Jazvac-Martek, Essay Example

The article from Jazvac-Martek tackles the notions of identity for doctoral students.  Noted as not a primary field of study, Jazvac-Martek looks at the dynamics of such academic and role-building identities in the course of a doctoral student’s education.  As an important foundation for students that will be engaged in the next level of academia, it is of course essential to attribute role-building identities to such students’ educational endeavors.

The Study

The central research problem is found in the under-researched notions of academic identity.  As there are many problems in the notions of identity by social scientists (Côté, 2005), research must be taken to identify such dynamics in the education of doctoral students.  Jazvac-Martek approaches such identities from the perspectives of the students, in order to determine how socialization is involved in the education of doctoral students.

The student approached a single faculty, a Research 1 institution in Canada, according to Carnegie classification.  The participants composed of nine PhD students who were enrolled in full-time doctoral studies.  Made up of one male and eight female Caucasian students, the nine participants were all in advanced stages of their studies.  The study’s participants were all intent on obtaining a faculty position following graduation.

The study took logs, questionnaires, and interviews from the participants.  These three types of qualitative data were centered on the academic experiences of the individuals.  They looked for information regarding their experiences in the program, in particular those in which the students felt that they were part of the academic community.  The questionnaire also covered the students’ intentions for their careers.  The results were analyzed in a qualitative software analysis program, MaxQDA.

The results found a large variety of experiences that attributed role identities in the academic environment, as well as in the doctoral student dynamics.  Jazvac-Martek attributes the most interesting finding in the wealth of experiences that supported the feeling of the students as one in the academic community.  The students expressed their beliefs that they were an academic, which is not a given as Jazvac-Martek outlines in the confusing nature of such questions of role identity and academic involvement from the perspectives of the students.

The results found a link in how the students felt like an academic.  In the students’ responses, they offer many experiences regarding being challenged in their field, having something to offer, and progressing in the academic environment.  Jazvac-Martek notes that these experiences have the deep intellectual engagement in common with each other, where the students see themselves in the larger academic group.

Advantages and Disadvantages

The study makes some valuable insights in regards to the experiences and feelings of the doctoral students.  There are certainly some limitations to the study, however.  The advantages and disadvantages of the study may be attributed to a common factor, where we find the small scope of the study.

The drawbacks of the study are obvious.  As the study only captured the responses of nine students, certainly no overarching generalizations or conclusions may be made.  In order for a more conclusive study to identify such dynamics, which may certainly be different in other students’ experiences, such a study must have more participants.  Additionally, it would be advisable to make use of other schools and departments, as the current study only heard the responses within one school and faculty.

The small scope of the study also produced a level of personalization that would be more difficult to implement in a larger study.  Using comprehensive research methods for the nine students, Jazvac-Martek was able to extract unique information from the students.  As wider studies may use methods that may not allow for such information, the logs, questionnaires, and interviews performed by Jazvac-Martek instilled a high level of uniqueness to the study, which allowed the results to represent the dynamics of the students’ experiences.

Conclusion

Overall the study succeeded in establishing the insights that were gained in the important element of identity with regards to the academic community (Stets & Harrod, 2004).  In the many dynamics that are theorized of the individuals in these academic communities, a number of results can occur, such as the students following the idealizations they see in their supervisors (Leonard, Becker, & Coate, 2005).   Clearly in such a study, the complex theories surrounding the academic community, from the perspective of the doctoral student, may not be analyzed with great detail.

However, the study gives a level of insight that is very valuable to such an under-researched topic.  The study gives an interesting perspective in the participants’ valuable experiences, helping them feel involved and building as an academic.  Further research, as Jazvac-Martek notes, can focus on the many variations present in this topic, such as in other disciplines and mediators (the latter in regards to student roles).  Conclusively, for such a limited study in its spectrum, it makes some valuable contributions to a little-known subject.

References

Côté, J.E. (2005). Identity studies: How close are we to developing a social science of identity? – An appraisal of the field. Identity: An International Journal of Theory andResearch, 6(1), 3–25.

Jazvac-Martek, M. (2009). Oscillating Role Identities: The academic experiences of education doctoral students. Innovations in Education and Teaching International, 46 (3), 253-264.

Leonard, D., Becker, R., & Coate, K. (2005). To prove myself at the highest level: The benefits of doctoral study. Higher Education Research & Development, 24(2), 135–149.

Stets, J.E., & Harrod, M.M. (2004). Verification across multiple identities: The role of status. Social Psychology Quarterly, 67, 155–171.