The Role of Supervisors in Light of the Experience of Doctoral Students

Doctoral supervision is one of the primary factors affecting doctoral degree completion and attrition rates. Basing their work on the concept of cognitive apprenticeship, the authors investigated the role that doctoral supervisors should adopt in supporting their students, in light of feedback from the latter. A total of 533 doctoral students completed an online survey, in which they were asked to describe their experience using a metaphor. Although the issue of support is rarely referred to directly in the resulting metaphors, the latter do seem to suggest that supervisors should adopt a coaching role.