An Analysis of PhD Students' Views on the Competencies of their Supervisors

Abstract

This study aims to examine the opinions of PhD students who are in their dissertation-writing stage, on their supervisors' "core competency", "technical competency" and "managerial competency". Designed as a case study, it employs a qualitative research methodology. The sample of the study consists of 15 PhD students determined by using the criterion sampling method, which is one of the purposive sampling methods. The data were collected through a semi-structured interview form. The obtained data were analyzed through content analysis. The findings revealed that some of the PhD students found their supervisors inadequate in terms of technical, managerial and core competencies while some of them had positive opinions on the competencies of their supervisors. PhD students learn about how supervising processes work and compare themselves to their peers by communicating with each other directly and through social media. The study is original and important since it makes a significant contribution to revealing the effectiveness of PhD supervision.