Supervision and the question of research expertise

re: Supervision and the question of research expertise

Tama — Mon, 06 Nov 2006 08:26:43 GMT

Michael,

What was the reference for the article by the History Prof you mentioned?

- Tama

re: Supervision and the question of research expertise

Krys.Haq — Mon, 06 Nov 2006 09:05:03 GMT

While I agree that being supervised by someone whose research speciality is outside the topic of the PhD will foster the student's independence, too great a gap between supervisors expertise and students research can cause significant problems. I'm thinking particulary of situations where the research has a strong technical component, requires specialist equipment etc. as is common in the sciences. Also I can imagine difficulties when a cross disciplinary thesis branches into areas that have a methodology that the supervisor is completely unfamiliar with.

re: Supervision and the question of research expertise

Mahlon — Mon, 06 Nov 2006 15:33:09 GMT

First thanks for the original post.

Here is my two cents. I read some articles about the role of the supervisor as I started on this PhD journey. Initially I thought there would be a more hands on approach on guiding the research. What I soon found out was that it was up to me, I was accountable - not him. If I ran into a roadblock, it was up to me to figure out how to get over it, go around it, or simply put my mind to it and solve it. It was up to me to drive my research, my time, how often I came to campus. I come to believe these regular situations are part of the learning experience. I might be fortunate - I get along well with my supervisor. BUT - if there is a problem I think I can't solve...if I feel lost...he will watch and hope I have grown enough to get through the uncertainty. It is part of the experience...frustraing at times, but I have learned alot about myself, my fears, strengths and weaknesses. I have also learned my area of research...after all is done...this is my journey...but it is nice to know my supervisor is there to give me a nudge, or point me in a direction for further exploration when needed.

re: Supervision and the question of research expertise

Michael.Azariadis — Thu, 09 Nov 2006 04:35:21 GMT

Hey Tama,
The paper that I was refering to came from the ANU, it was presented at a workshop for thesis supervisors on Supervising Research Students (year unknown but organised by the Centre for Educational Development and Academic Methods and their Grad School). The Presenter was Professor Hank Nelson entitled 'A Short Thesis on Supervision'.
http://dspace.anu.edu.au/bitstream/1885/41546/1/GS96_2.pdf

re: Supervision and the question of research expertise

Michael.Azariadis — Thu, 09 Nov 2006 04:56:29 GMT

One of the most important realisations any PhD comes to (and here I will confess I speak only from the perspective of someone who has a background in the social sciences) is that we are the only ones who can breath life into our thesis. We bring to the process an idea, we develop and nurture it, we think creatively and explore this idea and persevere when things go wrong. A supervisor can't and shouldn't do these things. To me, a supervisor is a person to whom you can propose an action or an idea and receive a recommendation on its validity.

re: Supervision and the question of research expertise

robyn.owens — Thu, 09 Nov 2006 13:44:46 GMT

I did my doctorate in mathematics at Oxford. When I arrived there my supervisor gave me a journal paper which, at the end, posed an open problem: was a particular space of functions complete? At that time no one knew. "Here", he said. "You can do this for your doctorate."

Well I thought this would be pretty straightforward so off I went. I used to see him once a week, and after a while I began to feel very frustrated with our meetings; I was getting no real help with this problem and didn't even know where to start looking for the answer. We seemed to talk about everything except mathematics at these meetings!

Eventually I summoned up the courage to ask him outright how I was going to solve it. Here's what he said:

"There are two kinds of supervisors: those who know how to solve the particular problem they give their students, and those who don't. With the former, when the student gets the doctorate everyone wonders who did the work. With the latter, if the student gets the doctorate then everyone knows who solved the problem. I belong to the latter category!"

Well, I eventually solved the problem! The strategy involved learning lots myself, finding other people (staff and fellow students) who knew about the area and getting ideas from them, and then one day summoning up the psychological courage to think it through. It was tough, but really worth it. When you have successfully completed a PhD you know you have really accomplished something that very few other people can do, and you have learnt a lot about yourself and your own resilience along the way. Good luck in your journey!