scholarly journals Doctoral Supervision in North America: Perception and Challenges of Supervisor and Supervisee

2018 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 30 ◽  
Author(s):  
Constance Denis ◽  
Nicole Rege Colet ◽  
Christelle Lison
Keyword(s):  
Doctoral Students ◽  
Doctoral Program ◽  
Dropout Rate ◽  
Graduate Studies ◽  
Four Dimensions ◽  
Doctoral Research ◽  
Key Factor ◽  
French Speaking ◽  
Supervision Practices ◽  
Doctoral Supervision

The completion rate for graduate studies is around 50% in some programs, and several authors suggest that doctoral supervision in a key factor in explaining this. Existing research on doctoral education reveals an uneven international landscape made up of the perceptions of both doctoral students and their supervisors. In the French-speaking North American context, exploration of doctoral supervision practices still remains unchartered. As a part of the first author’s doctoral thesis, interviews were conducted with 20 supervisors and 20 doctoral students from 8 different faculties. The purpose of these interviews was to capture their perceptions and experiences around doctoral supervision, and to explore with them the main issues related to doctoral supervision. Four dimensions for framing doctoral supervision have emerged from these interviews: a) scientific, b) personal, c) administrative and d) professional. Three main issues stretch along a timeline: 1) admission into a doctoral program, 2) mastering of scientific writing, and 3) employability. This study is an attempt to unpack the complexity of doctoral supervision and, in doing so, to construct a shared language for all concerned parties. The overall purpose of the doctoral research is to identify practices that support effective doctoral supervision and reduce the dropout rate.

Listening and feeling doctoral students’ perceptions of their doctoral supervision. The PhD students’ point of view.

2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (12) ◽  
pp. 206-223
Author(s):  
Isabel Ribau Coutinho
Keyword(s):  
Doctoral Students ◽  
Doctoral Education ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Doctoral Research ◽  
Documentary Analysis ◽  
Open Questions ◽  
Supervision Practices ◽  
Doctoral Supervision ◽  
The Relationship

Doctoral education has been subject to research and analysis by researchers in the last fifty years. Nevertheless, doctoral supervision still a private issue among supervisor and PhD student; if the relationship between them goes wrong, a shadow undermines the doctoral research, hindering student support of others, which may result in attrition and dropout. Breaking this situation, transforming the “private place” in a “public matter”, requires a profound reflection about the doctoral education aim, institutions goals, institution policy, but also a supervisor and PhD students’ perspectives (careers, goals, development, financial support). It is necessary to know, where we want to go, to outline a path to achieve the goals. During the last three years, doctoral supervision has been studied at Universidade Nova de Lisboa (UNL). A qualitative case study method was used. This was the first study (a pilot study) that covered all the nine UNL schools, is intended to identify the supervision practices, but also captures a glimpse of doctoral students’ life in the academy, their difficulties, their thoughts and feelings related to doctoral education. The documentary analysis, concerning the institution rules related to doctoral education, was the study first step (already published). The second was the implementation of a survey with closed and open questions to allowed students to express their opinion regarding doctoral education, especially doctoral supervision. During three months, a survey, centred in doctoral supervision, applied online in all schools. This paper aims to describe what was found and what was unexpected in the context of a young university.

scholarly journals Doctoral Supervision in the Light of the Three Types of Support Promoted in Self-Determination Theory

10.28945/2308 ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 10 ◽  
pp. 439-464 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christelle Devos ◽  
Nicolas Van der Linden ◽  
Gentiane Boudrenghien ◽  
Assaad Azzi ◽  
Mariane Frenay ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Doctoral Students ◽  
Autonomy Support ◽  
Self Determination Theory ◽  
Self Determination ◽  
Necessary Condition ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
New Developments ◽  
Supervision Practices ◽  
Doctoral Supervision ◽  
And Control

The purpose of the present study was twofold. First, we used the three types of support depicted in Self-Determination Theory (SDT) (structure, involvement and autonomy support) to examine supervision practices in the doctoral context. Conversely, we used this material to discuss the theory and suggest new developments to it. To this end, we conducted semi-structured interviews with 21 former PhD students (8 completers and 13 non-completers). The data were analyzed using deductive content analysis. The first aim led us to illustrate how supervisors offer structure, involvement, and autonomy support to the doctoral students, and to support the relevance of this theoretical framework in this particular context. The second aim led us to provide three avenues for reflection on SDT. First, a set of practices belongs both to structure and involvement and are therefore at risk of being overlooked in research. Second, there is a thin line between structure and control (and between autonomy support and chaos) and intentions to offer the first may easily turn into providing the second in practice. Finally, we developed the hypothesis that a necessary condition for supervisors to be able to offer positive support to their doctoral students is to consider them as trustworthy.

scholarly journals Starting Doctoral Dissertation Journey with a Solid Research Problem Statement – A Four Stage Framework

10.28945/4770 ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Azad Ali ◽  
Shardul Pandya
Keyword(s):  
Doctoral Students ◽  
Methodological Approach ◽  
Doctoral Program ◽  
Research Problem ◽  
The Other ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Student Adjustment ◽  
Problem Statement ◽  
Graduate Studies ◽  
Doctoral Studies

Aim/Purpose: Provide methodology suggesting steps to doctoral mentors to work with students in constructing their research problem statement in their dissertation. Background: Doctoral students face difficulties writing their dissertation and they begin by writing the research problem statement. Methodology: This paper uses a framework widely used to describe student adjustment to graduate studies in general and to doctoral program in particular. Contribution: This study provides a framework to mentors/advisors that is helpful in guiding the students to writing their research problem statement. Findings: Writing a research problem statement is difficult by itself. Following a methodological approach suggested in this study could help with writing it. Recommendations for Practitioners: A methodological approach in writing the dissertation is helpful to mitigate the difficulties of writing the dissertation. Our study tackles difficulties with writing the research problem statement. Recommendations for Researchers: More research needs to be done on methodological approach to writing the other sections in the dissertation. Impact on Society: Our findings in this research will help doctoral mentors/advisors as they guide students in completing the writing of their research problem statement Future Research: Intention for future research is to follow similar methodological approach in guiding students in writing the other sections of the dissertation. *** NOTE: This Proceedings paper was revised and published in the International Journal of Doctoral Studies, 16, 469-485 Click DOWNLOAD PDF to download the published paper. ***

Pilot Course: A Teaching Practicum Course as an Integral Component of an Accounting Doctoral Program

2015 ◽  
Vol 31 (2) ◽  
pp. 191-210 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carolyn M. Callahan ◽  
Charlene P. Spiceland ◽  
J. David Spiceland ◽  
Stephanie Hairston
Keyword(s):  
Doctoral Students ◽  
Academic Career ◽  
Research Training ◽  
Doctoral Program ◽  
Teaching Experience ◽  
Teaching Practicum ◽  
First Semester ◽  
Doctoral Research ◽  
Faculty Mentors ◽  
Insight Into

ABSTRACT This article presents one university's approach to supplementing traditional doctoral research training with a two-semester teaching practicum. The practicum is designed to help students develop and hone pedagogical and other teaching skills, while gaining insight into academic career acumen. It consists of two, one-hour courses taken by students during each of the first two semesters of their doctoral program. In the first semester, weekly teaching seminars are accompanied by an apprenticeship activity in which the students attend classes of faculty mentors throughout the term, teaching one of those classes toward the end of the term. In the second semester, the doctoral students are mentored through their first whole-semester teaching experience, sharing issues from that experience and sharpening skills in the weekly seminar discussions. The article provides details of the practicum and implementation guidance intended to encourage other Ph.D. programs to embrace the general approach we describe, adapting the specifics to reflect the resources and aspirations of their programs.

Mentoring for women starting a PhD: a “free zone” into academic identity

2015 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 37-52 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aurianne Stroude ◽  
Tanja Bellier-Teichmann ◽  
Odile Cantero ◽  
Nora Dasoki ◽  
Laure Kaeser ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Identity Development ◽  
Doctoral Students ◽  
Narrative Analysis ◽  
Effective Means ◽  
Academic Identity ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Doctoral Level ◽  
Four Dimensions ◽  
Free Zone ◽  
French Speaking

Purpose – Despite increasing numbers of women attaining higher levels in academic degrees, gender disparities remain in higher education and among university faculty. Authors have posited that this may stem from inadequate academic identity development of women at the doctoral level. While gender differences may be explained by multiple and variable factors, mentoring has been proposed as a viable means to promote academic identity development and address these gender gaps. A “StartingDoc program” was launched and supported by four universities in French-speaking Switzerland. The purpose of this paper is to report the experience of one of the six “many-to-one” mentoring groups involved in the StartingDoc program in 2012-2013. Design/methodology/approach – This study is based on the description of a group experience within a university-based mentoring scheme offered to women entering in their PhD program in French-speaking Switzerland. It is examined using a qualitative, narrative case study design. Findings – Themes from the narrative analysis included the four dimensions of the Clutterbuck model of mentoring (guiding, coaching, counselling, networking), as well as an additional five emerging themes: first expectations, process, sharing, building identity, and unmet expectations. The qualitative analyses suggest that mentoring can be an effective tool in supporting professional identity development among female doctoral students. However, further work is needed to elucidate the most effective strategies for developing and retaining women in academia. Originality/value – While a many-to-one mentoring group has been theorized and is recognized as an effective means of supporting doctoral experience, its implementation in French-speaking Switzerland is in its infancy. This study provides insights into the value of such a mentoring scheme dedicated to women at the very beginning of their doctoral studies. Most notably it created opportunities for mentees to: discover aspects of academic life; break isolation; and develop some of the soft skills required to facilitate their doctoral journey.

Teaching Ethnography/ically: Entanglements of Knowing/Being/Doing in a Doctoral Research Course

2021 ◽  
pp. 194084472199108
Author(s):  
Maria José Botelho ◽  
Margaret Felis
Keyword(s):  
Doctoral Students ◽  
Doctoral Program ◽  
Qualitative Inquiry ◽  
Pedagogical Practices ◽  
Power Dynamics ◽  
Graduate Teaching Assistant ◽  
Doctoral Research ◽  
Memory Work ◽  
Primary Focus ◽  
Feminist Poststructuralist

Since the 1970s and 1980s numerous books and articles on the processes and procedures of qualitative research are published each year, ranging from accounts of different traditions, methodologies, and methods to comprehensive treatments of single approaches or specialized research practices. A small corpus of literature exists on the teaching of qualitative inquiry with the teaching of ethnography rarely considered. The primary focus in these research literatures on methodology and how to do research promotes a divide between epistemology and methodology (Eisenhart & Jurow, 2011). Drawing on feminist poststructuralist and posthumanist theoretical tools this article examines the pedagogical practices and the entanglements they produce in a research course on ethnography in education for doctoral students. Through collective memory work among five faculty members and one graduate teaching assistant, we offer a historical overview and design of the yearlong course within a doctoral program in language, literacy, and culture and, through writing and diffractive reading as analysis, offer commentary on the entanglements of hanging out and hanging loose, going through thick and thin, and disturbing knowledge/power dynamics. This collective remembering and analytical work demonstrates that students’ understanding of ethnographic research as epistemological-methodological-ontological practice as the entanglements produce new knowing/doing/being.

scholarly journals Starting Doctoral Dissertation Journey with a Solid Research Problem Statement – A Four Stage Framework

10.28945/4810 ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 16 ◽  
pp. 469-485
Author(s):  
Azad Ali ◽  
Shardul Pandya
Keyword(s):  
Doctoral Students ◽  
Methodological Approach ◽  
Doctoral Program ◽  
Research Problem ◽  
The Other ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Student Adjustment ◽  
Research Needs ◽  
Problem Statement ◽  
Graduate Studies

Aim/Purpose: Provide methodology suggesting steps to doctoral mentors to work with students in constructing their research problem statement in their dissertation. Background: Doctoral students face difficulties writing their dissertation and they begin by writing the research problem statement. Methodology: This paper uses a framework widely used to describe student adjustment to graduate studies in general and to doctoral program in particular. Contribution: This study provides a framework to mentors/advisors that is helpful in guiding the students to writing their research problem statement. Findings: Writing a research problem statement is difficult by itself. Following a methodological approach suggested in this study could help with writing it. Recommendations for Practitioners: A methodological approach in writing the dissertation is helpful to mitigate the difficulties of writing the dissertation. Our study tackles difficulties with writing the research problem statement. Recommendations for Researchers: More research needs to be done on methodological approach to writing the other sections in the dissertation. Impact on Society: Our findings in this research will help doctoral mentors/advisors as they guide students in completing the writing of their research problem statement Future Research: Intention for future research is to follow similar methodological approach in guiding students in writing the other sections of the dissertation

The supervised as the supervisor

2014 ◽  
Vol 56 (6) ◽  
pp. 537-550 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simon Stephens
Keyword(s):  
Doctoral Students ◽  
Research Performance ◽  
Academic Community ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Supervision Practices ◽  
Doctoral Supervision ◽  
Supervisory Practices ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Relationship

Purpose – The relationship between doctoral students and their supervisors impacts on degree completion rates; faculty research performance; and postgraduate satisfaction with their alma mater. The purpose of this paper is to explore the relationship between the experience of supervision and subsequent supervision practices. Design/methodology/approach – Totally, 40 supervisors who are doctoral students/graduates were approached to participate in the study, and 32 agreed. For each participant, data were collected to explore their development as a supervisor. Findings – Supervisors seek guidance from textbooks, workshops, peers, colleagues and their doctoral supervisor to develop as a supervisor. Their supervision style emerges as a reaction to both positive and negative experiences of supervision. A recurring theme in the data is that if there is something missing in the supervision experience, the student will emphasise this element in their approach to supervision. Practical implications – The changing nature of doctoral provision is changing the role of the supervisor. This paper explores the relationship between a student and their supervisor. The outcome is that insights are provided into how the experience of doctoral supervision is reflected in the supervisory practices of the supervised. Originality/value – The impact of the supervisor on the doctoral student's/graduate's subsequent approach to supervision can be mapped against previous research. Additional research is needed to identify the different styles of supervision practised, and how each style is valued within the academic community.

Exploring Barriers to Doctoral Education in Communication Sciences and Disorders: Insights From Practicing Professionals

2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (6) ◽  
pp. 1552-1563
Author(s):  
Denise A. Tucker ◽  
Mary V. Compton ◽  
Sarah J. Allen ◽  
Robert Mayo ◽  
Celia Hooper ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Doctoral Students ◽  
Online Survey ◽  
Academic Research ◽  
Doctoral Degree ◽  
Full Time ◽  
Doctoral Study ◽  
Doctoral Research ◽  
Part Time ◽  
Advance Research ◽  
Doctor Of Philosophy

Purpose The intended purpose of this research note is to share the findings of a needs assessment online survey of speech and hearing professionals practicing in North Carolina to explore their interest in pursuing a research-focused PhD in Communication Sciences and Disorders (CSD) and to document their perceptions of barriers to pursing a PhD in CSD. In view of the well-documented shortage of doctor of philosophy (PhD) faculty to attract, retain, and mentor doctoral students to advance research and to prepare future speech and hearing professionals, CSD faculty must assess the needs, perceptions, and barriers prospective students encounter when considering pursuing a doctoral research degree in CSD. Method The article describes the results of a survey of 242 speech and hearing professionals to investigate their interest in obtaining an academic research-focused PhD in CSD and to solicit their perceived barriers to pursuing a research doctoral degree in CSD. Results Two thirds of the respondents (63.6%) reported that they had considered pursuing a PhD in CSD. Desire for knowledge, desire to teach, and work advancement were the top reasons given for pursuing a PhD in CSD. Eighty-two percent of respondents had no interest in traditional full-time study. Forty-two percent of respondents indicated that they would be interested in part-time and distance doctoral study. The barriers of time, distance, and money emerged as those most frequently identified barriers by respondents. Conclusion The implications inform higher education faculty on how they can best address the needs of an untapped pool of prospective doctoral students in CSD.

The Importance of Tough-Love Mentoring to Doctoral Student Success: Instruments to Measure the Doctoral Student/Proteges’ Perspective

10.28945/4630 ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 15 ◽  
pp. 485-516
Author(s):  
Laura Roberts
Keyword(s):  
Doctoral Students ◽  
Graduation Rates ◽  
Validation Study ◽  
Doctoral Student ◽  
Doctoral Program ◽  
The United States ◽  
Assessment Tools ◽  
Unique Contribution ◽  
Program Administrators ◽  
High Standards

Aim/Purpose: The purpose of this study is to examine tough-love mentoring theory (TLM) as a potential way to address the problem of low graduation rates among doctoral students. Background: In order to address this purpose, the researcher presents the following: a) a validation study for assessment tools pertaining to TLM and b) a validation study of TLM theory and its two sub-theories: mentor integrity and trustworthiness sub-theory (MIT) and the mentor high standards sub-theory (MHS). Methodology: The researcher tested the validity of the mentor integrity and trustworthiness scale from the protégés’ perspective (MIT-P), the mentor high standards scale from the protégés’ perspective (MHS-P) and the protégés’ perceptions of their own independence (PPI) scale. The sample consisted of 31 doctoral protégés recruited with multi-phase sampling at four education-related doctoral programs in the eastern part of the United States. Contribution: The study provides evidence to support TLM as a strategy to address the problem of low graduation rates among doctoral students. In addition, the study contributes validation of assessment tools that can be used to measure doctoral protégés’ perceptions of their mentors. Findings: For each scale, the data show acceptable levels of internal consistency and evidence of content validity. The data are consistent with the TLM theory and its two sub-theories. The unique contribution of the current study is that it draws from the protégés’ perspective. Recommendations for Practitioners: The researcher presents a) strategies protégés can use to find trustworthy mentors with high standards and b) strategies program administrators can use for professional development of doctoral mentors. The researcher also provides the Right Angle Research Alignment (RARA) table to help protégés organize and manage the research methods section of their dissertation. Recommendation for Researchers: It is recommended that researchers use experimental methods to test TLM theory and the sub-theories, MIT and MHS. Impact on Society: This theory may be useful in business and in the arts and in other teaching relationships such as coaching and tutoring. The researcher encourages scholars to test TLM theory in these other contexts. Future Research: Further research questions that arise from this study are as follows: How can protégés find mentors who have high standards and who are trustworthy? What can doctoral program administrators do to help mentors develop high standards and trustworthiness?

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