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Coping with contradictions : doctoral student experiences at a Canadian research university

University of British Columbia

This study examines the experiences of doctoral students at a Canadian research university in four selected departments: Physics, Chemical Engineering, History, and Education. In the context of shifting expectations concerning the role of higher education in Canada, doctoral students operate on the boundaries of the academic professions. Because the PhD degree acts as certification for membership in those professions, an important aspect of doctoral education is professional socialization. A basic assumption underlying this research is that discipline cultures have a significant effect on the experiences of doctoral students, and research into doctoral studies is enriched by studies that examine doctoral student experiences across a variety of disciplines. At the outset of the research, the concepts of professionalism, socialization, and culture were key sensitizing concepts. As the research progressed, the importance of the related concepts of expertise, autonomy, and isolation became apparent. Ethnographic techniques such as ethnographic interviews and participant observation are employed for exploring students' understandings and interpretations of their experiences. The study examines the ways students across the departments understand and experience departmental enforcement of standards to judge their professional expertise. It also relates students' belief in individual autonomy as researchers to the nature of the discipline in which they are located. Their common sense of isolation is explained in the context of a fragile student culture. The study shows how this isolation works to obscure fundamental contradictions that become apparent in the various departments' enforcement of professional standards and the differing degrees to which students find it important to assert individual autonomy. The promise of professional status and authority discourages PhD students from developing a sustained critique of important elements of their doctoral education such as the the notion of expertise upon which academic professions derive their status and authority. Although students' ability to cope with contradictions is important professional training, this study argues it diminishes their critical commitments in a wider public culture. Reform of the PhD degree is needed that minimizes the role of doctoral education as training for professional expertise, and fosters students' commitments as social critics.

Thesis/Dissertation

application/pdf

2009-04-03

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http://hdl.handle.net/2429/6794

Educational Studies

University of British Columbia

UBCV

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