• Appendix 14: Conversion factors and expressions
• Appendix 15: Glossary of Project Managements Terms
• Index