Promoting doctoral students' research self-efficacy: combining academic guidance with autonomy support

Abstract

A diverse sample of doctoral students completed an on-line questionnaire assessing their supervisors' academic, personal and autonomy support and their research selfefficacy. The more task-related help and personal support students received, the more positively they evaluated their supervision. The degree to which supervisors encouraged students to think and act autonomously (autonomy support) was not uniquely associated with students' supervision satisfaction but predicted greater research self-efficacy. A combination of high levels of autonomy and academic support was associated with the highest levels of research self-efficacy, whereas when greater levels of personal support were accompanied by low levels of autonomy support, students reported lower research self-efficacy. These results indicate that effective doctoral supervision involves supporting students to voice and act on their own ideas while simultaneously providing guidance on how to complete research tasks.

Dropout intentions in PhD studies: A comprehensive model based on interpersonal relationships and motivational resources

“…The present study extends the few attempts to understand PhD persistence through SDT (Overall, Deane & Peterson, 2011;Losier, 1994) by assessing the quality of support for psychological needs provided by certain significant sources that are most likely to be present in the academic social context and liable to shape the doctoral experience: advisors, faculty, and other graduate students.…”

“…Perceived support by the advisor negatively predicted dropout intentions by enhancing student' perceived competence. This support has both a direct positive effect on perceived competence, as shown by Overall et al (2011), and an indirect positive effect by reducing students' controlled regulation, which is detrimental to feelings of competence. Moreover, students who perceived their faculty as more supportive are more likely to feel autonomously motivated.…”

Masterstudenters opplevelse av møter med veileder: Det er veiledningen som gjør at en føler at en mestrer

“…Det hevdes til og med at veiledning er den viktigste variabelen for å lykkes i skriveprosessen (Dysthe, 2002(Dysthe, , 2003. Veiledning har dermed en viktig betydning for studenters mestring eller ikke mestring (Overall, Deane & Peterson, 2011;Paglis, Green & Bauer, 2006).…”

“…Veiledning gis ofte i en kombinasjon av to dimensjoner: den akademiske dimensjonen, det å gi faglige tilbakemeldinger, og den personlige dimensjonen, det å gi emosjonell støtte nå r studenter møter vanskeligheter (Overall et al, 2011).…”

Doctoral Supervision At Nova Lisbon University: An Exploratory Study

“…The first is how the supervisor handles creativity, understands metacognition, develops communication, and provides ideas for achieving goals (know how to select and solve problems) by stimulating and enthusing students (Kam, 1997;Bengtsen, 2011;Ismail, Abiddin, Hassan & Ro'is, 2014). The second is the need for mechanisms of monitorization of the supervision process to ensure that the student makes progress and develops self-efficacy (Coutinho, 2007;Overall et al, 2011). And the third is the relationship established between the supervisor and the student, which should include the integration of the student in the research environment and research network, the willingness to listen, argue and discuss of both.…”