How to be productive in PhD Level: A needs assessment study for doctoral students’ research productivity

Authors

  • Özge Maviş Sevim Tokat Gaziosmanpaşa University
  • Esma Emmioğlu Sarıkaya Esma EMMİOĞLU SARIKAYA is an Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Education, Tokat Gaziosmanpaşa University, Tokat, Turkey. She worked as a post-doctoral fellow in Simon Fraser University from 2012 to 2014. Her current research interests include doctoral education, research education, research productivity of doctoral students, and attitudes toward statistics.

Abstract

The aim of the study is to conduct a needs assessment study to determine research productivity needs of doctoral students. A mixed method approach and fully mixed con-current dominant status design is used in the current study. The participants of the study included doctoral students, professors, and deans of (graduate schools) at a university in Turkey from the various Social and Natural Sciences Departments so that the needs of doctoral students from different disciplines could be examined. ‘Needs assessment questionnaires’ were administered to 35 doctoral students, 35 professors, and 4 deans; interviews were conducted with 7 doctoral students, 4 professors and 4 deans to collect the data. Findings of the study showed that academic writing skills were the most frequently mentioned skill that the doctoral students need to improve for their research productivity. In interviews, needs of the participants divided into personal factors like interest and positive attitudes towards research, intrinsic motivation, questioning and writing skills, scientific method and foreign language knowledge; institutional factors like support of advisor/professors, taking part in collaborative and interdisciplinary studies, joining the research projects, easy access of resources, elimination of bureaucratic obstacles, and environmental factors like support of individuals in immediate surroundings of doctoral students.

Author Biography

Özge Maviş Sevim, Tokat Gaziosmanpaşa University

Özge MAVİŞ SEVİM is an Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Education, Tokat Gaziosmanpaşa University, Tokat, Turkey. Her research interests are curriculum development and evaluation, research productivity, doctoral education, postgraduate education.

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2020-09-07

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Vol. 12 No. 2 (2020): International Journal of Curriculum and Instruction

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