The Relationships Between Postgraduate Research Students’ Psychological Attributes and Their Supervisors’ Supervision Training

AbstractThis study explored the research experiences of postgraduates and determines their relationships with the supervisors’ training backgrounds and the student's psychosocial attributes. A total of 134 higher degree research students from an Australian university were sampled. The Postgraduate Research Experience Survey (PRES) was administered online to gauge the research experiences of the postgraduates. Overall, the respondents’ ratings of their experiences in supervision, skill development, and goals of the research project were above average. Infrastructure and intellectual climate, however, were rated as average by the respondents. This study also found that the respondents’ research experiences differ according to supervisor's background and it was related to their psychosocial attributes