Postgraduate Research Supervision: An ‘Agreed’ Conceptual View of Good Practice through Derived Metaphors

Abstract

Introduction Postgraduate research is an ever changing and complex area of activity. For a number of years, researchers, practitioners, and professionals have attempted to understand and make sense of the world from varying perspectives with research supervision noted as a particularly challenging engagement. This paper seeks to unpack the issues of what enables effective postgraduate level research supervision. Post Graduate degrees in the UK are awarded to students who have demonstrated the following: a systematic understanding of knowledge, and a critical awareness of current problems and/or new insights, much of which is at, or informed by, the forefront of their academic discipline, field of study or area of professional practice; a comprehensive understanding of techniques applicable to their own research or advanced scholarship; originality in the application of knowledge, together with a practical understanding of how established techniques of research and enquiry are used to create and interpret knowledge in the discipline; conceptual understanding that enables the student to evaluate critically current research and advanced scholarship in the discipline and to evaluate methodologies and develop (Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education, 2008). The substantive investigation was undertaken to address the perceived gap in the knowledge base relating to the supervision of research students by examining academic experiences and determining what constitutes 'good research supervision'. We attempted to clarify normally unarticulated assumptions within natural conditions and settings to yield insights into the area, from the specific viewpoint of the supervisor. Consequently, an agreed view is presented of what potentially makes a good research supervisor. The paper does not offer a complete solution, but more a deconstruction of practice, which does not provide final outcomes (Stronach & MacLure, 1997). It is anticipated that these insights will help faculty to reflect upon their own professional practice and move some way towards ensuring that students receive a consistent, focused and effective research learning experience. Literature Review & Policy Document Analysis Siddle (2001) posits that the education and training of postgraduate students is one of the most important functions of any university. He states that this task is deceptively simple; to train successive generations of students and researchers who are capable of innovative and pragmatic research across the spectrum from fundamental, to user inspired, to applied research in a variety of educational, research and development, commercial and industry contexts (Siddle, 2001). The actual process and mechanics of doing research, especially the supervision is not unequivocal and is known to be extremely challenging (Anderson, Day, & McLaughlin, 2006). Supervision practices are not simply prescribed by institutional policies. Research supervision is fluid and is determined by continuity and change. How the individual supervisor inherits and reproduces what is considered good research within a discipline is dependent on traditions, customs, and beliefs. Todd, Smith, and Bannister (2006) when exploring the task of being a research supervisor suggest that it is very much a contested terrain in terms of academic professional practice and that it also helps to shape an academic's identity. How supervisors will interpret the traditions of the academy and the notions of how to do 'good' disciplinary based research is based on academic disciplinary traditions, customs, and practices based on their own ontological, political, epistemological, and ideological background. More often than not, supervisors tend to bring their own particular slant on how they interpret both the institutional rhetoric and the hidden assumptions contained within their own cognate area. Lave and Wagner (1991) suggest supervisors learn and interpret the knowledge base for that community of practice if they are to be accepted as a member of that community. …