The written doctoral thesis isn’t the only way for students and advisers to “explain and defend all new knowledge.”
The form of a PhD is settled in Australia, with the AQF stating it is about “significant and original research outcomes.” But this does not necessarily cover the processes that go to make a PhD.
Oksana Razoumova and Neil Hooley (Victoria U) argue “dialogue” is and should be a “a major process” to expand the purpose of a thesis, “whereby the philosophy of knowledge opens up new vistas of learning and meaning for supervisors and candidates alike.”
They asked six “experienced professors” at different Australian and UK universities in education and social science about their experience of supervision and thinking on change
Key insights included:
- “While some view the PhD journey as an individual pursuit guided by a mentor towards independent thinking, others see it as a continuous and cyclic process with an emphasis on connecting ideas across generations of researchers”
- Different types of PhD programmes (say professional doctorates) produce different types of knowledge and “encourage alternative and innovative ways to delve into knowledge outcomes”
- The research process changes the project, “quality doctorate processes requires an on-going dialogue between supervisors, candidates, literature and data throughout”
- Supervisors have an “arsenal” of ways to help student read “:academically and critically.” It is hard to improve the quality of writing if they don’t.
- Candidates benefit from an advisory panel of colleagues and supervisors (not external assessors) established six months before submission to be “a dialogical and oral component within the doctorial process.”
The takeout: “all graduates cannot be expected to be wise on the basis of a formal research study, but should have an appreciation of knowledge, learning and acting appropriately and purposively as they contribute to social life. Research should impact on researchers, as well as the research topic.
“This notion of doctorate allows for a wide range of approaches to be adopted, while maintaining a broad ethos of pursuing original knowledge and perspectives and their philosophical significance and location.”
