The early phase of doctoral education is a critical yet under-researched period in PhD programs, when doctoral researchers must solidify their thesis projects prior to embarking on data collection. ...What makes this time particularly challenging is that new doctoral researchers synthesize their research thinking while they are still learning the expectations and nature of PhD research. This study draws on Emirbayer and Mische’s (
1998
) chordal triad of agency to explore how PhD researchers’ goals and experiences (individual contexts) influence how they approach doctoral research and develop their thesis projects during the first year of the PhD. The results of this small-scale longitudinal multiple case study of five first-year UK PhD social science researchers suggest that there are at least three approaches PhD researchers may adopt in developing their research projects, influenced by personal histories and post-PhD goals—pragmatic/strategic, idealistic, and realistic. In turn, these approaches may change over time as PhD researchers acquire experience and encounter critical events. Implications include the need for attention to a diversity of PhD researchers’ needs and goals, which may necessitate additional support or training in tailored areas, and a call for questioning the capacity of PhD researchers to contribute to/stretch the structures surrounding thesis writing.
This article investigates patterns of systematic metaphors used to characterize various aspects of the doctoral education period, based on analysis of dissertation acknowledgements (DAs) from ...doctoral dissertations across academic disciplines and written by researchers from four PhD programs offered by a Norwegian university. The primary research question addressed here asks which metaphors doctoral researchers in Norway use to describe their educational experience as a whole, as well as the assistance they received during their doctoral period. A discourse dynamics approach is applied to the data, allowing for the identification of metaphors employed about these topics followed by the categorization of the identified metaphors into broader categories. The resulting overview of the systematic metaphorical patterns in DAs provides empirical evidence concerning how doctoral researchers view their experiences, useful in mentoring situations as a starting point for addressing attitudes, beliefs and values about the various challenges and rewards involved in doctoral trajectories.
We examined doctoral students’ experiences of nondisclosure with their dissertation chairs. Using a hermeneutic phenomenology design, we analyzed two individual interviews of 10 doctoral students. We ...identified the following three themes: (a) the professional dynamics in the relationship, (b) the interpersonal and cultural dynamics in the relationship, and (c) prioritization of completing the dissertation. Implications for doctoral students and dissertation chairs are discussed.
PDF
