How are doctoral students supervised? Concepts of doctoral research supervision

Abstract

Literature about doctoral supervision has concentrated on describing the ever lengthening lists of functions that must be carried out. This functional approach is necessary but there has been little exploration of a different paradigm, a conceptual approach towards research supervision. This paper, based on interviews with supervisors from a range of disciplines, aims to fill this a gap. The main concepts identified are: Functional: where the issue is one of project management; enculturation: where the student is encouraged to become a member of the disciplinary community; critical thinking: where the student is encouraged to question and analyse their work; emancipation: where the student is encouraged to question and develop themselves; and developing a quality relationship: where the student is enthused, inspired and cared for. Supervisors of doctoral students are also trying to reconcile the tensions between their professional role as an academic and their personal self as well as encouraging students to move a long a path towards increasing independence. The concepts are examined in the light of each of these tensions. Finally the research illuminates the power of the supervisor's own experience as a student and the paper suggests that supervisors need to be aware of both the positive and negative aspects of each of these conceptual approaches.

Coping with loneliness: A netnographic study of doctoral students

“…This raises questions concerning the supervisor's role. Lee (2008) A range of other factors may influence doctoral students' social isolation. One theme that emerged from this study is the importance of space in shaping student experiences.…”

‘The English is not the same’: challenges in thesis writing for second language speakers of English

“…She was unhappy that she was under pressure by her department to finalise the theses. There was quite obviously a conflict between her own career interests and the success of the students (Lee, 2008).…”

Novice supervisors’ practices and dilemmatic space in supervision of student research projects

“…Recent studies have identified factors in research supervision promoted by experienced supervisors which contribute to student learning, such as responsiveness to students' needs and ways in which supervisorstudent relationships are maintained (e.g. de Kleijn et al 2014;Lee 2008;Mainhard et al 2009). These factors are useful for fostering supervisors' reflections on their practices and for the study of research supervision.…”