On personal and collective dimensions of agency in doctoral training: medicine and natural science programs

The purpose of the present study was to investigate knowledge-creating agency by examining doctoral students' accounts of their pursuits, using structured interviews. We examined all of the talk apparently related to agency of 13 doctoral students taking part in collective doctoral training in two, highly regarded Finnish research communities (natural science and medicine). The doctoral process involved the participants pursuing article-based theses based on collectively shared research problems and journal articles co-authored with the supervisor and other senior researchers. Based on the qualitative analysis of the interviews, three categories of agentic talk were identified, respectively, for three proposed types of knowledge-creating agency: personal, distributed, and ‘object-related’. Personal agency involved participants' reflection on their academic competence, self-efficacy, and personal strengths and weaknesses. Distributed agency played an important role in assisting these participants overcoming challenges; this includes sharing of expertise, receiving social support, and having a sense of collective efficacy. Object-related agency, in turn, represented integration of a doctoral student's efforts with those of her immediate research community while pursuing shared research objects (e.g., co-authored articles). Apart from issues of agency which, the authors propose, are raised in the interviews, the data provide content-rich accounts of the collective nature of doctoral experiences.     

Doctoral students writing: where's the pedagogy?

Writing occupies a key role in doctoral research, because it is the principal channel students use to communicate their ideas, and the basis on which their degree is awarded. Doctoral writing can, therefore, be a source of considerable anxiety. Most doctoral candidates require support and encouragement if they are to develop confidence as writers. Drawing on interviews with two international doctoral students at an Australian university, this paper examines the writing practices the students have encountered and discusses them in the light of recent research on doctoral writing pedagogy. Analysis of the students' experiences in terms of Wenger's ‘communities of practice’ framework suggests that this perspective fails to account adequately for the power relations that impact on the students' learning opportunities. Examining the students' experiences also highlights the importance of good pedagogy in supporting the development of scholarly writing in the doctorate.     

‘Untold’ doctoral stories: can we move beyond cultural narratives of neglect?

This article examines the stories of 24 social sciences doctoral students in three universities, one in Canada and two in the UK, who experienced challenging roads to completion. While their stories confirm earlier findings, they also provide insight into how students' agency and personal networks of relationships may be critical, both as resources and constraints. We argue that these ‘untold stories’ of student agency coupled with supervisor narratives of students ‘not measuring up’ can contribute to a culture of institutional neglect. Pedagogies emphasizing an ethic of care and relational rather than regulatory practices are essential if these conditions are to change.     

博士生导师如何影响博士生科研发表？ ——基于2016年首都高校学生发展状况调查数据的分析

随着博士招生规模的扩大，博士生教育质量问题受到各方关注。导师作为博士生培养中最直接且关键的因素，对博士生的科研创新能力发挥着重要影响，但鲜有严谨的实证研究阐明其影响机制。基于2016年首都高校学生发展状况调查的数据，采用处理效应模型控制学生选择导师的内生性后，估计了导师对博士生科研发表的影响。研究发现，导师的学术指导显著正向影响博士生科研产出，这种影响主要通过作用于博士生科研参与实现，而导师的社会资本对博士生的科研产出存在负向影响。导师学术指导的正向影响更多体现在理工类博士生群体中，导师社会资本的影响更多体现在人文社科类博士生群体中。     

博士生的学术经历、学术志趣与科研能力增长的关系

博士生的学术经历和学术志趣对科研能力增长的重要作用已得到实证研究的支持,不过很少有研究能够综合考察不同方面的学术经历以及学术志趣对科研能力增长的预测作用。基于1286份博士生调查数据进行相关探索,结果发现：（1）博士生的学术志趣对科研能力增长的正向预测作用最大,超过了前沿涉猎、导师指导、课程学习等学术经历的预测作用;（2）导师指导是对博士生学术志趣正向预测作用最大的变量;（3）与人文社科博士生相比,理工科博士生的学术志趣与科研能力增长具有更强的关联;（4）学术志趣在前沿涉猎、导师指导、课程学习等学术经历与科研能力增长之间存在中介效应。上述结果支持了学术志趣在博士生学术训练中的重要性,而导师在博士生学术志趣的激发方面扮演着关键角色。     

How do doctoral students experience supervision?

Supervision has been shown to have a high impact on doctoral students' development. However, little is known about how students perceive not only negative but also positive doctoral experiences, as well as their strategies for dealing with perceived problematic situations. The aim of this study is to analyse and relate doctoral students' significant supervision experiences to the strategies they use to cope with these experiences when they perceive them as challenging or negative. A total of 1173 doctoral students from different research-intensive Spanish universities responded to four open-ended questions about their most significant experiences in their doctoral journey, associated feelings and strategies to deal with them. We identified a total of 223 experiences related to supervision that were distributed into five categories: 1) central prerequisites for supervision, 2) supervisor choice, 3) supervision of the research process, 4) coaching and 5) project management. The results showed three distinct ways, as reported by the students, of handling the perceived negative supervision experiences: 1) no strategy, 2) local strategy and 3) regulatory strategy. The results suggest that analysing both positive and negative experiences may better capture variability in students' supervision experiences. A relation between experiences with supervision and students' satisfaction was also detected.     

Different Types of Doctoral Study Processes

Becoming a doctor can be viewed as a highly personal and unique experience, which is why many factors influence the completion or non-completion of the doctoral degree. The attention in previous research has been on the students' characteristics, and the university faculty role in promoting degree progress. Therefore, more research is needed on the alternative routes that doctoral students take as part of a flexible doctoral education. The purpose of this study is to increase understanding of the different types of doctoral students in industrial engineering and management, and their different study processes. We explore the study processes of 25 doctoral students using a narrative analysis approach. Doctoral students' processes are categorized into three groups according to the strategies that students take in their progress: the Project Manager, the Wanderer, and the Hobbyist. We report clear differences across the different study processes in the students' working methods, use of supervisory and peer support, problems and risks of delay, and degree success. The results indicate clear opportunities of influence for the faculty in the form of offering clear pre-defined research objectives for students, allocating funds for full-time doctoral studies, developing alternative peer-support strategies, and proactive risk management.     

Doctoral Student Persistence in Counselor Education Programs: Student–Program Match

The authors present the findings of a qualitative study (N = 33) of doctoral student persistence in counselor education programs accredited by the Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (2001). Using in‐depth interviews with students representing 17 different doctoral programs, the findings revealed factors that influenced students' decisions to persist or leave their counselor education doctoral programs. A key determinant in attrition or persistence decisions was a match between the students' goals/expectations and the faculty members' expectations and goals for the program. Implications of the findings for program selection, recruiting, and student retention are discussed.     

African American Students in Counselor Education Programs: Perceptions of Their Experiences

The authors explored 11 African American doctoral students' perceptions of their experiences in counselor education programs, and their findings are presented. Using a phenomenological methodological framework, the authors investigated the various systems of support that students use as they navigate their respective programs. Human agency was the theoretical framework for this study, and 4 themes emerged from the data: assertiveness, more experienced African American students, race‐based organizations, and personal and professional care from advisors. Implications for students and counselor education programs are discussed.     

Supervision – the most variable of variables: student perspectives

The supervision literature often conceptualizes the supervisor as the primary person in doctoral students' progress. Yet, there is growing evidence that the supervisor is but one of many resources that students draw on. Our study takes up this idea in answering the question: What is students' experience of their supervisory relationships over time? Sixteen social science participants in two UK universities, at different points in their doctoral journeys, completed logs of a week's activities for a number of months before being interviewed. This distinct longitudinal approach provides a more nuanced understanding of students' perceptions of the supervisory relationship, specifically, varied reasons for seeking supervisory help, distinct needs related to where students were in their progress, and diverse in which they negotiated and characterized the supervisory relationship.     

Doctoral women: managing emotions,managing doctoral studies

This paper explores the experiences of women doctoral students and the role of emotion during doctoral candidature. The paper draws on the concept of emotional labour to examine the two sites of emotional investment students experienced and managed during their studies: writing and family relationships. Emotion is perceived by many dominant stakeholders as soft, subjective and an impediment to acquiring objective knowledge. The importance of emotion is under recognised. When it is discussed, the role of emotion in the doctoral undertaking is often subsumed in the passionless language of bureaucratic rationalisation and economic imperatives. This paper builds on a growing literature that examines students' emotions and doctoral candidature. It draws on the experiences of women undertaking their doctoral studies at a large metropolitan university in Sydney, Australia, to show first, how emotional labouring can enable students to channel emotions towards productive behaviours that can contribute to successful doctoral candidature, and second, that studies that attend to emotion offer more nuanced insights into students' experiences during the doctoral undertaking.     

Basic Guidelines for Environmental Education

ABSTRACT

Interdisciplinary sustainability programs are emerging globally, but little is known about the learning in these educational contexts. This qualitative case study examined undergraduates' experience in a Sustainability Semester, using the agency/structure dialectic as a theoretical lens. Before the semester, students' models of change for sustainability focused on individual actions. After two years, students' models identified systemic and structural barriers that constrained and enabled their agency as individuals. The discussion examines the “ripple effect” model of change that emerged in early interviews and considers how educators might use the agency/structure dialectic to help undergraduates move beyond individualistic models of social change.     

不同招考方式博士研究生的教育收获比较 ——基于2020年全国研究生满意度调查数据的分析

基于2020年“全国研究生满意度调查”13264份学术学位博士研究生的数据,运用线性回归与标准负二项回归分析了不同招生录取方式的博士生在主观教育收获满意度以及客观论文发表数量方面的差异。分析结果显示,本科直博与硕博连读的博士研究生与公开招考的博士生相比,其论文发表数量更多,但博士教育收获满意度更低。建议博士生培养单位充分发挥贯通式人才培养连续性、系统性的优势,合理设计长学制博士生课程教学、导师指导以及考核管理制度。     

A qualitative inquiry of doctoral students' herding in education and validation of ‘herding in educational decisions’ scale

Fresh PhD recipients are experiencing restricted career opportunities yet the enrolment of PhD Scholars is increasing rapidly. Perhaps, doctoral students lack conscious educational decision-making. Building on such a perspective of doctoral students' unconscious educational choices, we explored their educational choices throughout their life trajectory. We started with a qualitative inquiry of 18 different PhD scholars in Pakistan. The findings helped us in developing a measure to determine the extent of herding in doctoral students' educational decisions. We ‘benefitted from’ this opportunity and validated the scale in two separate quantitative inquiries for conducting an exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis. The study concluded a 3-dimensional scale (consisting of 15-items) for measuring ‘herding in educational decisions’. The study offers certain implications for conscious educational decisions.     

Gerontology Doctoral Training: The Value of Goals,Program Perceptions,and Prior Experience Among Students

This study concerns the educational experiences and progression through the doctoral programs of two cohorts of students in 5 of the 6 gerontology doctoral programs within the United States. The project goals include assessments of change and/or stability in projected career trajectories, as well as an assessment of students' perceptions of the program-student fit in terms of curriculum, research experience, and faculty involvement. This paper focuses on the perceptions and expectations of students during their first year. Perceptions of the programs are mostly positive, but areas for improvement are identified. Further investigations of data through the subsequent years identify areas of focus for continued modification and potential improvement of doctoral programs.     

Departmental academic support for doctoral students in Russia: Categorisation and effects

Departmental academic support plays an important role in a doctoral journey. However, different types of support may be related to different outcomes. This paper aims to provide a categorisation of types of departmental academic support and analyse the relationship between these different categories of support and doctoral students' confidence that they will complete their dissertations. The empirical base for the research is data from a cross-institutional survey of doctoral students at six Russian universities. Based on the results of latent class analysis (LCA), we distinguished six types of departmental academic support depending on the functions performed by supervisors, other faculty members and department heads. Consistent with previous research, we found that departmental academic support plays a crucial role in doctoral students' experiences and outcomes, while lack of support is related to a lower level of confidence about completing a dissertation. At the same time, our results provide evidence that excessive collective engagement in doctoral students' work from departmental staff may be less effective than the strong engagement of a supervisor, assisted by informational support from other staff members.     

Understanding non-traditional PhD students habitus – implications for PhD programmes

Against the background of vast changes in doctoral education and the emergence of non-traditional doctoral programmes, this paper investigates the habitus of non-traditional PhD students at a South African university. Bourdieu's conceptual tool of habitus informed the study. In-depth and open-ended interviews were conducted with 10 non-traditional students. Data analysis indicates non-traditional students' complex and multifaceted habitus. Non-traditional PhD students' dispositions and experiences include tenacious self-motivation and self-regulation in the face of severely constraining conditions, diverse epistemologies, hybrid goals, more communal orientations, perplexedness about ‘produce new knowledge’ and other requirements of the PhD, vulnerability regarding funds, complex self-change ranging from elation and affirmation to humiliation and confusion and exclusion and non-recognition at the department and faculty levels. These findings indicate greater challenges for non-traditional doctoral programmes that would respond to the academic and social needs of non-traditional students.     

Counselor Education Doctoral Students' Experiences With Multiple Roles and Relationships

Interpretive phenomenological analysis was used to explore 10 counselor education doctoral students' lived experiences with multiple roles and relationships. Four superordinate themes were found: power differential, need for education, transformation, and learning from experiences. Findings revealed that multiple roles and relationships offer doctoral students positive and negative experiences, shaping their development as future counselor educators.     

‘Slaughtering this beautiful math’: graduate women choosing and leaving mathematics

The quality of graduate students' relationships with faculty are crucial for students' success. Unfortunately, negative relationships with faculty are common for women in the sciences and mathematics. Six women doctoral students in one mathematics department in the US were interviewed to better understand the nature of their relationships with faculty members, and the effects of those relationships on their decisions to persist or to leave. These women described the limited or negative relationships they had with faculty. They spoke of ways in which they felt ignored, the lack of mentoring, advising, and other guidance, poor teaching, and a general lack of moral support. Each of them described ways in which they felt they did not ‘fit in’ in the department. These findings are interpreted through two lenses: the idea of participation in a community of practice and all that that entails, and Noddings' notions of caring. Implications for women in mathematics at all levels are discussed.