Living in Liminal Space: The PhD as accidental pedagogy

Abstract

The journey of development that researchers and scholars take within the institutional framework of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Australia has, in the last thirty years, attracted the attention of both academic researchers and bureaucrats, and a small but diverse body of literature is the result. This thesis is an attempt to reflect on this literature in the context of a research-intensive university and in the light of PhD student experience. The student experience was captured by blogging; the students involved in this research kept blogs, and also read and commented on each other’s blogs, for eighteen months. My analysis of the resulting text is framed by the notion of the liminal space occupied by people undertaking PhD study, and asks how and what they might learn in their study. Although students may encounter a well-structured approach in parts of their development as a researcher, much of what they encounter and learn from is almost entirely u nstructured. This leads to their learning often being accidental. As I have been a PhD student while I have been researching the PhD experience, and was an active member of the blogging community that generated the data, this study is deeply reflexive. I have used ethnographic methods to research and situate the experience of doctoral students in Australia. As well as textual analysis of the participants’ blogs I conducted interviews with key informants in the University community. I also analysed both institutional and government documentation and practice relating to the degree, along with the literature on the PhD in Australia. Student voices have not often been heard in the literature about PhD in Australia. This thesis is based in the reality of what PhD students experience during their candidature and on the demographics of the student body nationally. It also takes into account academic, disciplinary and institutional cultures, institutional realities, and how government policy plays its part in shaping the develop! ment of individual scholars.