Abstract
This study examines the nature and quality of supervisory relationship of the PhD supervisors and PhD supervisees based on questionnaire survey on 100 PhD supervisors and PhD supervisees. The results show that PhD supervisee group tend to agree that having common research interest and professional reputation of the supervisors as an important factor whereas the PhD supervisors perceived the PhD supervisees’ past research and work experience as a major influence in choosing their supervisee. The results also show that there is a significant different in supervisory selection criteria between PhD supervisors and supervisees in terms of common research interest and PhD supervisee’s/supervisor’s work habit and personality. A key finding in this study is that the selection criteria of supervisory relationship characteristics vary between the PhD supervisors and supervisees. Therefore, it is recommended that PhD supervisees need to be aware of the supervisory selection criteria of their potential supervisors in order to be accepted by the later party. PhD supervisees also need to be aware of the supervisory relationship characteristics expected by their PhD supervisors need order to complete their study successfully.
Highlights
The government, in Malaysia, and the educational institutions of higher learning are striving to attract more students to embark on research supervision
The results show that PhD supervisee group tend to agree that having common research interest and professional reputation of the supervisors as an important factor whereas the PhD supervisors perceived the PhD supervisees’ past research and work experience as a major influence in choosing their supervisee
The results show that the PhD supervisee group has the least satisfaction level on the following variable “Supervisor provide constructive feedback on my proposal” with a mean score of 3.7255, indicating that they were not happy with their PhD supervisors’ performance in giving constructive feedback on their proposal
Summary
The government, in Malaysia, and the educational institutions of higher learning are striving to attract more students to embark on research supervision. Research supervision in education refers to a process of fostering and enhancing learning, research and communication at a higher level (Laske & Zuber-Skerritt, 1996). It is considered the highest and advanced level of teaching in the education system (Connell, 1985). Research supervision is intensive and interpersonally and often regarded as a critical factor to the success of graduate supervisees (Freeman, 1992; Dye, 1994; Dinham & Scott, 1999; Johnston, 1999). Supervisors could conduct research projects with supervisees to enhance their learning, research as well as reputation (Laske & Zuber-Skerritt, 1996)
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