As the year winds down and the inbox finally quiets, there's often the urge to close the book on it. But what if you didn’t just yet? What if you paused instead, and treated December as an opportunity to get clear on the year that was? Before the holiday season kicks...
Blog
Cognitive Sovereignty in the Age of Generative AI: Lessons from the Deloitte Report
Introduction When Deloitte admitted to using a generative AI model (GPT-4o via Azure OpenAI) in its $440,000 compliance review for the Australian government, the issue went far beyond faulty references. The report, initially containing fabricated legal cases and...
From Evidence to Illusion: When Generative AI Undermines Public Accountability
Introduction In October, Deloitte agreed to issue a partial refund to the Australian government after serious flaws were uncovered in a $440,000 report evaluating the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations (DEWR)'s compliance framework. The report,...
From Puzzle to Credibility – Building Coherent Research Designs
Introduction Strong research design isn’t just about avoiding mistakes. It’s about actively building coherence, originality, and credibility. Once you’ve addressed common pitfalls, the next step is strengthening the elements that make your project stand out. In...
Why Research Designs Fail (and How to Spot Misalignment Early)
Introduction Too many researchers discover problems with their research design late in the process—at the ethics stage, during peer review, or even in the viva. The most common issue is not a lack of effort or ambition, but misalignment. Coherence is the golden thread...
Making Coding Work — Rigour, Flexibility, and Staying Aligned in Qualitative Analysis
Once you understand what shapes your coding, your theoretical perspective, methodology, and analytic goals, the next challenge is often how to make it work in practice. Qualitative coding is about staying methodologically clear while thinking, noticing, interpreting,...
How We Code: Understanding What Shapes Qualitative Analysis
If you're doing qualitative research, you're probably coding your data. But coding isn't just a step you complete before the “real” analysis begins — it is a fundamental part of the analysis. It’s where you begin to make sense of what participants are saying, how...
Why Thread Design Matters in Qualitative Research
In ChatGPT, each conversation is stored as a thread — a sequence of messages that you can name, revisit, and build upon. Most people treat threads as disposable: start a new chat, ask a question, close the window. This works for quick, one-off tasks, but it doesn’t...
Why Prompt Design Strategy Matters for Qualitative Researchers
AI tools like ChatGPT are becoming increasingly woven into the everyday workflows of qualitative researchers. From helping draft interview guides to summarising literature, structuring results, or designing reflexive questions, AI can support a wide range of...
