Abstract
BackgroundAs the source of a sizeable percentage of research output and the future arbiters of science policy, practice and direction, doctoral (Ph.D.) students represent a key demographic in the biomedical research community. Despite this, doctoral learning in the biomedical sciences has, to date, received little research attention.MethodsIn the present study we aimed to qualitatively describe the motivational orientations present in semi-structured interview transcripts from a cohort of seventeen biomedical Ph.D. students drawn from two research intensive Australian Group of Eight universities.ResultsApplying elements of self-determination theory, external and introjected control loci (both strongly associated with alienation, disengagement and poor learning outcomes) were identified as common motivational determinants in this cohort.ConclusionsThe importance of these findings to doctoral learning is discussed in light of previous research undertaken in higher education settings in the United States and the European Union. With motivation accepted as a malleable, context-sensitive factor, these data provide for both a better understanding of doctoral learning and highlight a potential avenue for future research aimed at improving outcomes and promoting meaningful learning processes in the biomedical doctorate.
Highlights
As the source of a sizeable percentage of research output and the future arbiters of science policy, practice and direction, doctoral (Ph.D.) students represent a key demographic in the biomedical research community
An analysis of student motivations inductively identified in interview transcripts, using self-determination theory, demonstrated three distinct motivational orientations common to students studying at Institution A and Institution B: i) Instrumental: where students’ work was undertaken to obtain reward or avoid guilt, demonstrating EM or introjected motivation and an external control locus; ii) Benevolent Interest: where students’ work was undertaken due to personal identification with the research topic at hand, demonstrating a high degree of internalisation and an internal locus of control; and iii) Innate Interest: where students’ work was undertaken due to an innate interest in their research and was driven by IM and an internal locus of control
The data in the present study are insufficient to draw an association with doctoral attrition in the biomedical sciences, we suggest that the substantial body of data demonstrating an association between EM as a controlling motivational orientation and impaired learning warrant investigation of isolated external motivational orientation in the setting of doctoral attrition
Summary
As the source of a sizeable percentage of research output and the future arbiters of science policy, practice and direction, doctoral (Ph.D.) students represent a key demographic in the biomedical research community. The discipline of doctoral education has received increasing attention over the past two decades This increase in research activity is due, in part, to large increases in student enrolments in doctoral programs and demands for greater regulatory oversight and accountability from government agencies that fund universities. A number of (predominantly US-based) studies exist to demonstrate that between 30 and 50 % of doctoral candidates fail to complete their degrees [1,2]; the highest rates. Despite these contemporary developments, relatively little specific focus has been applied to the scholarship of doctoral learning in the biomedical sciences [7,8,9,10]. We used elements of self-determination theory to analyse the identified theme of reported motivational orientations
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