Early Intervention: Helping high degree researchers thrive throughout candidature

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 author of Chapter 5, Anna Kokavec. Read the entire chapter here.

---

by Anna Kokavec

My name is Anna Kokavec, I am a research psychologist, and for many years during my 20+ year academic I was employed as a psychology research methods lecturer in the School of Psychological Science. I have also been employed as a Research Consultant for the Graduate Research Office and in my consultancy role I was able to use my research design and analysis expertise to help post-graduate supervisors and students, across all disciplines, design their projects. However, sometimes things were not quite as straightforward and there were also several instances where I needed to use my communication skills to ensure post-graduate research projects stayed on track. Sometimes the support I provided to students and supervisors as a Research consultant was not about how to develop a questionnaire or analyze data, but more about helping research teams manage differences of opinion and achieve research success.

Completing a higher research degree involves embarking on a 3–5-year journey, which to a large extent is dependent on the quality of the student-supervisor relationship. Sustainable higher degree research (HDR) supervision requires a supportive and collaborative relationship between supervisors and higher degree researchers, which involves regular communication, clear expectations, and feedback. Higher degree researchers can face many challenges during their candidature, which can impact their academic progress and well-being and when things do go wrong it is essential for supervisors to have the tools to be able to identify problems early and provide appropriate guidance and support.

Identifying problems and intervening to help the new researcher

The evidence suggests that if (or when) problems occur, early intervention and identification on the part of the supervisor is critical to the success of a research project. A quick perusal of HDR policy displayed on university websites suggests that many universities are currently relying on HDR progress reporting as a way of supporting students and evaluating academic progress. The HDR progress reporting tool, which has usually been developed in-house, is promoted as being an opportunity for all parties to sit down together every six months to discuss research progress, review research goals and (if required) set new goals, and document any issues, to ensure the research can be completed within the specified timeframe.

At first glance, providing supervisors with something like the HDR progress reporting tool, which relies on self-assessment, may seem useful. However, as an early intervention measure taking a self-report approach is problematic, mainly because self-report assumes problems will be disclosed. It is well accepted that self-report can be influenced by social desirability responding, fear of conflict, immaturity, and lack of awareness. Self-report also relies on effective communication skills, which may or may not be well developed.

Becoming a GREAT supervisor

It is important to acknowledge that not everyone is a natural communicator and my chapter titled “Early Intervention: helping high degree researchers thrive throughout candidature” aims to encourage sustainable supervision by focusing on effective communication. In chapter 5 I present an overview of the Graduate Research Engagement Assessment Tool (GREAT), which has been specifically designed to assists higher degree supervisors to identify, assess, and problem-solve potential risks, and effectively manage challenges associated with the student-supervisor relationship.

The GREAT encourages two-way communication, empowers students to take responsibility for their study, and helps to create win-win outcomes. It also helps to formalise supervision meetings, giving meetings structure and high degree of transparency, which is important from a record keeping perspective. The complete GREAT includes:

• Self-assessment section to build self-awareness and problem-solve risk.

• Questionnaire and scoring criteria to identify and quantify risk.

• Opportunity for student to explore supports that are available and take responsibility by requesting support.

• Step-by-step guide to manage differences of opinion and encourage win-win outcomes.

We know that incorporating effective communication practices into a sustainable supervisory approach can significantly impact the engagement and progression of higher degree researchers. The best thing about the GREAT is that it is an effective communication tool that encourages win-win outcomes, so there are no losers. I am very excited about the GREAT, and hope you find using the GREAT useful in your supervision role.

---

Sage Research Methods Community posts about mentors and mentoring