Doing a PhD is a huge undertaking. Understanding your motivation will
help you succeed and also help your supervisor support you. Five
motivations are discussed here.
The Importance of Motivation
‘Doing a PhD is unlike anything else you will ever do. You must be
sure you want to do one to succeed.’ That’s the advice any admissions
tutor worth their salt will give an applicant for a doctoral degree. In
your application form and during an interview, they will want to explore
an applicant’s motivation for wanting to ‘do a PhD’.
A PhD student’s motivation can stem from a variety of different
sources. Understanding your own motivation for doctoral study is
important because it will dictate, in part at least,
the type of research degree
you study for and your likelihood of success. Understanding your
motivation will also help your institution (through your supervisor)
support and encourage you in the best way.
There are five main sources of motivation for the research student.
Current Occupation
If you are doing a PhD which includes a project related to improving
your employing organisation’s performance, then it is probable that you
will have at least part of your fees paid and that you may be given time
in which to study. The motivation here will be to complete a
qualification where failure to deliver could have a potentially negative
impact on your career because the qualification is tied so closely into
your current occupation. Your project will be highly applied and, once
started, and unless you change employer half-way through, you will have a
very high chance of successful completion.
Skills-Enhancement
A research student whose motivation falls into this category is
interested in doctoral study as a way of enhancing their employability.
If this is you, you are likely to be as interested in the general skills
and broad knowledge that you can pick up along the way as you are in
the final qualification and the specific skills you need to complete the
doctorate. You want these additional elements that the doctorate can
provide as you believe they will make you more attractive to future
employers. There is a high chance that you will choose to pursue a
professional doctorate.
Career Change
There are a few careers where possession of a doctorate is a
pre-requisite. These include university teaching and research scientist.
If this is what motivates you, you will want to concentrate on
completion of the qualification as quickly as possible and are likely to
want to complete a UK-style ‘big-book’ type of thesis. Additional
skills training will be valued only as far as it contributes to your
planned career path.
Hobby
A student who pursues a PhD in a topic in which they are already
interested and about which they want to know more, is likely to be
highly focused on that topic, and will specifically seek the skills they
need to complete it. If this is you, you may well be relatively
indifferent to the requirements of prescribed generic skills programmes,
although you may be motivated to attend for the ‘social’ benefits of
meeting with other students. This will be particularly true if you have
retired from employment.
Self-development
If you are taking a PhD primarily as a means of self-development,
then you are likely to be what has been trermed a ‘lifelong learner’.
The very act of studying is its own motivator and, given the fact that
you have studied successfully at the full range of levels prior to
commencing doctoral study, you are likely to complete your PhD. However,
given your emphasis on the process as much as the qualification, you
must be careful not to run out of time.
Concluding Comment
It is true that studying for a PhD is unlike anything else you will
ever do. Anything you can do to enhance your likelihood of success
should be welcomed. Understanding your motivation will help you do this
and also help you to
choose your doctoral subject and the type of PhD for which you study.
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