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Hello Terry, I take your point. Although it must be said that all academics have their own particular research interests. The ways in which a supervisor has engaged in research and their own research interests will no doubt influence the work of their PhDs. The point of selecting a PhD supervisor is to think about to what extent their own research and previous work is of interest to your own. Although along with the supervisory team I do agree that a 'competent, evidence-based professional > best -practice processes in PhD supervision' is required. This then may work as a counter-weight to the inevitable influence of supervisors (to a greater or lesser extent), their own research interests and agendas and the methods they use. I guess it's a question of how much influence the supervisors' own working methods have on a PhD and to what extent this then leads to the research student becoming blinkered in their approach to their own research and research supervision. Upon reflection, I can see the influence of my supervisor within my thesis, but I also see that I've engaged with theories and methods that were not evident in the work of my supervisors. A question of the extent and implications perhaps. Best, James. Doctoral Researcher | Design Research Centre School of Design | Kingston University London Tel: +44 (0) 77 241 91 667 Blog: http://www.designerlytools.blogspot.co.uk/ Site: www.industrialdesignresearch.com > Date: Thu, 21 Jun 2012 18:00:41 +0800 > From: [log in to unmask] > Subject: Re: Responsibility and PhD Supervision > To: [log in to unmask] > > Hi James, > > Sounds like you had good supervision experiences. > > From observation though there's a whole bunch of supervision problems occur > as a result of new PhD supervisors emulating the conditions of their own > PhD. For example, supervisors whose own PhD used ethnographic methods tend > to assume that all PhDs require ethnographic methods... > > Another group of problems occurs from PhD supervisors 'going beyond the call > of duty'... > > We seem to need something more like 'competent, evidence-based professional > best -practice processes in PhD supervision' . > > Some universities are trying to do this by moving a lot of the supervision > input onto online research training units that are assessed. Other > strategies for improving supervision outcomes seem to be through the use of > standard research protocols for PhD students to follow. > > Both of the latter strategies help reduce idiosyncratic and potentially > unhelpful aspects of supervision, whilst helping set a minimum level for > PhD candidates' competencies in research practices. > > Best wishes, > Terry > == > Dr Terence Love, FDRS, AMIMechE > School of Design and Art, Curtin University, Western Australia > Researcher, Social Program Evaluation Research Centre, Psychology and Social > Science, > Researcher, Sellenger Centre for Justice and Law, > Edith Cowan University, Western Australia > Honorary Fellow, IEED, Management School, Lancaster University, UK > PO Box 226, Quinns Rocks, Western Australia 6030 > [log in to unmask] +61 (0)4 3497 5848 > == > > > I was lucky enough to have a supervisor who continually went above and > beyond the call to be as sure ...This has indeed instilled a sense of how to > conduct the supervision of a PhD (in me) that I will try to emulate as I > move through a career in academia. ... that experience that will, in part, > inform how I (others?) handle my (their?) own supervision. > >