Shaping a Sustainable Doctoral Pathway: A Critical Analysis of Reflexive Mediation between Structure and Agency in the PhD Experience

Autor/inn/en	Sun, Xiujuan; Trent, John
Titel	Shaping a Sustainable Doctoral Pathway: A Critical Analysis of Reflexive Mediation between Structure and Agency in the PhD Experience
Quelle	In: Higher Education Research and Development, 42 (2023) 2, S.468-482 (15 Seiten)Infoseite zur Zeitschrift PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Zusatzinformation	ORCID (Sun, Xiujuan)
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	0729-4360
DOI	10.1080/07294360.2022.2073979
Schlagwörter	Doctoral Programs; Educational Experience; Doctoral Students; Neoliberalism; Higher Education; Discourse Analysis; Student Attitudes; Educational Change; Personal Autonomy; Communities of Practice; Humanities; Foreign Countries; Hong Kong + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Doktorandenprogramm; Bildungserfahrung; Doctoral studies; Doctorate studies; Student; Students; Doctoral candidate; Schüler; Schülerin; Studentin; Doktorand; Doktorandin; Neo-liberalism; Neoliberalismus; Hochschulbildung; Hochschulsystem; Hochschulwesen; Diskursanalyse; Schülerverhalten; Bildungsreform; Individuelle Autonomie; Community; Geisteswissenschaften; Humanwissenschaften; Ausland; Hongkong
Abstract	This study aims to provide a complex account of a PhD candidate's reflexive doctoral engagement process emergent from the changing doctoral environment vis-à-vis the neoliberal higher education context. Drawing on a critical realist theory of reflexivity, it analyzed narrative interview data collected with the participant over an 18-month period. The analytical focus was on how the student's reflexivity mediated her exertion of agency within the structural affordances and constraints of her doctoral education to ultimately give shape to a unique doctoral trajectory. Findings revealed that the participant practiced distinct patterns of reflexive deliberations in three disparate but interweaving areas of her doctoral life: research progression, community belonging, and career construction. Notably, analysis highlighted the contingent and fluid characteristics of the reflexivity phenomenon and its context-dependent effects in the complexity of doctoral study. The study argues that a sociological view of reflexivity offers a novel means to understand the nuanced ways of agency-structure interplay pervading experiences of contemporary candidature. (As Provided).
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Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2024/1/01