Students Perception About the Role of Interview During M.PHIL and PH.D. Admission at a Public Sector University of Lahore, Punjab-Pakistan

Abstract

Purpose of the Study: Focusing on the importance of the research interview, the researchers planned current qualitative research to explore students’ perceptions about the role of an interview conducted during the selection of M.Phil and Ph.D. admission in one of the public sector University of Lahore, Punjab-Pakistan.
 Methodology: The researchers adopted qualitative research leading to interpretivism paradigm. This study adopted a phenomenology research design. The researchers selected five M.Phil and five Ph.D. scholars were selected by using purposive technique. The researchers administered a self-constructed interview protocol to collect the data from the respondents. After signing a formal consent letter from participants, the researchers recorded interviews from the respondents in voice recorders and transcribed the interviews word by word. The researchers used thematic analysis approach to analyze the data.
 Main Findings: The results declared that the majority of the students agreed that personality has a better effect during the interview; slight sensation of nervousness before the interview; disturbed bodily condition before interview panel; friendly, cooperative, and supportive behaviour of interview panel; comfortable environment; enriched institute with qualified foreign faculty; fully confident after the interview for admission; asking of relevant questions and they get admission in to enhance their qualification for getting good-paying job and knowledge.
 Applications of this study: The results of the current research are applicable in public and private sector universities of Punjab, including district Lahore in which experiential and dynamic teachers are the members of the selection panel. They were aware of students perceptions while conducting interviews and familiar with their exact situations that happened in the committee rooms, as the students/applicant are the real observe of their teachers.
 Novelty/Originality of this study: This is the innovative and foremost research structured in Pakistani public sector educational institutions in which the authors highlighted the actual situations that happened between the interviewer and the interviewee during M.Phil and Ph.D admission. The authors have also contributed to the existing body of knowledge. The findings of the research have opened the horizon for future researchers to explore the dimension of the interviews focusing on the quantitative and mix-method design on a large sample of the participants.