Planning a Research Project:

doi:10.1017/9781009294904.004

Chapter 2 - Planning a Research Project:

Early Steps

from Part I - Planning

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 01 February 2024

Maggie B. Gale

Edited by

Tracy C. Davis and

Paul Rae

Show author details

Tracy C. Davis: Affiliation:
Northwestern University, Illinois
Paul Rae: Affiliation:
University of Melbourne

Book contents

Get access

Summary

Maggie B. Gale explores ways of both framing and structuring the beginnings of a research project, and finding what might be called a ‘research niche’. She uses the case study of an emerging research project to articulate different possible approaches to conceptualizing the starting point, direction, and shape of a project, as well as working practices which might be useful in research design and method. The chapter also explores a series of working principles for avoiding the pitfalls of research distractions, without missing out on the serendipitous discoveries which a more unstructured process might allow. Gale’s own research on Elsa Lanchester illustrates the principles.

Keywords

research design distraction discovery process

Information

Type: Chapter
Information: The Cambridge Guide to Mixed Methods Research for Theatre and Performance Studies , pp. 59 - 71
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009294904.004 [Opens in a new window]
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2024

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Book purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Bachelard, G. (2011 [1943]). Air and Dreams: An Essay on the Imagination of Movement. Trans. E. R. Farrell & C. F. Farrell. Dallas, TX: Dallas Institute.Google Scholar

Bachelard, G. (2014 [1964]). The Poetics of Space. London: Penguin.Google Scholar

Bratton, J., & Peterson, G. T. (2013). ‘The Internet: History 2.0?’ In Wiles, D. & Dymkowski, C., eds., The Cambridge Companion to Theatre History. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 299–313.Google Scholar

Davis, T. C. (2004). ‘The Context Problem’. Theatre Survey, 45(2), 203–9.CrossRef Google Scholar

Gagnier, R. (2010). ‘Twenty-First-Century and Victorian Ecosystems: Nature and Culture in the Developmental Niche’. Victorian Review, 36(2), 15–20.Google Scholar

Gale, M. B. (2020). A Social History of British Performance Cultures 1900–1939: Citizenship, Surveillance and the Body. Abingdon: Routledge.Google Scholar

Gale, M. B., & Featherstone, A. (2011). ‘The Imperative of the Archive: Creative Archive Research’. In Kershaw, B. & Nicholson, H., eds., Theatre and Performance Methodologies. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, pp. 17–40.Google Scholar

Ginzburg, C. (1980). ‘Morelli, Freud and Sherlock Holmes: Clues and Scientific Method’. Intro. A. Davin. History Workshop, 9(1), 5–36.Google Scholar

Griffiths, T. (2016). The Art of Time Travel: Historians and Their Craft. Victoria, Australia: Black.Google Scholar

Ingold, T. (2013). Making: Anthropology, Archaeology, Art and Architecture. Abingdon: Routledge.Google Scholar

Ingold, T. (2016 [2007]). Lines: A Brief History. Abingdon: Routledge.Google Scholar

Justus, J. (2019). ‘Ecological Theory and the Superfluous Niche’. Philosophical Topics, 47(1), 105–24.CrossRef Google Scholar

Lanchester, E. (1938). Charles Laughton and I. London: Faber and Faber.Google Scholar

Lanchester, E. (1983). Elsa Lanchester: Herself. New York: St. Martin’s Press.Google Scholar

Lanchester, E. (1988). A Gamut of Girls. Santa Barbara, CA: Capra Press.Google Scholar

Lanchester, E. (2018). Elsa Lanchester: Herself. 2nd ed. Chicago: Chicago Review Press.Google Scholar

Light, A. (2007). Mrs. Woolf and the Servants: The Hidden Heart of Domestic Service. London: Fig Tree.Google Scholar

Light, A. (2020). A Radical Romance: A Memoir of Love, Grief and Consolation. London: Penguin.Google Scholar

McWilliam, R. (2014). ‘Elsa Lanchester and Bohemian London in the Early Twentieth Century’. Women’s History Review, 23(2), 171–87.Google Scholar

Said, E. (2012 [1975]). Beginnings: Intention and Method. London: Granta Books.Google Scholar

Syed, M. (2019). Rebel Ideas: The Power of Diverse Thinking. London: John Murray.Google Scholar

Worsley, V. (2021). Always the Bride: A Biography of Elsa Lanchester. Orlando, FL: BearManor Media.Google Scholar

Accessibility standard: Unknown

Why this information is here

This section outlines the accessibility features of this content - including support for screen readers, full keyboard navigation and high-contrast display options. This may not be relevant for you.

Accessibility Information

Accessibility compliance for the HTML of this chapter is currently unknown and may be updated in the future.