Insights from a survey 'comments' section: extending research on doctoral well-being
| Autor: | Nathan C. Hall, Lynn McAlpine, Anna Sverdlik |
|---|---|
| Rok vydání: | 2021 |
| Předmět: |
050103 clinical psychology
Medical education 05 social sciences Section (typography) 050301 education Context (language use) medicine.disease Education Impostor syndrome Well-being Situated medicine 0501 psychology and cognitive sciences Attrition Thematic analysis Psychology 0503 education Qualitative research |
| Zdroj: | Studies in Graduate and Postdoctoral Education. 12:262-282 |
| ISSN: | 2398-4686 |
| DOI: | 10.1108/sgpe-06-2020-0035 |
| Popis: | Purpose The purpose of this study is to better understand the declines in doctoral students’ mental and physical health while pursuing their doctoral degrees, by revealing the major themes of students’ voluntary comments following a survey that primed students to reflect on these topics. Design/methodology/approach The present study used qualitative thematic analysis to uncover themes in doctoral students’ voluntary comments on a large-scale, web-based survey of graduate students’ motivation and well-being. Findings A thematic analysis revealed six major emerging themes: timing in the degree process, work-life balance, health/well-being changes, impostor syndrome, the supervisor and hopelessness. Research limitations/implications The themes uncovered in the present study contribute to the literature by highlighting important underexplored topics (e.g. timing in the degree process, hopelessness) in doctoral education research and they are discussed and situated in the context of existing literature. Practical implications Implications for doctoral supervisors and departments are discussed. Social implications The present study highlights some pressing concerns among doctoral students, as articulated by the students themselves and can contribute to the betterment of doctoral education, thereby reducing attrition, improving the experiences of doctoral students and possibly affording more candidates to achieve a doctoral degree. Originality/value The present study makes the above-mentioned contributions by taking a novel approach and analyzing doctoral students’ voluntary comments (n = 607) on a large-scale, web-based survey. Thus, while some of the themes were primed by the survey itself, the data represent issues/concerns that students perceived as important enough to comment about after already having completed a lengthy questionnaire. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
| Externí odkaz: |
|