Approaches to Supervision

by Christine Bruce; Ian Stoodley; and Susan Gasson

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Guiding new researchers is the domain of dissertation supervisors, as well as those responsible for new members of a research team. As important as this work is, little has been written about the skills supervisors or research mentors need. Susan Gasson, Jillian Blacker, Ian Stoodley, Abbe Winter and Christine Bruce edited a new open access book, Confident Supervisors, to meet this need.

Confident Supervisors is intended to be both a textbook and a professional development resource for Higher Degree Research supervisors and researcher developers involved in providing workshops and resources to support research supervisors in their practice. Throughout this book, authors introduce different theoretical frameworks and concepts to provide supervisors with tools and strategies for responding to the challenges and opportunities associated with research supervision. It contains chapters written by current supervisors and research support partners who are engaged in the scholarship of supervision and can share the practical and theoretical constructs they employ in their practice. The authors have been drawn from a broad range of higher education and research contexts and contribute understandings of local and global relevance. This openly available eBook responds to turbulent times in higher education, offering practical tips and suggestions for supervisors to pivot to changing contexts.

This post features the authors of Chapter 1. Read the entire chapter here.

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How can you become a better research supervisor?

In this blog we discuss approaches to supervision to provide a framework to inform those looking to commence or enhance their supervisory capacity. The framework was developed through an Australian Teaching and Learning Council fellowship (Bruce and Stoodley, 2009). Professor Christine Bruce and Dr Ian Stoodley at the Queensland University of Technology spearheaded the investigation of STEM supervisory practices at the university to inform the fellowship. Since then, the researchers have discussed and explored how best to share that framework, and ultimately with Dr Susan Gasson developed a chapter for the open access book Confident Supervisors: Creating Independent Researchers (https://jcu.pressbooks.pub/confidentsupervisors/).

Chapter 1 provides details of three approaches to supervision identified during the fellowship as an outcome of analysis of discussions with hundreds of supervisors. These approaches have proved the test of time providing valued perspectives that have continued to inform professional development activities delivered by Christine and Susan over the last five years in universities in the Asia Pacific regions. Discussion during those workshops confirmed that while these approaches were initially articulated in the context of STEM supervision, they are relevant in supervising across all disciplines.

Christine featured the framework in her leadership of a highly successful research cohort at San Jose University for more than a decade. In workshops at Australian universities Christine and Susan encouraged supervisors to take a holistic approach to their support of higher degree researchers. Participants shared experiences confirming that each higher degree researcher and phase of candidature presented new challenges and opportunities for supervisors. The approaches were found to have relevance in discussing supervision with other researchers, and in prompting consideration of supervisory practices at key moments in candidature.

Confident Supervisors, Chapter 1

The three approaches are:

-            Scaffolding – building detailed plans that guide research progress.

-            Direction setting – taking a big picture view of the outcomes to be realised.

-            Relationship – building a rapport that will let everyone endure the challenges and thrive during candidature.

The chapter introduces the purpose and practices that can inform supervisors using each approach. While each approach can be applied at any stage of candidature, Scaffolding is particularly helpful at the start of the candidature. Supervisors can use the scaffolding approach to provide higher degree researchers with tools to help them to plan out the work that they do into manageable steps and specific tasks. Scaffolding can give higher degree researchers a sense of order and control as they embark on what is often the largest independent research work of their career. Populating and reviewing project plans and timelines can prompt early discussions to ensure that key compliance requirements are addressed, and that steady and incremental progress is evident both motivating and informing their research development.

Direction setting has a role at all stages of candidature but is essential at key moments where there is a need to clarify the scope and focus of the work. Supervisors can apply direction setting to prompt establishment and articulation of the proposed original and significant contribution of higher degree researchers’ work. The approach can trigger consideration of Plan B’s, building the degree of flexibility to the research design required to account for the uncertainties of any research project.

Relationship building approaches have application at pressure points during candidature, as well as in the process of setting up the candidature. Supervisors can use the relationship building approach where the candidate is experiencing personal or research challenges that are blocking their ability to work effectively. Resolution of difficulties is most effective when managed early, and open discussion of a range of possible solutions can be raised and considered in a measured way. Solutions may involve referring Higher Degree Researchers to key university services or arranging approval of periods of leave or changes to study mode. If supervisor meeting spaces allow discussion of a range of issues, the relationship building approach may open the way for discussion of transition to work or building of researcher identity. In these contexts, solutions may involve identification of an industry mentor or internship opportunity, or an introduction to a research collaborator or network.

The chapter goes on to apply these approaches in the context of three different perspectives:

-            Higher degree researcher perspectives – learning and developing as researcher, accounting for prior experience.

-            Supervisor perspectives – maintaining research standards, building supervisory capacity, and importing expertise.

-            Wider community perspectives – making original contributions through broader engagement.

Consideration of these different perspectives can build supervisors’ awareness of, and sensitivity to, the range of stakeholders that may inform the supervisory process.

The chapter concludes with suggestions of how to use the framework to build practices, and additional resources to allow further exploration of the framework and its various elements. We hope the framework is one you can keep coming back to as you develop your practice, and that it stimulates your ongoing engagement with the scholarship of supervision.

Bruce, C. S. & Stoodley, I. D. (2009). Student resources for the use of supervisors. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/28585/  

Gasson, S. C., Bruce, C., S., Stoodley, I., Blacker, J., Winter, A., Lum, J., Mowbray, S., Kokavec, A., McAlpine, A., Kelly, W., Given, L. M., Titchener, H., Green, B., Jatrana, S., Bradbury, S., Gunton, L., Kliene, S., Ovaska, C., Anderson, S., . . . Nuru, T. (2023). Confident Supervision: Creating Independent Researchers (S. Gasson, C. Bruce, I. Stoodley, A. Winter, & J. Blacker, Eds.). James Cook University. https://jcu.pressbooks.pub/confidentsupervisors/

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