Perspectives on Motivation in PhD Education and Supervision

Abstract

Motivation is recognized to be a key aspect at all educational levels, including higher education. While several authors have analyzed the motives why graduate students decide to start a PhD, there is a lack of works that tackle the aspect of motivation during the PhD studies. In this work we aim at studying the aspect of motivation during the realization of the PhD studies, and how this is viewed from the students and their supervisors stand points. To this end, we designed two questionnaires, directed to the PhD students and supervisors, independently. The questionnaire for the students, which was sent in the form of an online survey, contained questions related to the factors for a successful PhD. The questionnaire for the supervisors, which was held in the form of short interviews, was focused on the importance of the role of the supervisor in the motivation of the PhD students. Results showed that PhD students considered motivation to be the most important factor for their success in their PhDs, followed by a good supervision, a detailed project planning and a research topic of interest. In the case of the supervisors, while the majority of them believed that their students were motivated, there was no consensus regarding whether or not they should have an active role to motivate their students. These results showed that although motivation can influence significantly the success of PhD students, there are not established methods to promote it.