Achieving a doctorate presents candidates with certain challenges--undertaking the research, writing the thesis and defending both at their viva. Throughout that doctoral journey, candidates are expected to display doctorateness in their thesis via the characteristics of high-quality scholarly research. The blockages that occur and prevent…

The conceptual framework is alluded to in most serious texts on research, described in some and fully explained in few. However, examiners of doctoral theses devote considerable attention to exploring its function within social science doctoral vivas. A literature survey explores how the conceptual framework is itself conceptualised and explained.…

This paper provides an insider account of a cohort-based doctoral programme. It shows how undertaking doctoral study exposes candidates to confronting unfamiliar levels of conceptualization. The conceptual framework, a regularly occurring difficulty for many candidates, became the specific focus for tutorial discussions and informal attention…