Exploring Doctoral Students’ Lived Experiences While Selecting Research Topic

A Phenomenological Study

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to explore the lived experiences of doctoral students’ while selecting the research topic. Phenomenological design of qualitative research was employed to explore doctoral students’ experiences. Participants for the study were selected using purposive sampling. Ten PhD students, who were working on the selection of their research topics in the field of information management, education and business were selected to be a part of the study. Interview protocol and guideline was developed and data was collected through individual interviews following ethical considerations. The data was recorded with the consent of participants and then transcribed carefully to perform analysis. Before analysis transcribed file was shared with participants to make sure the researcher captured the essence of their responses and no misinterpretations has been done. After this thematic analysis was done to analyze the data and as a result five themes were emerged i.e. experience regarding selection of topic, supervisor’s role, strategies toward selection of topic, researcher’s belief and problems in selection of topic. The findings of the study revealed that according to doctoral students, selection of topic is not an easy task it needs proper support of supervisor, understanding of variables, selection of topic in their area of interest. Further findings elaborated the problems doctoral students faced during the selection of research topic. The problems include: time management, lack of familiarity with variables and identifying research gap. Based on the findings, the researcher suggested that doctoral students need training during course work on how they can select novel and significant research topics. They also need assistance on how to overcome problems they face during research topic selection because in the long run addressing these issues will improve the quality of research itself. Despite the doctoral students finding of the study will provide new direction for further studies and other disciplines.