ABSTRACT
This chapter presents a broad overview of some of the main features of postgraduate research in the social sciences. Postgraduate research is different from undergraduate study. The undergraduate is one of many following a set of common paths. The undergraduate degree operates within a set structure in which there are identifiable and bounded units of learning, entitled courses, seminars and classes. An important aspect of the notion of a critical mass of research students within a department or faculty is that experience can be shared. The first-year postgraduate can discuss problems of research with second and third-year students. There is access to past theses. There has been remarkably little research into the process and experience of postgraduate study in comparison to that into undergraduate study. Cuts in government funding of the Research Councils and the need for accountability in the expenditure of public money have put the spotlight on postgraduate research.
