Engaging and disengaging doctoral experiences in the behavioural sciences

Abstract

Purpose

The aim of this paper is to explore doctoral students' engaging and disengaging experiences among a group of students whose doctoral processes had been prolonged for more than seven years.

Design/methodology/approach

The participants were 16 doctoral students in the behavioural sciences. The data were collected with interviews employing a visualisation of their doctoral journeys, and were content analysed qualitatively.

Findings

The results suggested that the students described their engagement in doctoral work in terms of dedication, vigour and occasionally absorption. In turn, disengagement was described in terms of insufficiency, cynicism and sometimes exhaustion. Interestingly, the source of engagement was typically a sense of belonging in the scholarly community, whereas the students often reported a lack of autonomy and a lack of belonging as sources for disengagement.

Research limitations/implications

Further longitudinal studies are needed to explore the development of engagement in doctoral work among students from different contexts.

Practical implications

In terms of developing more engaging learning environments, the findings imply that by enhancing students' sense of belonging to their scholarly community and their experiences of autonomy within it their engagement in doctoral work, and further, development as researchers can be fostered.

Originality/value

This study extends the understanding of what may engage or disengage students from their doctoral studies and the essential relationship between the sense of autonomy and that of belonging in doctoral student engagement, in particular in the context of prolonged doctoral studies in the behavioural sciences.

Citation

Vekkaila, J., Pyhältö, K. and Lonka, K. (2014), "Engaging and disengaging doctoral experiences in the behavioural sciences", International Journal for Researcher Development, Vol. 5 No. 1, pp. 33-55. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJRD-09-2013-0015