Mapping the field of Higher Education Research using PhD examination reports

McKenna, Sioux; Quinn, Lynn; Vorster, Jo-Anne

Title: Mapping the field of Higher Education Research using PhD examination reports
Creator: McKenna, Sioux
Creator: Quinn, Lynn
Creator: Vorster, Jo-Anne
Date Issued: 2018
Date: 2018
Type: text
Type: article
Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/66669
Identifier: vital:28979
Identifier: ISSN 1469-8366
Identifier: https://doi.org/10.1080/07294360.2018.1428178
Description: Pre-print
Description: The PhD is the highest formal qualification and signifies a scholar’s rite of passage as a legitimate contributor of new knowledge in a field. Examiner reports make claims about what is legitimate in a thesis and what is not and thus articulate the organising principles through which participation in a field is measured. The authors analysed 39 examiners’ reports on 13 PhDs produced over a five-year period by scholars from the Higher Education Research doctoral studies programme at Rhodes University in South Africa. Drawing on aspects of Karl Maton’s Legitimation Code Theory (LCT), this study uses the dimensions of LCT:Specialisation and LCT:Semantics to explore what kinds of knowledge, skills and procedures and what kinds of knowers are validated in the field of Higher Education Research through the examination process. The study found that despite concerns in the literature about the a-theoretical nature of the Higher Education Studies field, examiners valued high-level theoretical and meta-theoretical engagement as well as methodological rigour. In addition, examiners prized the ability to demonstrate a strong ideological position, to use a clear doctoral voice, and to recognise the axiological drive of the field. The analysis showed that examiners were interested in strong contextualisation of the problem-spaces in higher education in South Africa but also commented positively on candidates’ ability to move from troubling an issue within its context to being able to abstract findings so as to contribute to the field as a whole.
Format: 14
Format: pdf
Publisher: Routledge
Language: English
Relation: Higher Education Research & Development
Relation: McKenna, S., Quinn, L., & Vorster, J. (2018) Mapping the field of Higher Education Research using PhD examination reports. Higher Education Research & Development, 37 (3) p 579-592. https://doi.org/10.1080/07294360.2018.1428178
Relation: Higher Education Research & Development volume 37 number 3 579 592 January 2018
Rights: Routledge
Rights: Use of this resource is governed by the terms and conditions of the Higher Education Research & Development Copyright Options Statement (https://www.tandfonline.com/action/authorSubmission?journalCode=cher20&page=instructions)

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Quinn, Lynn (Prof)

McKenna, Sioux (Prof)

RU Centre for Higher Education Research, Teaching and Learning (CHERTL)

Vorster, Jo-Anne (Prof)

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