Group Of Doctoral Students Research Articles

On the idea of a theory

This article is based on a lecture that has been given to several groups of doctoral students at various times and in various places. It outlines five notions of what has been taken to constitute a “theory”: myth, metaphor, model, hypothesis and structured research programme. The most fundamental of these is the hypothesis. These different ideas of what a theory can be are illustrated with examples from Translation Studies. Any theory aims at description and explanation, and these two concepts are also discussed. A final comment takes up the idea that translations themselves are theories, and that a translator is thus a theorist or theôros .

The Mathematical Preparation of Secondary School Teachers

In the summer of 2007, a group of doctoral students at the University of Georgia gathered to discuss the mathematical preparation of secondary teachers. The group used Mathematics for High School Teachers: An Advanced Perspective by Usiskin, Peressini, Marchisotto, and Stanley (2003) as the catalyst for the discussion. Participants agreed that future teachers need opportunities to examine high school and college mathematics differently from the way they had as students, with specific emphasis on connections, representations, and history. Features of this text that were highlighted in the discussions were the attention topics with commonly held misconceptions, the historical rationales and development of mathematical topics, and the role of mathematical definitions. Group members felt that, depending on one’s purpose for using the text and the backgrounds of the prospective teachers, this text could be used, in conjunction with supplemental materials, in a variety of capacities: for a capstone course, a connections course, or a set of replacement mathematics courses.

Why These Data?: Rationales for Data Selection in Doctoral Student Presentations

Doctoral students' research presentations were investigated for the way in which the students articulated their rationales for data selection for their research projects. Rather than look for genre-related characteristics, though still working within the area of academic discourse (spoken), the objective of this study was to identify a set of possible data selection rationales, for subsequent use by future doctoral students and their advisers. Presentations from two groups of doctoral students were analysed: part-time students on an Applied Linguistics 'thesis and coursework' PhD programme at a UK university, and student nurses on a doctoral programme at the University of Michigan (whose presentation transcripts were already publicly available). The result was a substantial set of data selection rationales, including availability of data, good quality (various types), professional concern, paradigm-relatedness, originality and generalisability. These were provisionally ranked in terms of 'research awareness'.

A Collaborative Research Effort in Self-Directed Learning

This article tells the story of how an effort to help a group of doctoral students find a way to complete their dissertation research evolved into something that has made it possible for a growing number of individuals to make contributions to scholarship in self-directed learning (SDL), way beyond the original intent of providing a dissertation support group. In 1997, Ralph Brockett found himself with an unusually large group of doctoral students in the doctoral program in Adult Education at the University of Tennessee nearing the dissertation stage of their programs. In an effort to try and manage this large advising load, he convened a meeting of his doctoral advisees in order to explore the possibility of starting a research group, focusing on SDL. An organizational meeting was held and about 15 interested graduate students attended. During this exploratory session, no specific guidelines were established for the group; rather, the purpose was to gauge interest in creating a group that could work together and create a focus on SDL that would make it possible for members to support each other in their dissertation research. It quickly became clear that this group could provide support and opportunities for collaboration for those at the dissertation stage of their program, and that this was quite appealing to many of the participants. Much enthusiasm was generated, for this initiative was not only seen as a means of expediting the dissertation process, but also as a way of developing innovative dissertation topics through collaboration. Ideas of sharing databases and providing sounding boards for dissertation-related questions proved to be a catalyst for launching the research group, and later on galvanizing and sustaining group members over time. Getting Started Subsequently, a core group developed and began meeting on a regular basis in 1998. Those who were further along in their graduate studies began concentrating on ways of sharing, as well as refining, individual dissertation topics. Others in the group, who were in the coursework phase of their graduate program, offered critiques and input to those at the dissertation stage. However, it became apparent that the original intent of having group members collaborate on actual data collection was not going to be feasible because members were progressing with their research at different rates. At this point, the group began struggling for its identity since collaborating on data collection was one of the primary reasons for forming the group in the first place. It seemed as if the group was at risk of losing its impetus, energy, and synergy. At the same time, there appeared to be a declining interest in SDL research in many corners of the adult education field. Consequently, the group reached an important crossroads early in its existence. Broadening the Focus In order to reenergize the group, we started thinking of ways to expand our efforts and contribute to maintaining and revitalizing the research focus on SDL that had been growing for about three decades. One of the group members suggested that we identify a research project we could work on together, above and beyond the dissertation studies that were in progress. Ralph proposed an idea that he believed could rejuvenate the interest and excitement that had accompanied the group's beginning. His suggestion was to undertake a content analysis of the SDL literature found in major journals in adult education. Group members expressed interest in the idea and this helped to re-energize us through a shared interest. Our group proceeded to identify and review all articles published on SDL in mainstream North American adult education journals between 1980 and 1999. The major objective was to create a content analysis based on our findings. A protocol was developed that included locating and copying the indices of 14 adult education journals (four additional journals were added to the analysis later on) that we thought were clearly identifiable as adult education publications. …

Doctoral Studies as Professional Development of Educators in the United States

SUMMARY This article addresses the potential of professional development through doctoral studies in the USA. It traces the progression of professional development through formal degree programmes from pre-service work through doctoral level studies. A small group of doctoral students enrolled in an interdisciplinary doctoral programme were interviewed about their motivation for undertaking doctoral studies, as well as their perceptions of the impact of doctoral studies on their professional development and the opportunities that emerge as part of earning the doctorate. Students' views about the value of the interdisciplinary component of the programme were consistent and matched the perceptions of programme administrators.

The 19th Century London Stage: An Exploration (review)

Reviewed by: The 19Th Century London Stage: An Exploration Richard W. Schoch The 19Th Century London Stage: An Exploration. [Internet, WWW], ADDRESS: www.artsci.washington.edu/drama-phd/19thhmpg.html The 19th Century London Stage was created in 1992 by a group of doctoral students in the School of Drama at the University of Washington who participated in a seminar designed to exploit computer applications in theatre history research. Under the continuing supervision of Jack Wolcott, the site was enhanced in 1997 by a second team of doctoral students. The website comprises ten hypertextual “projects,” most of which focus on the sociology of nineteenth-century dramatic literature (representations of gender, industrialism, and empire), mise-en-scène (landscapes in theatrical engravings, images of theatre interiors), and biography (dramatists, performers, scenographers, and engravers). Ancillary sections include bibliographies, notes, and citations embedded within the individual projects themselves, a concluding bibliography, and a list of related websites. Projects which incorporate information technology in graduate student training are to be welcomed and encouraged. Quite understandably, though, this website reveals its creators’ relative inexperience in both web design and theatre history research. No doubt the construction of this website has been an enabling activity for its authors, who are the principal beneficiaries of their own work. Other users may well find that the site does not yet realize its potential in either design or content. Given that multimedia technology is well-poised to capture the rich density of performance in its kinetic, spatial, and visual dimensions, this website is somewhat insensitive to the advantages of the medium itself. There is little “multi” in this multimedia. Most of the information provided is linear and text-based (mini-essays, quotations, citations, lists, and notes). Images are neither consistently integrated with relevant written material nor generally read as signifying “texts” in themselves. Pawit Mahasarinand’s essay on theatrical representations of India and Mark Farrelly’s project on theatre interiors are exceptions, successfully interweaving texts and images. I was unable to find any part of the website that featured sound, movement, video, or animation. While the authors hope that users will engage in “non-linear” cognition when navigating through the site, the dominance throughout of the typographic text impedes such associative thought processes. Similarly, the designers have not capitalized on opportunities for interactivity. Visitors to this site will feel more like readers than participants, let alone co-creators. One would like to see the collaborative nature of performance and performance scholarship mirrored on this website. Because the site does not yet allow its visitors to contribute material, there is a regrettably “fixed” quality to the whole project. Indeed, the site has more or less languished for the past two years. In consequence, recent developments in the expanding field of nineteenth-century performance history cannot be disseminated and debated. This website is not yet the place where new ideas emerge. The chief “content” value of this website is that it brings together a substantial amount of primary (lists of plays, performers, and playwrights) and secondary sources (quotations from, among others, Michael Booth, Allardyce Nicoll, and E.B. Watson) in nineteenth-century London theatre. While a wealth of material is displayed, the presentation and range of the material are open to challenge. The organization of the site, moreover, appears driven by the particular research interests of the authors rather than by a shared goal to explore the diversity and vitality of nineteenth-century performance. The intellectual content of the website only infrequently rises above the level of compilation, summary, and transcription. Indeed, almost all sections of the website—with the notable exception of C.B. Davis’s essay on London’s minor theatres—have the look and feel of research “notes.” Of even more concern, however, are the unexamined positivist assumptions behind the authors’ use of what they term “raw data.” Because many Internet users presume the correctness of whatever they find on a website, the authors could profitably have devoted attention to the historiographical problem of interpreting evidence. While no one questions the value of archival data, the significance of that data cannot remain unproblematized. The question arises as to whether (or when) what is basically a classroom assignment ought...