âI know what I want to say, but I just canât write it down!â â Look like a familiar trope? Unless you are of the rare breed of (novice) researchers, who just happens to be an erudite word artist, you might find that âwriting a thesisâ is much more than âjust writing stuff downâ. That is, I would argue, in large parts due to the idea of what a âthesisâ is supposed to look like, i.e. (implicit and explicit) conventions on how to format and formalise âoutcomesâ of successful PhD research. Such premeditated norms, however, function arguably less as orientational guidelines and more like incredibly high bars to jump over, as part of a somersault through the proverbial burning loop of tight deadlines and inexperience. Even with growing experience, such norms influence research dissemination forms a.k.a. âoutputsâ at later research stages with similarly stress-inducing consequences.
This blog post suggests (and hopefully incites) questioning the established Modus Operandi of âdisseminating research findingsâ or âsharing knowledgeâ. In such a âwriting against writing normsâ spirit, I refer anecdotally to my PhD thesis that is a Live-Action Role-Play (LARP) to make several points about unconventional research methods and their possible usefulness. But just to take off the edge straight away: Yes, I did get my title with that. Continue reading →