ORIENTATIONS TO RESEARCH HIGHER
DEGREE SUPERVISION: THE
INTERRELATEDNESS OF BELIEFS ABOUT
SUPERVISION, RESEARCH, TEACHING
AND LEARNING
NOELA WINIFRED MURPHY
May 2004
ORIENTATIONS TO RESEARCH HIGHER
DEGREE SUPERVISION: THE
INTERRELATEDNESS OF BELIEFS ABOUT
SUPERVISION, RESEARCH, TEACHING
AND LEARNING
NOELA WINIFRED MURPHY
MEd
BA
Graduate Diploma In Education
Graduate Diploma in Reading
Diploma in Physical Education
Cert. TESL
A thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements of the degree of
Doctor of Philosophy within the Griffith Institute of Higher
Education, Griffith University
May 2004
ABSTRACT
This thesis aims to contribute to the understanding of research higher degree supervision and
thereby its enhancement. My study departs from the current emphasis on issues of practice to
offer a set of scholarly understandings embedded in the beliefs that supervisors and candidates
hold about supervision and closely related academic matters. It is aligned with the movement
over the past two decades towards concentrating on understanding why teachers and students
behave in particular ways, rather than describing what they do and how they do it.
I draw on the literature of research higher degree (RHD) supervision, the conceptual
framework of beliefs research and Gadamer’s concept of the hermeneutic circle to argue that
supervision is best understood as a plexus of closely related educational beliefs about research,
teaching, learning and supervision.
Research from this perspective acknowledges
supervision’s plural, multifunctional character and its holistic nature. The beliefs construct
recognises the powerful effect that individuals’ beliefs and attitudes have on the way they
define educational tasks, make related decisions and prefer to act.
Thirty-four participants from one engineering faculty were interviewed about their beliefs
about the four components of the supervision plexus. Entire transcripts were coded, using a
three-phase, inductive method of analysis incorporating constant-comparative techniques and
conceptual field principles, to reveal individuals’ integrated thinking about the whole process
of supervision. This method ensures that the findings remain embedded in the data and retain
the richness of individual experience.
I identified four different core tendencies to the plexus, based on two bipolar frames –
controlling/guiding and task-focussed/person-focussed kinds of beliefs. The result is four
global orientations to supervision: controlling/task-focussed, controlling/person-focussed,
guiding/task-focussed and guiding/person-focussed. Subcategories accommodate individuals
whose beliefs differ in specific aspects but whose focal beliefs fit the global group. Each
orientation is elaborated by an orientation belief profile – an integrated system of beliefs about
the aspects of the plexus that are common to the individuals in that category – so the profiles
describe the orientations as much as they describe the individuals in each category. The
beliefs in each profile are organised into six belief clusters and different dimensions of the
beliefs describe each orientation. To show the location, density and type of inter-linkages
among beliefs and belief clusters orientation webs were drawn. The four webs exhibit a high
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degree of interconnectedness among beliefs, confirming my contention of a supervision
plexus of co-dependent and logically interrelated components.
Research findings indicate that practitioners’ beliefs about teaching are central and powerful
in determining their supervisory goals and their predisposition towards particular pedagogical
approaches to achieving them.
With this advanced understanding of the pedagogy of
supervision, a case is built for viewing research higher degree supervision as a teaching
activity within the university, and positing its management as a ‘joint portfolio’ between the
teaching and learning centre and the research centre of the university.
Other findings are that controlling/task-focussed beliefs are generally favoured by RHD
candidates and that guiding/person-focussed beliefs more commonly describe the way
supervisors think about supervision. Although their strategic enactment may differ according
to circumstance, beliefs were found to be consistent across contexts. The supervisors’ role in
shaping candidates’ beliefs is seen to be diminished by the influence of candidates’ preexisting beliefs about teaching. The study establishes a variety of understandings about
supervision within this one engineering faculty, suggesting that pedagogical understandings
may be more powerful than disciplinary expectations and attitudes as determinants of
supervisory behaviour.
The view of RHD supervision discussed in this thesis builds on the earlier research in
meaningful ways that enhance our understanding of the process as a whole. The thesis
provides possibilities for linking that research with more fruitful and rewarding doctoral
experiences for supervisors and candidates.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Chapter One:
Unlikely Companions: Supervision and Beliefs
1
Chapter Two:
Frameworks for Improvement: The Literature of Supervision
14
Chapter Three:
Webs for Understanding: The Plexus and Belief Systems
69
Chapter Four:
The Context: Cultural and Professional Characteristics
123
Chapter Five:
Matters of Method
148
Chapter Six:
Findings: Orientations to Supervision
175
Chapter Seven:
Understanding Supervision through Beliefs Research
230
Chapter Eight:
Rethinking Research Higher Degree Supervision
280
References
318
Chapter
iv
LIST OF TABLES
Table 1.1:
Structure of the Thesis…………………………..…………………………………..…...13
Table 2.1:
Roles of Supervisors……...………………………..…………………………………….25
Table 2.2:
Desired Attributes of Supervisors of Quality and of Quality Supervision………………27
Table 2.3:
Selected Models of Supervision…..………………………………………..…..…...……53
Table 2.4:
Perspective-Centred Research on Supervision……………………………..……..……..57
Table 3.1:
Phenomenographic Studies in Higher Education: Learning…………....……………..…78
Table 3.2:
Phenomenographic Studies in Higher Education: Teaching……..…….….....….........…79
Table 3.3:
Phenomenographic Studies in Higher Education: Research………………..…................79
Table 3.4:
Phenomenographic Studies with Relevance to the Postgraduate Context…….….……...80
Table 3.5:
Phenomenographic Studies in Higher Education: Interrelational…………….………….81
Table 3.6:
Phenomenography and the Beliefs Approach: A Summary………..…………....……..106
Table 3.7:
Beliefs Studies in Higher Education…………….....................………….….………….111
Table 3.8:
Research Aims………………………………………......………………...……………121
Table 3.9:
Research Aims Aligned with Methods of Analysis and Evidence Required……….…..122
Table 4.1:
Characteristics of Disciplinary Groups…………………….…….……………...……...131
Table 4.2:
Completion Rates between Science-Based and Arts and Humanities-Based Subjects...141
Table 4.3:
Completion Rates (by 1999 for Students Beginning Studies in 1992)
for Selected Disciplines.……………………….……………….…….……….…..…....142
Table 5.1:
Interviewee Information..…………………………..………………….….……...….….150
Table 5.2:
Pseudonyms Given to Individuals in Each Dyad…...…………………………………..156
Table 5.3:
Supervisor Interview Protocol…………………………………………...……………..157
Table 5.4:
Candidate Interview Protocol…………………………….………….…...…………….158
Table 5.5:
Arrangement of Attributes, Dimension Beliefs/Constituent Beliefs, Belief Clusters
and Belief Profiles in Belief Systems and Orientations…………………………….…..167
Table 6.1:
Controlling and Guiding Assumptions of Learning………………….………………....178
Table 6.2:
Controlling and Guiding Beliefs in the RHD Situation………………………….……..179
Table 6.3:
Constituent Task-focussed/Person-focussed Beliefs About Supervision……………....180
Table 6.4:
Global Orientations To Supervision based on Two Macro Criteria………………..…..181
Table 6.5:
Belief Clusters and Range of Constituent Beliefs………………………………………182
Table 6.6:
Belief Profiles and Constituent Beliefs of Four Orientations to Supervision……..……183
Table 6.7:
Sub-categories of Orientations To Supervision based on Progression and Focus……...185
Table 6.8:
Individuals in Their Sub-categories………….…………………………………………187
Table 6.9:
Pseudonyms and Details of Supervisors and Candidates Profiled in Case Stories….….201
Table 6.10a: Supervisors’ Global Orientations To Supervision……….………….………….……....219
Table 6.10b: Supervisor Placements within Subcategories……………………………….……….....219
Table 6.11a: Candidates’ Global Orientations To Supervision……………………………………....220
Table 6.11b: Candidate Placements within Subcategories………….…………….………….……220
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Table 6.12a: Supervisor and Candidate Global Orientations To Supervision……………….…...…..221
Table 6.12b: Supervisor and Candidate Placement within Subcategories…………………………....221
Table 6.13:
Typical Candidate and Supervisor Profiles about Supervision..…………..………...….222
Table 6.14:
Supervisor/Candidate Dyads: Matches and Mismatches………….……..………….….223
Table 6.15:
Instances of Candidates Differing from their Supervisors in Broad Belief Clusters..….224
Table 7.1:
Pseudonyms for Individuals in Each Dyad………………….………..…………….…..232
Table 7.2
Links between Orientations and Supervisory Practice at Group Level….…..…………233
Table 7.3
Links between Individuals Beliefs and Ways of Practising – Some Examples…….….234
Table 7.4:
Reflections Indicating A New Field of Thought…………..………………...………….256
Table 7.5:
Complete Matches and Length of Candidature………..……………………….………268
Table 7.6:
Length of Candidature and Orientation……………..……………………………..…...272
Table 7.7:
Supervisor Experience and Orientation………..……………………………………….274
Table 8.1:
A Framework of Supervision: Global Orientations and Subcategories…...……………288
Table 8.2:
Perspective-Centred Investigations of Supervision……………..…………………...…289
Table 8.3a:
Orientations and Pedagogies of Supervision…………………………………..…...…..290
Table 8.3b
Details of Studies Closely Linked with the Current Investigation……………..…...….290
Table 8.3c:
Orientations and Pedagogies Identified by Others Fit within the
Orientations to Supervision Identified in this Thesis………………………………..….290
Table 8.4a:
Examples of Parallel and Logical Beliefs on the Task-focussed/Person-focussed
Macro Descriptor for Each Orientation……………………………………………...…294
Table 8.4b
Examples of Parallel and Logical Beliefs on the Controlling/Guiding Macro
Descriptor for Each Orientation………………………………………..…………….…294
Table
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LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1.1:
Relationship between Supervision and Beliefs……………………………………...….…3
Figure 1.2:
Overview of Chapter One…………………………....……………………………………4
Figure 2.1:
Overview of Chapter Two……………………...……………..…………..……………..16
Figure 2.2:
Systems Model of Supervision………………...………...……………..………………..24
Figure 2.3:
Positive and Negative Outcomes of PhD Study………………..……..…………………48
Figure 2.4:
A Phenomenon, Supervision, from a Second-order Perspective………...…..…………..56
Figure 3.1:
Overview of Chapter Three…………………..........…...........……....…………………..71
Figure 3.2
The Supervision Plexus: A Web of Interconnecting Beliefs..….…………………….….72
Figure 3.3:
‘Proof’ of the Supervision Plexus..………………….….…………..………..…………..73
Figure 3.4
A Hermeneutic Understanding of Supervision: The Supervision Plexus
as a Web of Interconnecting Beliefs.…………………………………………………….76
Figure 3.5:
Constraints on Free Translation of Beliefs into Action.……….…………..….......……..93
Figure 3.6:
Individual’s Webs of Belief Clusters Form Different Orientations to Supervision…….103
Figure 4.1:
Overview of Chapter Four…………...…………………………………....……...….....125
Figure 4.2:
Disciplinary Influences on Engineering Doctoral Experience ………………….….…..136
Figure 5.1
Overview of Chapter Five……………………………………….………….…....……..149
Figure 6.1:
Overview of Chapter Six……………………………………….……....………..……..177
Figure 6.2
Web Of Beliefs Constituting Orientation 1……...……………….……………..……...188
Figure 6.3
Web Of Beliefs Constituting Orientation 4…...………………...………………..…….189
Figure 6.4
Web Of Beliefs Constituting Orientation 2...………………...…………………..…….190
Figure 6.5
Web Of Beliefs Constituting Orientation 3……..………….……………………......…191
Figure 6.6:
Chief Functions and Roles Preferred in Orientation 1…………….……...………...…..198
Figure 6.7:
Chief Functions and Roles Preferred in Orientation 2………….…………………...….198
Figure 6.8:
Chief Functions and Roles Preferred in Orientation 3………….…………………....…199
Figure 6.9:
Chief Functions and Roles Preferred in Orientation 4……….……………………....…199
Figure 7.1:
Overview of Chapter Seven..………………..…………………………………….……231
Figure 7.2:
Participants’ Interpretation of Context During Interviews……………….………...…..242
Figure 7.3:
Evolution of Candidates’ Beliefs: A Possible Explanation………....…………….........265
Figure 8.1:
An Overview of Chapter Eight……………...……………………………………...…..282
Figure 8.2:
The Supervision Plexus in a Hermeneutic Circle…………………………………...….284
Figure 8.3:
Reciprocity of Beliefs about Behaviour and Goals in Association with the Four
Orientations to Supervision.……………….…..…….………….…………..…………..295
Figure
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ABBREVIATIONS
RHD
Research higher degree
NTU
Nanyang Technological University
EEE
School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering
DVC
Deputy Vice Chancellor
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
A number of people have contributed to the development of this thesis and supported me in
my efforts. First, I sincerely thank my supervisors, Linda Conrad and John Bain, who always
made themselves available whenever I was able to schedule visits to the Griffith University
campus, sometimes at very short notice.
I thank them for their intellectual input, their
willingness to share their expertise and for teaching me so much. With their insights and
challenges to my thinking, our discussions were always thought-provoking and stimulating
and invaluable in shaping the study.
I wish to acknowledge the support of the Dean of EEE, Professor Er Meng Hwa, throughout
the project. The contributions to this study from my colleagues in the School of Electrical and
Electronic Engineering, Nanyang Technological University and their PhD candidates are most
appreciated. Without their generosity and willingness to share their ideas with me, this
research would not have been possible. Interviewing each of them was a personally enriching
experience.
Finally, I wish to thank my family for their patience and understanding. My sons, Scott and
Max, have enjoyed many adventures and endured their own hardships during the course of my
study, but their loving support has been tremendous and constant. And to my husband, Jim, I
convey my deepest appreciation for his belief in me and for his steadfast, loving
encouragement. Sharing a life with Jim is never dull but an intellectually stimulating journey
and an exciting adventure.
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STATEMENT OF ORIGINALITY
This thesis describes original research undertaken in the Griffith Institute of Higher
Education, Griffith University. This work has not previously been submitted for a degree or
diploma in any university. To the best of my knowledge and belief, the thesis contains no
material previously published or written by another person except where due reference is
made in the thesis itself.
Signed:
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