A Picture of the Research Field of Doctoral Education from the Students’ Perspectives: Studies Using Questionnaires and Scales (original) (raw)
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Springer Science Reviews, 2013
In 2006, the Higher Education Academy (HEA) published a review document which identified a need for research on how postgraduate researchers experience studying for a doctorate. This review sought evidence of such research development in the intervening years. Fol- lowing a brief exploration of the historical context that led to the writing of HEA document, an overview of its find- ings is presented as a prelude to an analysis and synopsis of the publications that address the key issues identified. One of the main conclusions is that, in addition to those of other key stakeholders (including government, the Research and Funding Councils, and deans and supervisors in universi- ties), a stronger student voice has been provided by a number of the new studies on postgraduate education. However, the number of studies carried out in the specific area of doctoral research student experience is rather un- derwhelming, even unsatisfactory in relation to fulfilling the needs of postgraduate education in a context in which governments have begun to see research as a main driver of the economy. This paper will recognise this in the meth- odology and summary of recommendations as well as noting further research gaps in the current post 2006 lit- erature on doctoral student experience; celebrate those contributions currently being made by doctoral students themselves to this enquiry field; and make some recom- mendations for further relevant enquiry.
What influences PhD graduate trajectories during the degree: a research-based policy agenda
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During the past two decades, PhD graduate numbers have increased dramatically with graduates viewed by governments as a means to advance the knowledge economy and international competitiveness. Concurrently, universities have also invested in policies to monitor satisfaction, retention, and timely completion—and researchers have expanded the study of PhD experience. We, as such researchers, have increasingly received invitations from university decision-makers to present research evidence which might guide their doctoral programs. Their interest provoked us to do a qualitative systematized review of research on doctoral experience—seeking evidence of practices that influenced retention, satisfaction, and completion. The result contributes a synthesis of the critical research evidence that could be used to inform doctoral education policy. We also demonstrate the possibilities of such evidence by suggesting some potential recommendations, while recognizing that there is no direct rel...
International Journal of Doctoral Studies, 2018
Aim/Purpose: Research on students in higher education contexts to date has focused primarily on the experiences undergraduates, largely overlooking topics relevant to doctoral students’ mental, physiological, motivational, and social experiences. Existing research on doctoral students has consistently found mental and physical health concerns and high attrition rates among these students, but a comprehensive understanding of these students’ experiences is still lacking. Background: The present review paper aims to offer deep insight into the issues affecting doctoral students by reviewing and critically analyzing recent literature on the doctoral experience. An extensive review of recent literature uncovered factors that can be readily categorized as external and internal to the doctoral student; external factors include supervision, personal/social lives, the department and socialization, and financial support opportunities, while internal factors motivation, writing skills, self-r...
The doctoral experience: a bit of a curate's egg
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Established models of doctoral education in Australia are generally based on an apprenticeship model, where doctoral students learn from their advisors. However, these are slowly being reconsidered in light of low completion rates. This study investigated doctoral students' perceptions of their candidature by way of focus group interviews. The participants represented 17.9% of the doctoral students enrolled at a university. Three research questions constituted the interview schedule protocol: • What are some of the positives of your experience since you enrolled in the doctoral program? • What are some of the negatives of your experience since you enrolled in the doctoral program? • What are some of your recommendations for the future? Content analysis was employed to analyse interview transcripts and generate themes arising from each research question. The frequency with which such themes were cited were categorised by their incidence across the 18 schools represented in the st...
Students' perspectives on impacts of the PhD process
In the last two decades, interest in doctoral education has prompted wide-ranging debate among stakeholders on the purposes of doctoral education in general, and the Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in particular. Although this swelling interest has triggered an exponential growth in research and literature on doctoral education and the PhD, an integrated theorisation of students’ perspectives of the impacts that occur during the PhD process has not yet been developed. The aim of this thesis is to address this gap in knowledge. Using grounded theory methodology and methods, the research examined the impacts of the PhD process from the perspective of 23 full-time students attending a large metropolitan university in Sydney, Australia. Through the simultaneous processes of data collection, constant comparison and theory generation, learning emerged as the core impact of the PhD process across the different contexts, conditions and circumstances of students’ candidature. This learning comprised seven sub-categories: personal resourcefulness, intellectual understandings, research skills, workplace and career management, leadership and organisation, communication (written and oral) and project management. Working inductively and deductively (abductively) generated insights into relationships between the categories of learning that emerged from the data and Aristotle’s concept of intellectual virtues. From the processes of exploring and constantly comparing these inter-relationships, this thesis proposes that the learning students experienced as impacts of the PhD process can be theorised as the acquisition of the intellectual virtues of phronesis, sophia and technè. Specifically, through the complex processes involved in undertaking a PhD, students develop the personal resourcefulness to accumulate phronesis (practical knowledge), enhance their cognition to acquire sophia (intellectual knowledge), and obtain the intellectual virtue of technè (productive knowledge) by developing their research, workplace and career management, leadership, and organisational, communication (written and oral), and project management skills. It is proposed that theorising the PhD process as the acquisition of intellectual virtues offers a more comprehensive and integrated insight into the impacts that occur during the processes of the PhD.
At Cross Purposes: What the Experiences of Today's Doctoral Students Reveal about Doctoral Education
2001
A national study was conducted to provide a snapshot of the experiences of doctoral students in the arts and sciences. The Survey on Doctoral Education and Career Preparation asked students why they pursued degrees, how effective they perceived programs to be, and their expectations and understandings of their programs. Students in 11 arts and sciences disciplines from 27 institutions and 1 cross-institutional program (the Compact for Faculty Diversity) were surveyed. Responses were received from 4,114 students, a response rate of 42.3%. Results suggest that the training doctoral students receive is not what they want, nor does it prepare them for the jobs they take. Many students do not understand what doctoral study entails, how the process works, and how to navigate it effectively. There is a mismatch among the purpose of doctoral education, the aspirations of the students, and the realities of their careers within and outside academia. Doctoral students persist in pursuing careers as faculty members, and graduate programs persist in preparing them for careers at research universities in spite of the scarcity of academic jobs and efforts to diversify the options available for doctorate holders. As a result, students are not well prepared to assume the faculty positions that are available, nor do they have a clear concept of their suitability for life outside of research. (Contains 15 tables and 24 references.) (SLD) Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document.
2010
idea of PhD students as knowledge workers or “super-technicians” (Pearson et al., 2009, p. 100), its predominantly descriptive nature also limits its potential in providing deeper insights into students’ experiences during the doctoral education undertaking. This highlights the need for research that conceptualises the different and diverse elements of the doctoral education experience as a complex, interrelated range of activities and further, the need for a framework that recognises how all these elements and processes contribute to enabling the production of a skilled, resourceful and competent PhD graduate. 3.3 Theorising the PhD experience There is also a paucity of research that theorises students’ experiences of the PhD process, although more recent research is contributing to this gap by providing accounts of the doctoral experience that move beyond descriptive accounts. Haggis’s (2002) research with eight PhD students in the UK, for example, is amongst the small number of a...
A systematic review of doctoral graduate attributes: Domains and definitions
Frontiers in Education
Doctoral graduate attributes are the qualities, skills, and competencies that graduates possess, having completed their doctorate degree. Graduate attributes, in general, lack conceptual clarity, making the investigation into and quality assurance processes attached to doctoral outcomes challenging. As many graduate attributes are “unseen” or implicit, the full range of attributes that doctoral graduate actually possess needs to be synthesized, so that they may be recognized and utilized by educational stakeholders. The aim of this study was to establish and describe what attributes graduates from doctoral degrees possess. A systematic review of peer-reviewed, primary literature published between January 2016 and June 2021 was conducted, identifying 1668 articles. PRISMA reporting was followed, and after screening and full text critical appraisal, 35 articles remained for summation through thematic synthesis. The doctoral graduate attribute domains identified included knowledge, res...