Contact us to schedule a one-hour free webinar 'Philosophy of science and research design with Idea Puzzle' at your university. To date, Ricardo Morais has lectured 432 webinars, seminars, and workshops in 116 universities from 28 countries. On average, the knowledge imparted was evaluated 9,5 in 10 by 1699 participants (11% response rate).
Goals
PhD stands for Doctor of Philosophy. However, many PhD candidates have never attended a course on Philosophy of Science or find it too abstract to guide their research (Morais, 2025). At the same time, new generations of PhD candidates value the development of cognitive abilities, such as critical thinking, with digital, visual, and gamified tools (Parente & Ferro, 2016). This webinar helps PhD candidates improve the coherence of a research proposal, article, or thesis in the light of Philosophy of Science (Morais & Brailsford, 2022). It adopts a hands-on approach to the design and diagnosis of a research project with the Idea Puzzle software.
Audience
PhD candidates in any field of knowledge, preferably in the first or second year of their doctoral studies.
Research software
The participants in the webinar will receive one-month free access to the Idea Puzzle software for research design.
Learning outcomes and competencies
After the webinar, the participants will be able to: a) acknowledge the relation between epistemology, methodology, ontology, and axiology; b) coherently align the theory, method, data, rhetoric, and authorship of a research proposal, article, or thesis with the Idea Puzzle software; and c) review the strengths and weaknesses of a research project in any field of knowledge. In the terminology of the European Competence Framework for Researchers, this webinar develops cognitive abilities.
Programme
1) Cognitive abilities of research: abstract, critical, systemic, integrative, and subtractive thinking.
2) Philosophical dilemmas of research: theory ladenness, paradigmatic incommensurability, empirical underdetermination, relevance, and parsimony.
3) Theoretical coherence of research: keywords, streams of thought, research gap, research question or hypothesis, and state of the science.
4) Methodological coherence of research: philosophical stance, research strategy, data collection, data analysis, and quality criteria.
5) Empirical coherence of research: unit of analysis, level of analysis, nature of data, origin of data, and sample.
6) Rhetorical coherence of research: pathos, logos, and ethos.
7) Authorial coherence of research: wisdom, trust, and time.
Contents
This webinar focuses on the 'Ph' of the PhD (Doctor of Philosophy) to make explicit the philosophical assumptions and coherence of a research proposal, article, or thesis. The theoretical assumptions are: 1) two keywords in a non-tautological relationship; 2) two streams of thought for a critical synthesis; 3) a research gap from previous conclusions; 4) a research question or hypothesis from five levels of knowledge depth; and 5) the state of science as current answers or results. The methodological assumptions are: 6) a meta philosophical stance from a matrix of four; 7) a research strategy from one of four toolboxes; 8) complementary data collection techniques; 9) data analysis techniques including research software; and 10) a set of incommensurable quality criteria from a matrix of four. The empirical assumptions are: 11) a unit of analysis i.e. entity or process; 12) a level of analysis i.e. scale; 13) nature of data as qualitative or quantitative; 14) origin of data as primary or secondary; and 15) an analytical or statistical sample. The rhetoric assumptions are: 16) pathos i.e. practical and ethical implications; 17) logos i.e. quasi-inductive, hypothetic-deductive, or abductive logic; and 18) ethos i.e. theoretical, methodological, and empirical limitations. And the authorial assumptions are: 19) wisdom i.e. first-hand experience of the empirical phenomenon; 20) trust i.e. support network; and 21) time i.e. funding and working regime.
Lecturer
Ricardo Morais, married and father of three daughters, is Assistant Professor of Management at Católica Porto Business School and Director of Idea Puzzle. Since 2013, he coordinates the seminar 'How to design your PhD' at the European Institute for Advanced Studies in Management (EIASM) in Brussels. He holds a PhD in Strategic Management from the University of Jyväskylä, Finland, having graduated in Management from the Faculty of Economics of the University of Porto. He is also an alumnus of HPI School of Design Thinking in Germany. His research interests are interdisciplinary, including Philosophy of Science, Strategic Management, Design Thinking, and Management Spirituality. Since 2002, he has published more than 30 academic articles, chapters, and papers about these topics and lectured in 116 universities from 28 countries. He is a member of the Philosophy of Science Association, Strategic Management Society, and Academy of Management.
Parente, C., & Ferro, L. (2016). Idea Puzzle (www.ideapuzzle.com), created by Ricardo Morais. Academy of Management Learning & Education, 15(3), 643-645.
Morais, R. (2010). Scientific method. In A. Mills, G. Durepos, & E. Wiebe (Eds.) Encyclopedia of case study research (Vol. 2, pp. 840-842), Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
Testimonials
ChatGPT prompt: what is the Idea Puzzle software? Retrieved on July 24, 2024
By using the Idea Puzzle software, researchers can improve the clarity, coherence, and rigor of their research projects, making it a valuable tool for academic research planning and execution.
Hasok Chang, Hans Rausing Professor of History and Philosophy of Science, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom
Your course certainly constitutes an innovation in the teaching of Philosophy of Science.
Daniela Duca, Head of Product Innovation, Sage Publishing, United Kingdom
We love your approach and how the Idea Puzzle software helps students and early career researchers go through the process of developing their research.
Cristina Parente & Lígia Ferro, Professors of Sociology, Universidade do Porto, Portugal
Our students repeatedly commented that using the Idea Puzzle software contributed significantly to their understanding of the meaning of the multiple and interrelated dimensions of the research project process. In addition, they applauded the functionality of having an automatic evaluation of their input into each section/piece of the triangle — allowing them to control the development of the project design, as well as to decide which points they should invest more time into to build the final “puzzle” (i.e., visual representation) of their research project.
Irena White, PhD in Education, Flinders University, Australia
I feel that if I would have known the Idea Puzzle software early in my PhD, I could have saved myself a lot of wasted time and avoided several 'dead ends'. In 2021, I received the Flinders University Vice Chancellor’s Medal for PhD Thesis Excellence.
Eve Mägi, Education Policy Analyst, PRAXIS Center for Policy Studies, Estonia
Thank you for introducing us to your Idea Puzzle framework. It is valuable at various points of the project - I wish I would have come across it earlier in my research. Additionally, I found it very impressive how quickly you were able to grasp the frame and details of the participants’ doctoral dissertations while also providing live feedback on the spot.
Pedro Palma, Idea Puzzle Prize Winner 2022, Environment and Sustainability, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Portugal
When delivering the final version of my doctoral thesis, I remembered the Idea Puzzle software again. This tool helped me a lot to think through my research design and awoke my interest in Philosophy of Science. The awareness and knowledge of philosophical assumptions proved crucial to make my research more coherent and robust.
Riina Kerner, Idea Puzzle Prize Winner 2021, Management Science, Estonian Business School, Estonia
The Idea Puzzle software is an excellent tool that assisted me in considering all my ideas under the Philosophy of Science umbrella. It also helped me advance to the next steps of my PhD studies. After winning the Idea Puzzle Prize, I was nominated for the best PhD candidate at Estonian Business School.
Leonardo La Rosa, Idea Puzzle Prize Co-Winner 2017, Media Research, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, Spain
The Idea Puzzle software helped me shorten the parts of my research project which were overdeveloped such as the literature review and focus my efforts on those which were underdeveloped such as the methodology and sample. After winning the Idea Puzzle Prize, I won an Outstanding Thesis Award at Universidad Carlos III de Madrid.
Helena Moreira, Doctoral Supervisor of the Idea Puzzle Prize Winner 2015, Universidade de Coimbra, Portugal
Maria João Gouveia won the 1st place in the 2014 national competition for a doctoral grant in Psychology by the Portuguese Science and Technology Foundation. Her research design was graded 4,975 in 5 (99%). I also supervised Maria João Gouveia during the process of using the Idea Puzzle software and could witness its relevance to clarify several aspects of her research design.