Exploring the Cultures of Doctoral Supervision through the Concept of Narrative: An Overview

1. Exploring the Cultures of Doctoral Supervision through the Concept of Narrative: An Overview Rafidah Sahar Doctoral Student Manchester Institute of Education SEED, UOM

2. Content • In this presentation I will discuss: • Some of the main theoretical and methodologies of narrative research from the literature. • An overview of how narrative is employed in my study

3. What is Narrative Research? • A methodological approach that investigates narrative and/or employs narrative to present a view of phenomena. • As a means to engage researchers and participants in reflective and reflexive process, and to present outcomes of research through representative construction (Bold, 2012) • Narrative-derives from the Indo-European root ‘gna’ – ‘both to know and to tell’ (Hinchman & Hinchman 1997) • Narratives or stories constitute a fundamental form of human understanding, through which individuals make sense of themselves and of their lives. • Life experience is complex and contradictory, and narrative is well suited to expressing that complexity and contradiction (Clandinin & Connelly, 2000; Creswell, 2007)

4. Features of a Narrative • Temporal dimension (chronology of events- a beginning, middle and the end) (Labov & Waletzky, 1967; Bruner, 1986) • Meaningful (evaluation)- process of negotiation between teller and listener (Plummer, 1983) • Social activity- translate knowing into telling– the role of listener is culturally variable (Mishler, 1986) (Elliot, 2005)

5. Forms of Narratives Ontological narratives (Carr, 1997) Representational narratives (Carr,1997) Research methodology ‘second-order narratives’ Ideological form of narrative (Smith, 1983) Researcher’s accounts to make sense of the social world and of other peoples’ experiences- not necessarily as individual- collective stories • Data generation method • ‘first-order narratives • Primary narrative (Smith, 1983) • Narratives or stories narrated by individuals about themselves and their experiences that take place in formal or informal contexts

6. Structure of Narratives Meaning is imposed on narrative through the process of Casing-sequence of interrelated events (Bearman et al, 1999:503) The Beginning An end A middle

7. Narrative Analysis • Three levels of inquiry and analysis in narrative research (Riessman, 2008) • Stories told by research participants • Interpretive accounts by investigator (narrative of narrative); • Reader's reconstruction (narrative of narrative of narrative).

8. Overview of Some Approaches to Narrative Analysis

9. Narrative research in Education Clandinin & Connelly (2000) • ‘Experience happens narratively. Narrative inquiry is a form of narrative experience. Therefore, educational experience should be studied narratively’ (pp,19). Trahar (2013) • ‘Researchers who favor [narrative approach] appreciate the universality of storytelling and work with it as a way of understanding people’s collective experiences, while acknowledging the individual differences’ (pp,301). Creswell (2008) • ‘By conducting narrative studies educational researchers establish a close bond with the participants. This may help reduce a commonly held perception by practitioners in the field that research is distinct from practice and has little direct application. Additionally, for participants in a study, sharing their stories may make them feel that their stories are important and that they are heard’ (pp. 511).

10. Narrative Research in Doctoral Supervision • (Ylijoki, 2001) • The academic community is attempting to bridge the gap between student and staff expectations of the dissertation process and building a wider base of knowledge for those active in this area. Increasingly, reflection, using participant experiences, and the narrative approach to research are seen as methods useful to better understand the process. • Teekens (2006:17, cited by Trahar, 2014) Students and academic staff are ‘core players’ of higher education institutions. In this context, their stories represent the insiders’ views of the institution.

11. Outline of study This study intends to explore the doctoral supervision experiences of some doctoral graduates and some doctoral supervisors across the disciplines of Human Sciences and Education at the International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM) Aims • To investigate the supervision practices across the disciplines of Human Sciences and Education at the IIUM. • To examine and conceptualise the shaping influences which contribute to the cultures of doctoral supervision. • To utilise the research findings as a resource to develop a culturally sensitive appropriate methodology for doctoral supervision. Research questions • What are the experiences of students and supervisors regarding their supervisory practices as represented through their narration and in their narratives? • How do students and supervisors’ narratives inform my understanding of the shaping influences of the doctoral supervisory culture at the university?

12. Literature insights • Doctoral supervision plays a significant role in successful doctoral education (McCormack, 2005; Latona and Browne, 2001). • Most studies highlight the complexity and multidimensional character of supervisory practices in Western contexts • Little research on experiences of supervision of students from diverse cultural backgrounds, or from non-Western contexts (Lovitts, 2001); with most of them provide the macro view of national systems (Nerad & Heggelund, 2008); offer little useful insight into the actual realities or life-world of those involved in doctoral study within different national, political, economic, cultural, religious and linguistic environments (Lee, 2011)

13. Theoretical perspectives Holliday’s Small Culture Paradigm (1999) • Small culture views culture as a ‘social force’ not “a geographical place, to be visited, or to which someone can belong” (Holliday, 2005:23). • Small culture provides a framework for analysis of behaviour and the overall understanding of how culture works, without imposing pre-definitions of the essential characteristics of specific national cultures. • i.e. Japanese students behave like this because this is how the Japanese are. • Following this conception, doctoral supervision practice is ia dynamic meaning-making process, where participants make sense of in order to operate meaningfully.

14. Theoretical Perspectives Host Culture Complex (Holliday, 1994) Six intersecting dimensions of cultural influences • The Student culture, The Supervisor culture, The Host institution culture, The international education-related culture, The professional academic culture, The National culture. • To access and construct understandings of the shaping influences that contribute to the cultures of doctoral supervision through the stories told by some of the participants that are involved in it.

15. Methodology • Data Generation Methods • Employing one-on-one Narrative Interview (Josselson, 2013) to generate 12-14 narratives of doctoral supervision.

16. Methodology • Data Analysis Methods • Two levels of analysis • Stories told by research participants – ontological narrative • My Interpretive/ representational accounts (narrative of narrative); • Categorical – Content Narrative analysis (Lieblich et al, 1998) in two phases.

17. Methodology Phase 1 • What is said (To describe past events-chronological events) • The evaluative function- making clear the meaning of those events and experiences in the lives of participants • How it is said (The performance of narrative –the social dimension) • The interactional and institutional contexts in which narratives are produced, recounted and consumed. • Focus on both micro- and macro contexts in order to contextualise participants’ stories (Mishler, 1995).

18. Methodology Phase 2 • Short sections of the text are extracted, classified and placed into categories using both inductive and deductive processes. • To identify the common elements across participants’ narratives that represents the common experiences of supervision • To access and construct understandings of the shaping influences that contribute to the cultures of doctoral supervision through the stories told by some of the participants that are involved in it.

19. Conclusion • There is no single narrative method, but rather a multitude of different ways in which researchers can engage with the narrative properties of their data (Elliot, 2005; Reissman, 2008).

20. Activity

21. Thank youfor listening