Professional doctorate supervision: exploring student and supervisor experiences.

Area of Science:

• Doctoral Education
• Research Supervision
• Professional Doctorates

Background:

• Professional doctorates differ from PhDs in process, purpose, and outcomes.
• Supervision in professional doctorates may need to address research leadership in practice.
• Existing literature suggests complementary supervisory roles within practice settings.

Purpose of the Study:

• To explore research supervision processes and priorities for students and supervisors in a professional doctorate program.
• To understand student and supervisor perceptions and experiences of research supervision.
• To investigate the role of practice-based support in professional doctorate supervision.

Main Methods:

• An exploratory, descriptive pilot study.
• Data collected via student and supervisor workshops, observations, field notes, and one-to-one discussions.
• Qualitative data analysis of transcribed discussions and field notes.

Main Results:

• Students prioritized utilizing support networks within the professional doctorate program for professional issues.
• Contrary to expectations, students did not seek supervisors from their practice settings for leadership insights.
• Supervision discussions focused on program-internal support rather than external practice-based mentorship.

Conclusions:

• Professional doctorate students prefer internal program support networks for professional development.
• Supervision in professional doctorates may need to adapt to student needs for integrated professional and research support.
• The study highlights a divergence between expected and actual support-seeking behaviors in professional doctorate research supervision.