Profiling the Supervision Experiences of Postgraduate Research Students with Different Personal and Institutional Factors in Open and Distance Learning Environment
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.68490/ber.2023.3.561Keywords:
Research supervision, Postgraduate research students, Open and distance learning, Supervisor-supervisee relationship, Research supervision qualityAbstract
Quality in research supervision is one of the main concerns among the institutions and stakeholders today especially those involved in open and distance learning (ODL). This research examined the supervision experiences of postgraduate research candidates during different stages of research at the biggest open and distance learning institution of Pakistan. The study was based on mixed-method approach using sequential design (Quan→qual). Survey was conducted from the postgraduate research candidates enrolled under the four different faculties of Allama Iqbal Open University, Pakistan. An adapted version of Supervisor-Supervisee Relationship Questionnaire (Saleem, 2014) was administered along with autobiographical accounts of the research candidates selected through a multi-stage sampling design. The generated data were used to identify the supervision related experiences of research candidates with respect to the different personal and institutional factors. Further, to explore region specific supervision issues, their reasons with respect to the ethnic and cultural aspects focused group discussion was conducted at Provincial Head Quarters (PHQs) of the university. The findings implicated valuable academic and administrative adaptations for improving the quality of research supervision practices for open and distance learning institution.
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