Doctoral Students’ Perspectives on Their Advisors

Abstract

ABSTRACTThe purpose of this article was to examine Kinesiology Doctoral Students’ (DS) perspectives on their advisors. Using the Kinesiology Doctoral Student (KDS) survey, 121 current and past DS provided information on 10 different aspects related to their advisors. Specifically, these items consisted of measures of DS perceptions on: (a) working with the advisor they wanted, (b) satisfaction with the process by which they came to have their advisors, (c) satisfaction with the amount and quality of time spent with advisor, (d) wanting to switch advisors but being unable to do so, (e) advisor’s reputation to get students through the process in a timely manner, (f) advisor had funding to support students, (g) advisor was recommended by other people, (h) advisor’s reputation as a good researcher, (i) advisor’s reputation as a good teacher, and (j) advisor’s ability to foster a positive work environment in research work groups. This topic was viewed through three lenses: (a) status (past and current DS), (b) gender, and (c) subdisciplines (social and behavioral sciences [SBS] research and health/hard sciences [HS] research). The following statistically significant findings were revealed: (a) past participants were significantly more satisfied with their advisor choice on this item (I wish I could have switched advisors but was unable to do so) compared to current participants and (b) past participants rated this item (had a reputation for being a good researcher) significantly higher than current participants. Open-ended comments spoke to the importance of selecting the “right advisor.”