THESIS SUPERVISION IN THE SOCIAL-SCIENCES - MANAGED OR NEGOTIATED

The project upon which this paper is based is a qualitative study of t he supervision [thesis advising]1 of research students [graduate stude nts] in departments of education and psychology in three British unive rsities. Two models are apparent in the literature of supervision. The technical rationality model gives priority to issues of procedure or technique, while the negotiated order model conceptualizes supervision as a process open to negotiation and change. We look at supervisory s tyle, reporting findings on the nature of tutorials [meetings] between supervisor and student, the extent of direction given by the supervis or to the project, and the nature of the interpersonal relationship be tween the parties. We also consider student strategies. Our findings s uggest that although the technical rationality model has much to recom mend it, a negotiated order model is a better description of what happ ens in practice.