International Journal of Social Science Research ISSN 2327-5510 2018, Vol. 6, No. 1 http://ijssr.macrothink.org 1 Pilot Study, Does It Really Matter? Learning Lessons from Conducting a Pilot Study for a Qualitative PhD Thesis Nashwa Ismail (Corresponding author) University of Bath- Department of Education, UK E-mail: n.ismail@bath.ac.uk Gary Kinchin University of Southampton, Southampton Education School, UK E-mail: G.D.Kinchin@soton.ac.uk Julie-Ann Edwards University of Southampton, Southampton Education School, UK E-mail: J.S.Edwards@soton.ac.uk Received: August 17, 2017 Accepted: September 20, 2017 Published: November 6, 2017 doi:10.5296/ijssr.v6i1.11720 URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.5296/ijssr.v6i1.11720 Abstract A Pilot Study (PS) is a small-scale research project conducted before the final full-scale study. A PS helps researchers to test in reality how likely the research process is to work, in order to help them decide how best to conduct the final research study. In piloting a study, a researcher can identify or refine a research question, discover what methods are best for pursuing it, and estimate how much time and what resources will be necessary to complete the larger final version of the study. There is, however, a paucity in literature that focuses on using, reading and representing PSs. This article discusses the importance of a PS to test and identify how methods and ideas would work in practice when undertaking a qualitative PhD thesis. The proposed PS in this paper addressed many challenges, and the researcher reflected on different perspectives of their work including ethical, cultural, social and professional issues. By the end