Ali, P.A., Watson, R. and Dhingra, K. (2016) Postgraduate Research Students’ and their Supervisors’ Attitudes towards Supervision. International Journal of Doctoral Studies (11). pp. 227-241. ISSN 1556-8881
Abstract
There is a need for research exploring postgraduate research students’ expectations from research supervisors, the characteristics of effective student-supervisor relationships, and the opinions of students and supervisors about research supervision. We also need instruments to explore the student-supervisor relationship. The present study investigated postgraduate research students’ and research supervisors’ views about postgraduate research supervision and the student supervisor relationship. It also reports on factor analysis conducted to identify the underlying dimensions in their views about postgraduate research supervision and the student supervisor relationship. Such information can be used to develop strategies to promote student-supervisor relationships and enhance the student experience. Data were collected using an online questionnaire with 30 Likert-scale statements from 131 postgraduate research students and 77 supervisors. Following exploratory factor analysis, a three factor model consisting of leaderhip, knowledge, and support was extracted. Results indicate that students and supervisors agree about the attributes of effective supervision. Both supervisors and students consider that a supervisor should have an interest in the student’s research. The supervisor must provide timely and constructive feedback and should help the student to manage time effectively. Students and supervisors believe a supervisor should help the students where limitations and learning needs are identified. Students believe supervisors must encourage students to work independently and use opportunities to present their work.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2016 Informing Science Institute. This article has been copyrighted by the Informing Science Institute on behalf of its authors. We license it to you under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License. When you copy and redistribute this paper in full or in part, you need to provide proper attribution to it to ensure that others can later locate this work (and to ensure that others do not accuse you of plagiarism). You may (and we encourage you to) adapt, remix, transform, and build upon the material for any non-commercial purposes. This license does not permit you to use this material for commercial purposes. |
Keywords: | supervision; effective supervisor; research students’ expectation; supervisors’ expectation; PhD supervision; opinion |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Sheffield |
Academic Units: | The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health (Sheffield) > School of Nursing and Midwifery (Sheffield) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Sheffield |
Date Deposited: | 31 Aug 2016 08:30 |
Last Modified: | 31 Aug 2016 08:30 |
Published Version: | http://ijds.org/Volume11/IJDSv11p227-241Ali2178.pd... |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Informing Science Institute |
Refereed: | Yes |
Related URLs: | |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:104176 |