The quality and nature of the supervisory relationship in graduate education: Student and supervisor perception

Increasing concerns in graduate schools about the quality of graduate programs, completion rates and their subsequent effect on the supply of new scholars (Holdaway, Deblois & Winchester, 1995) have led researchers to examine the quality and nature of the supervisory relationship (Hill, Acker & Black, 1994).;The purpose of this study was to identify the most important characteristics relevant to the perception of effective supervision in graduate education, and to examine the perception of satisfaction and impact with the characteristics among students and supervisors. The most important characteristics were identified by PhD students and experienced supervisors by way of structured interviews and a questionnaire and used to design parallel forms of the Graduate Supervisory Relationship Scale, which was then used to examine satisfaction with and impact of those characteristics.;Surveys were completed by 121 graduate students and 43 of their supervisors. Results revealed that a successful supervisory relationship was thought to be based on structure, expertise, belief in the student's ability, role modeling, and student attitudes. Both students and supervisors perceived the academic nature as being more important than the personal nature of the relationship.;Supervisors reported greater satisfaction with the supervisory relationship than did students. Student satisfaction with the supervisory relationship was positively correlated with their satisfaction with graduate education. A linear regression analysis of the characteristics revealed that the supervisor's schedule, belief in the student's ability and feedback on the thesis/dissertation accounted for unique variance in predicting overall student satisfaction. Female supervisors were more satisfied with student schedules, motivation and attitude than were male supervisors. Male students were more satisfied than females with supervisor knowledge of the research topic. Students over 50 were more satisfied with supervisor availability. In terms of discipline, students in Nursing and Medical Science were the most satisfied with overall supervision, while students in Communication/Culture, and Science were the least satisfied. A significant relationship was found between overall satisfaction with the supervisory relationship and role modeling. Findings did not indicate that the decision to pursue an academic career or completion rate was influenced by the supervisory relationship. Conclusions and recommendations are made for how this data might improve graduate student supervision.