Differing motivations and requirements in PhD student cohorts: A case study

Abstract

The PhD student experience is an increasingly important area of education research in Australia and internationally. Although many factors supporting the PhD experience have been identified, there has been a tendency towards examining the issue through a cohort-wide lens, in which the nuances of experience of smaller groups and individuals may be lost. This paper seeks to illustrate this issue using a case study from an Australian institution. Here, we use thematic analysis of focus group interviews to examine the experiences and expectations of two distinct cohorts of PhD students (one from science backgrounds and one from clinical backgrounds) studying in the same discipline. This qualitat..