Recording and researching doctoral supervision meetings: reconceptualising authenticity in supervision research
Studies in Graduate and Postdoctoral Education
ISSN: 2398-4686
Article publication date: 10 July 2024
Issue publication date: 2 January 2025
Abstract
Purpose
This paper contends that data generated by research on supervision are often taken as authentic data. Through an examination of studies that use audio/visual recordings to investigate supervision, the paper both promotes and problematises the recording of supervision meetings as a useful technique for doctoral supervision research. This paper aims to encourage a critical evaluation of methodological choices in research on supervision, and both promotes and problematises the practice of recording supervision meetings to enhance nuance in research on supervision practices.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper reviews how prior studies have adopted different research methods to construct the space of supervision, and how the chosen methods have been justified. The paper draws on data from an empirical study which included interviews with supervisors in China, based on recordings of their supervision meetings.
Findings
Presenting a single case with one participant to explore the recording and interview process in detail, this study demonstrates how hearing the supervision meeting can present a multi-faceted picture of supervision practice. This multi-faceted picture underpins the alternative understanding of authentic data that this study unpacks.
Originality/value
Drawing on the tradition of poststructuralist critiques of traditional research methodology, this study is presented as a methodological paper, with a core aim of interrogating and problematising methodological decisions taken in studies of doctoral supervision. This study reviews research methods that were used in prior studies on supervision, investigating how the chosen methods were justified and how these methods affect the resultant construction of supervision.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
Corrigendum: It has come to the attention of the publisher that the article, Lu, B. and Henderson, E. (2024), “Recording and researching doctoral supervision meetings: reconceptualising authenticity in supervision research”, Studies in Graduate and Postdoctoral Education, Vol. ahead-of-print No. ahead-of-print. https://doi.org/10.1108/SGPE-03-2023-0022 was published with uncorrected errors introduced during the submission process. Updates included edits to references, namely Henderson (2019), and the addition of the author team's ORCID IDs. These have now been corrected in the online version of the paper. The authors sincerely apologise for this error and for any inconvenience caused.
The authors thank to the study participants, “Sun” in particular, for granting the access to their supervision meetings. The authors would also like to acknowledge Barbara Grant for some inspiring email exchanges while developing the methodological ideas, especially relevant to in-room observation.
Disclosure statement: The authors report there are no competing interests to declare.
Citation
Lu, B. and Henderson, E.F. (2025), "Recording and researching doctoral supervision meetings: reconceptualising authenticity in supervision research", Studies in Graduate and Postdoctoral Education, Vol. 16 No. 1, pp. 56-72. https://doi.org/10.1108/SGPE-03-2023-0022
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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