Hi all,

I'm due to start my MA in Educational Research this October, as part of the ESRC 1 + 3 that I was accepted for (yay!)

As part of my ESRC application I had to complete my PhD Research Proposal.

My question is, I'm beginning to think about my Masters diss, and was wondering how close to the PhD topic should my Masters topic be? I've proposed to pretty much look at two separate factors for my PhD. Would it make sense to perhaps just focus on one for my Masters diss? Or is it more common to focus on a totally different topic?

Also, I've planned to use qualitative interviews during my PhD, but I have not yet had training for this technique yet. So should I get the training for it during my Masters and then use this qualitative technique in my Masters diss?

Any advice/past experiences would be much appreciated- going from a BA to a MA seems like a rather large step at the moment!

Thanks a lot, button

A Masters topic needn't be related to a PhD one at all. Mine wasn't, and I still won funding for my PhD and have nearly completed it.

Personally I'd choose the Masters dissertation topic that appeals to you most, that is the most interesting to do. It can be quite a slog working through a Masters dissertation (even if not as long as a PhD slog!) and you might as well make it as much fun for yourself as possible.

My masters diss was vaguely related to my Phd thesis - but only very very vaguely! The phd is a totally different animal lol - I agree that for the MA I'd choose something you're really interested in and that fires you up and take it from there :-) It certainly wouldn't be a bad idea to get the training you need, and you could use elements of it in your MA diss, but don't worry about it being the same topic - lets face it, you'll have several years of your PhD, most people are so sick of their MA diss by the time that they submit it that if you then know you're going on to do more of the same you may just lose the will to live - or alternatively be ultra excited about carrying on lol ;-)

Thanks a lot, that's really helpful!

I'm now considering looking into a topic that I was unable to research for my undergrad diss, which really interested me. It's only vaguely related to my PhD proposal but it incorporates the method I was thinking of using for my PhD.

I didn't think about the very obvious point that researching a very similar topic for my Masters diss may lead to me being fed up with it by the PhD stage!

Basically what I'm trying to say is thankyou, this gives me a lot to think about!

button