Studies in Graduate and Postdoctoral Education最新文献

{"title":"Beyond survey measures: exploring international male graduate students’ sense of belonging in electrical engineering","authors":"A. Antonio, Chanwoong Baek","doi":"10.1108/sgpe-02-2021-0015","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1108/sgpe-02-2021-0015","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000Purpose\u0000Although a student’s sense of belonging is a key factor of persistence in higher education, research on international students’ belonging tends to rely on domain-agnostic survey measures and promote interpretations that focus mainly on social integration and adjustment. This paper aims to examine how male international graduate students in engineering understand and describe their sense of belonging and how they perceive its development at their institution.\u0000\u0000\u0000Design/methodology/approach\u0000The authors conducted in-depth interviews with 12 male electrical engineering doctoral students at a selective research university in the USA. This interpretive approach allowed students to articulate their subjective understanding of belonging within a specific disciplinary context.\u0000\u0000\u0000Findings\u0000Contrary to the broad notion that the social domain is the primary locus of students’ sense of belonging, participants emphasized the academic domain when referring to their struggles with, and attempts to develop, a sense of belonging. Results suggest that the meritocratic culture of engineering education may influence students to prioritize the academic domain when conceptualizing and developing their belonging. Moreover, the strong academic motivation endemic to international students pursuing graduate education at a top American research university intensified this mechanism.\u0000\u0000\u0000Originality/value\u0000This study argues that universities seeking to enhance international graduate students’ sense of belonging can be more intentional in providing opportunities for students to establish positive academic identities. Furthermore, addressing students’ non-academic identity and marginalization as relevant and essential topics in engineering will expand their understanding of what means to belong.\u0000","PeriodicalId":42038,"journal":{"name":"Studies in Graduate and Postdoctoral Education","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.1,"publicationDate":"2021-11-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46280305","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"“I didn’t want to be a troublemaker” – doctoral students’ experiences of change in supervisory arrangements","authors":"Manuela Schmidt, Erika Hansson","doi":"10.1108/sgpe-02-2021-0011","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1108/sgpe-02-2021-0011","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000Purpose\u0000During the lengthy process of PhD studies, supervisory changes commonly occur for several different reasons, but their most frequent trigger is a poor supervisory relationship. Even though a change in supervisors is a formal bureaucratic process and not least the students’ rights, in practice it can be experienced as challenging. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to explore how doctoral students experience a change in supervisory arrangements.\u0000\u0000\u0000Design/methodology/approach\u0000This study highlights the voices of 19 doctoral students who experienced at least one supervisory change during their doctoral studies.\u0000\u0000\u0000Findings\u0000The findings were structured chronologically, revealing the students’ experiences prior, during and after the changes. In total, 12 main themes were identified. Most of the interviewed students experienced the long decision-making processes as stressful, difficult and exhausting, sometimes causing a lack of mental well-being. However, once the change was complete, they felt renewed, energized and capable of continuing with their studies. It was common to go through more than one change in supervisory arrangements. Further, the students described both the advantages of making a change yet also the long-lasting consequences of this change that could affect them long after they had completed their PhD programs.\u0000\u0000\u0000Originality/value\u0000The study fulfills an identified need to investigate the understudied perspective of doctoral students in the context of change in supervisory arrangements. A change in the academic culture is needed to make any changes in supervisory arrangements more acceptable thus making PhD studies more sustainable.\u0000","PeriodicalId":42038,"journal":{"name":"Studies in Graduate and Postdoctoral Education","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.1,"publicationDate":"2021-10-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43658549","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Leveraging critical friendship to navigate doctoral student role transitions","authors":"K. Gregory, Amanda K. Burbage","doi":"10.1108/sgpe-01-2021-0002","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1108/sgpe-01-2021-0002","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000Purpose\u0000The purpose of this study is to investigate the influence of critical friendship on a first- and last-year doctoral student’s novice and expert mindsets during role transitions. Doctoral students are challenged to navigate role transitions during their academic programs. Experiences in research expectations, academy acculturation and work-life balance, may impact doctoral students’ novice-expert mindsets and contribute to the costly problem of attrition. Universities offer generic doctoral support, but few support sources address the long-term self-directed nature of self-study.\u0000\u0000\u0000Design/methodology/approach\u0000The authors participated in a collaborative self-study over a 30-month period. The authors collected 35 personal shared journal entries and 12 recorded and transcribed discussions. The authors conducted a constant comparative analysis of the data, and individually and collaboratively coded the data for initial and focused codes to construct themes.\u0000\u0000\u0000Findings\u0000The critical friendship provided a safe space to explore the doctoral experiences and novice-expert mindsets, which the authors were not fully able to do with programmatic support alone. The authors identified nine specific strategies that positively impacted the novice-expert mindsets during the following role transitions: professional to student, student to graduate and graduate to professional.\u0000\u0000\u0000Originality/value\u0000While researchers have identified strategies and models for doctoral student support targeting specific milestones, this study identified strategies to support doctoral students’ novice-expert mindsets during role transitions. These strategies may benefit other graduate students, as well as faculty and program directors, as they work to support student completion.\u0000","PeriodicalId":42038,"journal":{"name":"Studies in Graduate and Postdoctoral Education","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.1,"publicationDate":"2021-09-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47321302","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Promoting psychological well-being in doctoral students: a qualitative study adopting a positive psychology perspective","authors":"P. Jackman, Kelly Sisson","doi":"10.1108/sgpe-11-2020-0073","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1108/sgpe-11-2020-0073","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000Purpose\u0000Concerns about psychological well-being (PWB) in doctoral students have grown in recent years. The purpose of this study was to explore qualitatively doctoral students’ perceptions of factors that promoted their PWB during the doctoral journey.\u0000\u0000\u0000Design/methodology/approach\u0000Nine recent doctoral graduates at an English university participated in the study. Participants recalled their experience and PWB during the doctoral journey via a life grid and semi-structured interview. The life grids were visually inspected to identify high points in PWB whilst the interview data were analysed thematically.\u0000\u0000\u0000Findings\u0000The analysis produced the following seven themes representing factors that participants described during periods of better PWB: accomplishments; intrinsic rewards; self-efficacy; comprehension and understanding; supervisor support; wider support network; and self-care and lifestyle.\u0000\u0000\u0000Originality/value\u0000By adopting a positive psychology approach and exploring qualitatively factors that promoted PWB in doctoral students, this study offers an alternative perspective to research on doctoral student well-being, which has largely adopted a pathological focus. As such, the study demonstrates the utility of approaching research on doctoral students’ PWB from a positive psychology perspective. Findings are discussed in relation to the extant literature, and future directions for research are outlined.\u0000","PeriodicalId":42038,"journal":{"name":"Studies in Graduate and Postdoctoral Education","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.1,"publicationDate":"2021-09-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42443400","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Methodological becoming: Doctoral students’ perceptions of their methodological journeys","authors":"T. Clark","doi":"10.1108/SGPE-12-2020-0076","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1108/SGPE-12-2020-0076","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000Purpose\u0000The purpose of this paper is to investigate and illustrate the potential relationships between doctoral students’ life histories and educational experiences and their methodological understanding and assumptions.\u0000\u0000\u0000Design/methodology/approach\u0000The qualitative research design consisted of life-history interviews with nine doctoral researchers in the UK in disciplines relating to the social sciences.\u0000\u0000\u0000Findings\u0000The study indicated that the students’ methodological assumptions may be understood as a socially constructed product of their life histories and academic experiences. Experiences of postgraduate research training were presented as having the potential to unlock the methodological consciousness required to re-frame these experiences, improve understanding and resolve methodological conflict.\u0000\u0000\u0000Originality/value\u0000This paper provides an insight into the complex nature of the development of methodological understanding and a provocation for considering methodological becoming through the lens of socialisation. This may have utility for both doctoral students and educators.\u0000","PeriodicalId":42038,"journal":{"name":"Studies in Graduate and Postdoctoral Education","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.1,"publicationDate":"2021-08-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45053295","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Postdoctoral research training and the attainment of faculty careers in social science and STEM fields in the United States","authors":"Yanbing Wang, Joyce B. Main","doi":"10.1108/sgpe-04-2020-0025","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1108/sgpe-04-2020-0025","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000Purpose\u0000While postdoctoral research (postdoc) training is a common step toward academic careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields, the role of postdoc training in social sciences is less clear. An increasing number of social science PhDs are pursuing postdocs. This paper aims to identify factors associated with participation in postdoc training and examines the relationship between postdoc training and subsequent career outcomes, including attainment of tenure-track faculty positions and early career salaries.\u0000\u0000\u0000Design/methodology/approach\u0000Using data from the National Science Foundation Survey of Earned Doctorates and Survey of Doctorate Recipients, this study applies propensity score matching, regression and decomposition analyses to identify the role of postdoc training on the employment outcomes of PhDs in the social science and STEM fields.\u0000\u0000\u0000Findings\u0000Results from the regression analyses indicate that participation in postdoc training is associated with greater PhD research experience, higher departmental research ranking and departmental job placement norms. When the postdocs and non-postdocs groups are balanced on observable characteristics, postdoc training is associated with a higher likelihood of attaining tenure-track faculty positions 7 to 9 years after PhD completion. The salaries of social science tenure-track faculty with postdoc experience eventually surpass the salaries of non-postdoc PhDs, primarily via placement at institutions that offer relatively higher salaries. This pattern, however, does not apply to STEM PhDs.\u0000\u0000\u0000Originality/value\u0000This study leverages comprehensive, nationally representative data to investigate the role of postdoc training in the career outcomes of social sciences PhDs, in comparison to STEM PhDs. Research findings suggest that for social sciences PhDs interested in academic careers, postdoc training can contribute to the attainment of tenure-track faculty positions and toward earning relatively higher salaries over time. Research findings provide prospective and current PhDs with information helpful in career planning and decision-making. Academic institutions, administrators, faculty and stakeholders can apply these research findings toward developing programs and interventions to provide doctoral students with career guidance and greater career transparency.\u0000","PeriodicalId":42038,"journal":{"name":"Studies in Graduate and Postdoctoral Education","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.1,"publicationDate":"2021-08-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46635260","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Doctoral writing: learning to write and give feedback across cultures","authors":"S. Carter, Qiyu Sun, Farrah Jabeen","doi":"10.1108/sgpe-07-2020-0054","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1108/sgpe-07-2020-0054","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000Purpose\u0000This study aims to broaches several endemic challenges for academics who support doctoral writing: writers are emotionally protective of their own writing; writing a thesis in English as a second language is a challenging, complex task; and advising across cultures is delicate. Giving constructive feedback kindly, but with the rigour needed to raise writing quality can seem daunting. Addressing those issues, the authors offer a novel way of working with writing feedback across cultures.\u0000\u0000\u0000Design/methodology/approach\u0000The case study research team of two candidates and one supervisor stumbled onto an effective way of working across cultural and institutional difference. What began as advisory feedback on doctoral writing became an effective collaborative analysis of prose meaning-making. The authors reflected separately and collectively on how this happened, analysed reflections and this narrative inquiry approach led to theories of use to writing feedback practice.\u0000\u0000\u0000Findings\u0000The authors cross between theory and praxis, showing that advisors and supervisors can create Bhabha’s post-colonial third space (a promising social space that sits between cultures, beyond hierarchies, where new ways of thinking can be collaboratively generated) as a working environment for international doctoral writing feedback. Within this zone, Brechtian alienation, a theory from theatre practice, is applied to prompt emotional detachment that enables focus on writing clearly in academic English.\u0000\u0000\u0000Research limitations/implications\u0000Arguably the writing feedback session the authors described remains bound by the generic expectations of a western education system. The study is exegetical, humanities reading of practice, rather than a social science gathering of empirical data. Yet the humanities approach suits the point that a change of language, attitude and theory can give positive leverage with doctoral writing feedback.\u0000\u0000\u0000Practical implications\u0000The authors provide a novel practical method of supporting international doctoral candidates’ writing with feedback across cultures. It entails attracting the writers’ interest in theory and persuading them, via theory, to look objectively and freshly at their own writing. Also backed by theory, a theoretical cross-cultural space allows for discussion about differences and similarities. Detachment from proprietorial emotions and cross-cultural openness enables productive work amongst the mechanics of clear academic English text.\u0000\u0000\u0000Originality/value\u0000Underpinned by sociocultural and metacognitive approaches to learning, reflection from student and supervisor perspectives (the data), and oriented by theory, the authors propose another strategy for supporting doctoral writing across cultures. The authors demonstrate a third space approach for writing feedback across cultures, showing how to operationalise theory.\u0000","PeriodicalId":42038,"journal":{"name":"Studies in Graduate and Postdoctoral Education","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.1,"publicationDate":"2021-08-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44644618","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Professional learning and development framework for postdoctoral scholars","authors":"L. Nowell, Swati Dhingra, Natasha A. Kenny, M. Jacobsen, P. Pexman","doi":"10.1108/SGPE-10-2020-0067","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1108/SGPE-10-2020-0067","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000Purpose\u0000Many postdoctoral scholars are seeking professional learning and development (PLD) opportunities to prepare for diverse careers, roles and responsibilities. This paper aims to develop an evidence-informed framework for PLD of postdoctoral scholars that speaks to these changing career paths.\u0000\u0000\u0000Design/methodology/approach\u0000This paper used an integrated knowledge translation approach to synthesize and extend previous work on postdoctoral scholars’ PLD. The authors engaged in consultations with key stakeholders and synthesized findings from literature reviews, surveys and semi-structured interviews to create a framework for PLD.\u0000\u0000\u0000Findings\u0000The PLD framework consists of four major domains, namely, professional socialization; professional skills; academic development; and personal effectiveness. The 4 major domains are subdivided into 16 subdomains that represent the various skills and competencies that postdoctoral scholars can build throughout their postdoctoral fellowships.\u0000\u0000\u0000Originality/value\u0000The framework can be used to support postdoctoral scholars, postdoctoral supervisors and higher education institutions in developing high quality, evidence-informed PLD plans to meet the diverse career needs of postdoctoral scholars.\u0000","PeriodicalId":42038,"journal":{"name":"Studies in Graduate and Postdoctoral Education","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.1,"publicationDate":"2021-07-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41968730","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Leaving academia: why do doctoral graduates take up non-academic jobs and to what extent are they prepared?","authors":"Shuhua Chen","doi":"10.1108/sgpe-08-2020-0057","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1108/sgpe-08-2020-0057","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000Purpose\u0000An increasing number of doctoral graduates are seeking non-academic employment. While statistics have revealed multiple aspects regarding the non-academic employment they hold, there is insufficient documentation of what has led them to leave academia and to what extent they are prepared for non-academic positions. This paper aims to address this gap and reports on five Chinese doctoral graduates’ reflections on their change in career choices.\u0000\u0000\u0000Design/methodology/approach\u0000This study is exploratory and follows the approach of qualitative multi-case studies. The data includes in-depth interviews with five Chinese doctoral graduates and their responses to a survey. The paper applies a theoretical perspective drawing from protean career and boundaryless career theories, focusing on the participants’ agency in managing career choices and their meaning making of career decision-making.\u0000\u0000\u0000Findings\u0000The study has found that, besides the factors mentioned in the literature, such as lack of academic positions, pressure related to academic work and lack of career planning, some participants were directed by their intrinsic values, and agency plays an important role in their career preparation.\u0000\u0000\u0000Practical implications\u0000The study makes recommendations on university career guidance for doctoral students.\u0000\u0000\u0000Originality/value\u0000This paper documents why and how doctoral students change their career choices, which have not been sufficiently documented in the literature. As well, the theoretical perspective used provides an innovative way to interpret doctoral students' career decision-making.\u0000","PeriodicalId":42038,"journal":{"name":"Studies in Graduate and Postdoctoral Education","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.1,"publicationDate":"2021-06-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45782567","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Role strain: a duo-ethnography of fathers in online doctoral education in the United States","authors":"John McAvoy, Russell S. Thacker","doi":"10.1108/sgpe-03-2020-0020","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1108/sgpe-03-2020-0020","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000Purpose\u0000Within the USA, current trends in higher education show more women than men achieving graduate degrees. Among the potential reasons for this disparity is that fathers are reporting challenges in balancing their additional responsibilities while increasing their housework and childcare investment. Many fathers are turning to online graduate education to more effectively balance home and school responsibilities. However, limited portrayals of fathers' experiences in online education exist.\u0000\u0000\u0000Design/methodology/approach\u0000In this duoethnography of two online doctoral student fathers, the authors add to the limited literature on both fathers and online students in navigating home, school and work responsibilities. The authors use Goode’s role strain theory to examine the challenges to achieving a balance between each sphere of responsibility and explore strategies for managing these tensions.\u0000\u0000\u0000Findings\u0000The authors discuss the need for ongoing flexibility and change, the process of navigating feelings of guilt and self-doubt and the ability to engage in daily role bargains. They argue that online education is generally not a panacea for easing role conflict and find that integration is an effective strategy to aid online students' persistence in their programs.\u0000\u0000\u0000Practical implications\u0000The authors conclude with policy and practice recommendations for future online doctoral student fathers and doctoral program designers.\u0000\u0000\u0000Originality/value\u0000Little research has been conducted from the online doctoral student father lens. This research fills in this gap and lends a voice to fathers who are navigating the doctoral journey.\u0000","PeriodicalId":42038,"journal":{"name":"Studies in Graduate and Postdoctoral Education","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.1,"publicationDate":"2021-06-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48227660","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}