“Connecting the Dots”: Developing a Doctoral Qualitative Community of Practice

Abstract

This article focuses on the development of a community of practice (CoP) for qualitative doctoral researchers at the University of Bath (UK). Although the sources of support that qualitative doctoral researchers can access have grown substantially across the United Kingdom, United States, Australia, and South Africa (e.g., supervisor meetings, discrete courses, and standalone workshops), they generally remain “disjointed,” forcing qualitative doctoral researchers to individually navigate these “siloed” sources. In this article, we describe our solution to the problem—creating a doctoral CoP capable of “connecting the dots”—by drawing on 3 years of experience leading the CoP. We focus and reflect on our facilitation approach, session design, and challenges faced with the goal of sharing “best practice.”