This story, which is probably as old as the academic world it comes from, partly illustrates the three main roles of a thesis advisor. The thesis advisor is first of all a guide. The researcher will profit from his or her greater experience, especially in defining the subject of the dissertation. The thesis advisor should provide guidance towards research domains that have been rarely or never explored, but also present a real interest over the long term. The advisor is to be a problem-solver, helping the researcher to identify and solve epistemological, methodological and ethical problems that appear during the writing process. A thesis advisor will often become a mentor. A master-disciple relationship can develop between these two people, sharing the same interests inside an intellectual community. A mentorship is commonly maintained throughout the researcher’s academic career.
Choosing the thesis advisor is thus a decision of great consequence, having an influence on the final quality and outcome of the dissertation and on the launch of a researcher’s career. The researcher should therefore pay close attention to the choice of thesis advisor. Several criteria may help making this decision.
Intellectual proximity to the considered research problem This is vital. No matter how brilliant his or her academic qualities, a thesis advisor who is not interested in the envisaged research domain will be of very limited use to the postgraduate student. He or she will not be familiar with the literature, and may not be able to help define the problem in a precise manner, not knowing if the subject is truly innovative or if it has already been explored elsewhere. Furthermore, an uninterested advisor will probably not have established a
contact network in the specific field – a network from which the doctoral student can benefit greatly. The differing interests of the thesis advisor and the student provides no ground for the emergence of an intellectual community.
Academic achievements (including publications, participation in national and international conferences, editorial responsibilities) A thesis advisor generally holds a PhD. It is important to look beyond accreditations, however, and consider a potential thesis advisor’s publications, involvement in the academic community, and participation in national and international academic events. An advisor who has not published many articles in the international press or who only takes part in statewide (regional) or national activities will not be of much help to a graduate aiming for an international career.
Availability Writing a dissertation requires frequent meetings with the thesis advisor – to keep the advisor up to date as to the state of the work, to exchange new ideas, and to identify and resolve problems as they arise. It is therefore important to ensure that the potential advisor will be available for such regular meetings for the course of the research. This is not to suggest that the advisor must be immediately available at all times, but if a serious problem arises, his or her presence may be needed at short notice. One useful way to assess in advance the availability of a particular thesis advisor is to find out how many postgraduate students he or she is already responsible for. The more students an advisor has, the less time he or she can commit to each one. Beyond the question of the number of postgraduate students a thesis advisor has, information can also be obtained from other students who have already worked with him or her.
Of course, it is difficult to find a thesis advisor fulfilling all these criteria, even more so because some of them can seem mutually incompatible. For instance, a potential thesis advisor who is highly involved in international academic circles and who frequently publishes articles in the best reviews will probably have limited time for students. Also, the academic quality of potential advisors should be evaluated according to the length of their career: one could not expect someone who has only recently obtained a doctorate to have published the same volume of articles as an experienced professor.
Each PhD candidate should take these criteria into consideration and seek the best balance possible in accordance with his or her individual needs. Some postgraduate students need a lot of back-up and regular meetings with their thesis advisor. Such students should make availability their primary criteria. Others may be more independent, and attach more importance to academic accreditation or experience when choosing an advisor.
A French academic, Pierre-Gilles de Gennes, who won the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1991, gives this practical advice to young researchers-to-be:
Above all, chose a good thesis advisor for your dissertation: don’t go for the first one, but take time in choosing, and talk to a number of possible candidates. As to the subject, it should be connected to a future national need. Some [advisors] suggest subjects of interest to themselves, but which will clearly not be of interest to any employer.1
Once an advisor for the research has been selected, the dissertation student must in turn gain his or her acceptance. It is important to submit an abstract of a dozen or so pages, clearly setting out the proposed research question, so that the advisor has a basis from which to come to a decision.
When both parties have agreed to the project, the postgraduate student should take care to respect the thesis advisor’s demands in terms of the research schedule. A lack of involvement on the part of the dissertation student may well provoke a corresponding lassitude on the part of a thesis advisor, who will direct more attention to students who show more commitment to their projects.
Along with consideration of the aptitude and the personality of the thesis advisor, the research department and the university or college of which it is a part must be chosen with great forethought, as this will influence the quality of any research project. Here are some points to take into account.
Reputation The reputation of management schools varies greatly, and is often directly associated to the quality of the research projects hosted. While there are no objective criteria for measuring the reputation of a research center, examining career paths and the articles published by doctors from different centers can give an indication as to the reputation of the school.
Facilities The presence of workspace reserved for research, free access to computers and necessary software, a well-stocked and up to date library, and the availability of funds to finance conference participation are among the facilities that are useful in writing a dissertation and in founding a contact network.
Academic activities Some research centers organize research symposiums, conferences and international gatherings, all of which can be intellectually rewarding for the student. Such intellectual stimulation can have a very positive effect on the quality of graduate work carried out at the school.
The criteria detailed above, both for the thesis advisor and for the center, may seem a little demanding. They should, however, be considered in context. A postgraduate student who decides to write a PhD dissertation is taking on a project that will take an average of four years to complete. At the end of these long years, competition is strong for a limited number of positions available. The quality of the dissertation becomes then an important factor in embarking upon an academic career. In addition to the personal investment involved, it is important to have as many factors as possible working for you: such as the support of a good thesis advisor and the advantages of a high-quality working structure. Too many researchers abandon their dissertation at an early stage, or write a paper that can handicap them throughout their career, primarily because they did not place enough weight on these considerations, or they overestimated their own capacities or desire to complete the postgraduate work.
Source: Thietart Raymond-Alain et al. (2001), Doing Management Research: A Comprehensive Guide, SAGE Publications Ltd; 1 edition.
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