Procedural Requirements: Storied Experiences of Doctoral Students after Submission of Dissertation
Keywords:
Procedural complexities, systematic flaws, doctoral students, university, narrativesAbstract
The aim of the present qualitative study was to understand the feelings, storied experiences, and response of doctoral students who had been waiting for evaluation reports for a long time to complete their doctoral degrees. The study was conducted in public and private sector universities of Pakistan in the Province of Punjab. Twenty doctoral students who were purposively selected from the Province of Punjab Pakistan shared the meaning-making of their storied experiences after submission of the doctoral dissertation. Narrative and phenomenological inquiry was used. The anecdotal stories of doctoral students revealed personal experiences that seemed common to most of the doctoral students. A narrative of each doctoral student's experiences disclosed the subjective meaning of his or her concerns after submitting the doctoral dissertation. The data collected from the semi-structured interviews and focus group discussions were analysed through a thematic analysis approach and was explained in detail. The major themes that emerged from the study were the procedural complexities, perceived negligence and sense of disempowerment. The study has implications for reforms of doctoral degree process and completion.
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