Research Tip #2. Understand your Role and your Supervisor’s

I will elaborate on both these a little bit. 

First, just with the sheer length of time you spend in engaging with your PhD, and the added social, academic and professional pressures associated with the nomenclature Dr., PhD will be a very emotional experience. To add to it, there will be stumbling blocks in data collection. I can particularly say this about the Social Sciences where the only time you can be sure of data collection is after it has been collected. Interviews get cancelled, people refuse to give time, including the ones who you thought were your pals, interviews turn out to be of no relevance. All this will happen and you will wonder several times during the course of your PhD if you chose the right topic, the right methodology and whether any of this will lead to anything at all. Most importantly, remember that each stage of PhD- defence, admission, data collection, review, analysis, writing, presentation, submission, viva- will appear to be the toughest. Till you reach the next stage. 

I would urge you to embrace this time as an emotional time. If you have read the earlier tip, I had suggested choosing an area that you love. In emotional times, this love for your work will keep you going. Nobody, family, spouse or peer scholars, it will seem can understand what you are going through. There will be times when you would wonder whether peer scholars are showing concern or mocking you. Choose carefully who you discuss your work with. I made the blunder of discussing my work with people who had little understanding of research, were generally negative in life, or were only debating for the sake of putting me and my work down. It took me a long time to recover from the pessimism. 

Equally carefully, choose the one or two persons who you can share your concerns with. You will need them around through this journey. By accepting that this is an emotionally turbulent time, you will learn to accept each day as it comes. Also, it is important to understand that PhD is only one aspect of your life. Do not lock yourself away from the rest of the world. Continue to read diverse things, paint, hike, cook, and everything else that you would otherwise love to do. Ensure that you take out time to do the things you love, be with your family, meet friends, and everything else that helps you to live fully. In Social Sciences, this will also help you to develop diverse perspectives and look at your thesis afresh.

I will now come to my second concern. Do not presume that your supervisor will be your emotional anchor. Yes, your supervisor knows that you are working, that you have two kids, and umpteen things are going on in your life. If your supervisor can show empathy and understanding, good for you. If not, please understand that this is not his/her job. If all supervisors were to sit around and listen to why you are missing deadlines, and accept them as genuine concerns, believe you me, you and I would never meet any deadlines. Please also understand that your supervisor has more than one scholar and thus has many more woe stories to listen to and accept. Variations in personality styles, professionalism, and expectations of the University would also influence the relationship that the supervisor shares with you. We would all like to work with a supervisor who gets his or her scholar to submit on time. And thus it is imperative that he/she puts pressure on you. Also, there will be disagreements in your PhD work. While some supervisors will be more open to discussions than others, ultimately you have to defend your PhD work. You must be able to present your argument well. A good supervisor will not accept your half baked arguments. Read and go for your meetings. If you go empty handed to the supervisor, you are likely to come out empty handed and having left behind a poor impression. I have worked with a supervisor who is extremely busy. I felt that it is important to value the time that she offers me. I must therefore, not take advantage of her niceties and always went with a focus on what needs to be discussed and reported. In addition, my experience in helping peer scholars in reviewing their work, tells me that no supervisor is going to remember what happened in the last meeting. Thus, do not sit and stare in mid air in meetings. Take copious notes. At the beginning of each meeting, ask your supervisor if you should briefly summarise what your progress has been. Always carry your research title and objectives, if not your full research proposal. 

Above all, no matter how nice you and your supervisor are, in the end, you will have differences. Learn to accept them. The adoration that you would have begun with might change into moments of hatred. When you start hating your supervisor, that’s when you are ready to submit. Post that, you will love your supervisor again! Often, this will be the beginning of a relationship that will last you a lifetime. Cherish it.