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CONSTRUING THE DOCTORAL EXAMINER:
WHAT THE DOCTORAL STUDENT SHOULD KNOW
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Devi Jankowicz
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Heriot Watt University, Edinburgh, UK |
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Abstract
Doctoral candidates often worry about
how their constructivist epistemology will be received, especially if their
examiners come from a positivist background. The issue affects candidates in
the more conventional psychology departments, and in the business and
management schools too.
Methodology textbooks used by students,
supervisors and examiners don’t offer a unified terminology or a consistent
analytic framework for the epistemological issues involved.
An exercise in
student-examiner sociality, this paper seeks to remove some possible confusions
arising from an imprecise use of the terms ‘method’ and ‘technique’, and from
the simplistic use of such constructs as constructivist-positivist,
subjective-objective, and qualitative-quantitative.
Key
words: Epistemology, doctoral examination,
PCT associated techniques, methodology
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About the author
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 Devi
Jankowicz gained a first degree in Psychology (1969) followed by a doctorate in
Management Cybernetics (1975), both from Brunel University. He has taught
Organisational Behaviour, and Research Methods, at universities in Ireland,
USA, Poland and the UK, and has contributed to management education by
developing two MBA programmes and a DBA programme prior to joining the faculty
at Edinburgh Business School where he teaches on the MSC and DBA programmes.
His research interests include knowledge transfer across cultural boundaries,
the use of virtual environments in distance learning, and applications of
constructivist theory and techniques in business and management. He has around
90 publications to his credit, including four textbooks on business research
methods, one in Chinese translation. His
consultancy clients include JPL/NASA, Unilever, Rolls-Royce (Bristol), and the
Employment Service UK; he has contributed to Ministerial briefing seminars in
the UK, and acted in an EU Expert role for the Ministry of Education in Poland.
Contact: animas@ntlworld.com
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Jankovicz, D..(2017). Construing the doctoral examiner: What the doctoral student should know.
Personal Construct Theory & Practice, 14, 99-105
(Retrieved from http://www.pcp-net.org/journal/pctp17/jankowicz17.pdf)
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