Hi ya folks! I’m back again with my monthly blog article. This time, I will inform you about the ways a PhD research topic develops. This blog article is in relation to my previous article where I explained the process of applying for a PhD in UK universities (hope you enjoyed reading it; although its from my perspective, but you may have a different experience).

When I started off with my program (last year) I already had a project in my mind – a similar project that I worked on for my undergraduate and masters and I thought not much would change, so I prepared a proposal based on my masters dissertation with the hope to improve the research topic further. However I was a bit naive to think so (and that’s not a bad thing). Most research students undergo through this phase of project transformation. My initial project consisted of the ways social networking sites (such as Facebook and Twitter) affect family relationship between young adults and their family members. But after a few days of discussion with my supervisors about how to make the topic much more flexible and open AND read a bunch of books on families (the most important stage for my research transformation), I twisted the topic a bit to the ways family lives are performed in the context of online social networks. One may say that not much has changed with my present research topic and I would say that your almost correct. In my current research project, I am not so much looking at the effects of social networks (a study that has been undertaken by many social researchers and psychologists as well) but I stress more on the ways family lives are performed with or without the use of social networks. As I mentioned earlier, the transformation of research is something most PhD students go through and its not a bad thing. Its to make your research unique and different – something that’s not thought before by anybody. Thats something I take pride in, although there are loads of research done on family, but not much is conducted on family lives within the context of social networking sites. Thus, it’s a challenge that I have undertaken and hopefully be successful in accomplishing it!