Can hands-on supervision get out of hand? The correlation between directive supervision and doctoral student independence in a Danish study context.

Research output: Contribution to journal/Conference contribution in journal/Contribution to newspaperJournal articleResearchpeer-review

3 Citations (Scopus)
42 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Much of the supervision literature revolves around the delicate balance between directive supervision and student independence. Yet there remains a paucity of empirical research about the balancing act. This is the first study based on survey data to undertake a large-scale empirical analysis of the assumed relation between doctoral supervisor direction and student independence. Data were collected from 1,243 doctoral students at a research-intensive Danish University. Factor analysis revealed that directive supervision encompasses two dimensions: (1) controlling and (2) advising. Through regression analysis, we found that student independence is affected positively by advising and negatively by controlling. Interestingly, we also found that student satisfaction was affected positively by both advising and controlling. Our findings suggest that directive supervision is complex, but the benefit of advising supervision could outweigh the harm of controlling supervision. Supervisors should therefore be less concerned with being too hands-on, but more concerned with being too hands-off.

Original languageEnglish
JournalScandinavian Journal of Educational Research
Volume68
Issue6
Pages (from-to)1121-1136
Number of pages16
ISSN0031-3831
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2024

Keywords

  • Supervision
  • directive
  • doctoral study
  • hands-on
  • independence
  • satisfaction

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Can hands-on supervision get out of hand? The correlation between directive supervision and doctoral student independence in a Danish study context.'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this