The Dangers in Thinking Alone: Education Graduate Students Building Community During their Scholarship

Abstract

What are the tensions and opportunities that frame the experiences of Ph.D. students? The challenge that doctoral students in education accept when entering the Ph.D. program is filled with academic demands. Completing a Doctorate requires showcasing one’s academic ability and navigating through high scholarly expectations, including taking courses, completing assignments, assisting in teaching and writing, and contributing knowledge to their respective fields (Winter et al., 2000). Students are also encouraged to reflect deeply on their learning, which often occurs in isolated silos (Berg & Seeber, 2016); doctoral students’ situations are unique in that they often work in isolation rather than in more traditional classroom settings or groups. According to Duke and Denicolo (2017), “the lack of integration into a supportive research culture may continue to inhibit researchers from reaching their full potential, resulting in dissatisfaction and attrition” (p. 2). This idea of a collaborative culture may be even more pertinent for emerging scholars and Ph.D. students.
The unique experience of graduate work is rewarding and yet challenging in many ways, but research has been limited regarding Ph.D. students’ lived experiences. For instance, Janta et al. (2014) state that “the themes of loneliness and friendship networks are often examined from the international student perspective, with a specific focus on master’s students’ experiences” (p. 554). Sverdlik et al. (2018) note that research has focused on undergraduate students’ wellness, motivation, and success and less on doctoral students’ physiological and social experiences. So, while the experiences of undergraduate and master’s level students have been explored in the literature, a gap remains for education Ph.D. students, leading us to ask: what are the lived experiences of Ph.D. students in education?
This study begins to address this gap by using data gathered at a graduate student data collection event guided by participatory action research (PAR) to understand better the realities of Ph.D. students through their lived experiences. We aim to understand the challenges that Ph.D. students encounter while exploring solutions to support current and future individuals in other doctoral programs of education.