The journey towards a doctoral degree, the highest academic degree, is challenging. It is a journey full of emotions and experiences that provides a feeling of achievement and fulfilment. The doctoral research process is sometimes overwhelming, and scholars are lost in the wilderness of the activities. Navigating a social science doctoral programme, including the business and management streams, requires understanding the pathways and the nuances. This paper presents metaphors of the doctoral journey that helps scholars in developing a better mindset and plan an enriching journey. The methodology used is a qualitative- conceptual metaphor analysis. The study considers the heutagogical framework and develops analogies from the travel and tour domain and applies it to the doctoral programme. The paper compares self-guided tours, Driver Vs Passenger, Roller coaster, pilgrimage model and self-experience that the scholars need to take up in their doctoral journey.
TopIntroduction
A doctoral degree is the highest academic degree and is a very rigorous and challenging programme requiring original contribution to knowledge. The completion rate of the doctoral degree has been lower, and the time taken for completion has also been longer (Park, 2005). OECD data shows one out of three drop out from a doctoral programme (Sarrico, 2022). Cude (2000) and Steinwall (2006) describe doctoral programmes as traps; and inflexible, cumbersome sinkholes. As the doctoral programme is independent research under the guidance of a supervisor, there is no standard structure and proper training, and scholars are confused and lost in the process. Varying intent to do the programme, confusion on what needs to be learned by the scholar, lack of clarity on what skills the scholars need to develop and absence of a global benchmark viz a viz output, put pressure on the scholars (Barry et al., 2018). The problems lead to bad experiences for the scholars, lower completion rates and poor output quality. Experiences in the doctoral programme vary from period to period. The first year starts with excitement. The confidence and motivation dip in the programme’s second year and then plunges further. This phenomenon is called ‘Second-year blues” (Stacey et al., 2019). Scholars end up with anxiety, stress, and depression (Barry et al., 2018).
Experience in a doctoral programme can be both externally and internally oriented. In an external orientation, doctoral experience is interrelated to life experience. Internal orientation is related to the research work alone (McAlpine et al., 2022). Experience in a doctoral programme is usually related only to institutional factors such as supervision, support, culture etc. However, McAlpine et al. (2022) argue that the interaction of life and work produces a particular experience. A scholar’s exhaustion, cynicism and abandonment intention is not just due to institutional factors. The personal lives of the scholars also influence their doctoral experience. In an internal orientation, doctoral research is seen as a process rather than a product (Stubb et al., 2012). Since doctoral research traditionally focused on the tangible product, in the form of a thesis, it led to poor quality of research. Scholars failed to develop the necessary skills to produce the thesis. Park (2005) recommended a shift from content to competence. Instead of focusing on the output, such as the thesis or the degree per se, the doctoral programme should emphasise the experience. Scholars can only realise such experiences if they traverse through each stage of the research process.
The PhD process could be likened to a journey, with the thesis being the destination and the process being the travel. If one were to view the degree from a philosophical point of view, the travel would likely provide a eudemonic purpose, and the actual thesis is connected with the hedonic purpose. As a scholar, if one were to connect to their inner “daimon” and connect their PhD to an inner purpose and identify a deeper meaning in the journey, one would likely extract greater happiness and value from the journey. This would suggest that unlike regular scholarly degrees and awards, in the PhD journey, a scholar must focus far more significantly on the process, and they would automatically arrive at their destination.
However, the journey can take many forms and diversions; while in regular travel, diversions may act as a bother, these diversions are important in the PhD journey. This paper attempts to structure the PhD journey and explores possible choices a scholar must make while travelling down this road. The concept is derived by analysing the characteristics of the pedagogical continuum and developing analogies in tours and travels. The paper will help doctoral students better understand the programme’s process, set clear expectations and directions of learning, and navigate the challenges with a positive mindset. Overall, the paper contributes to a new orientation to the doctoral journey.