{"id":7694,"date":"2019-11-26T12:38:16","date_gmt":"2019-11-25T23:38:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thesislink.aut.ac.nz\/?p=7694"},"modified":"2019-11-26T12:38:23","modified_gmt":"2019-11-25T23:38:23","slug":"over-6000-phd-students-were-surveyed-worldwide-heres-what-they-said","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thesislink.aut.ac.nz\/?p=7694","title":{"rendered":"Over 6,000 PhD students were surveyed worldwide. Here’s what they said."},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Nature<\/em> has recently released the results of its biggest ever survey of PhD students. More than 6,000 respondents from all over the world* answered questions about their job satisfaction, their experiences in the PhD programme, and their career prospects. In an article ominously entitled ‘PhDs: The Tortuous Truth,<\/a>‘ Nature<\/em> published the results and considered what they mean for the PhD. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The survey results suggest that individual experiences in PhD programmes vary hugely. Since entering their postgrad programmes, respondents’ satisfaction was split: 45% reported worsened satisfaction, while 42% reported increased satisfaction. That implies that, in roughly equal numbers, PhD students found their paths through the PhD mainly pleasing or problematic. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

So is undertaking a PhD truly a hit-or-miss experience? Not quite. While the road of satisfaction seemed to fork for the respondents, a full 74% were still either very satisfied or somewhat satisfied with their decision <\/em>to pursue a PhD. This means that for many whose satisfaction had worsened since they entered the programme, they were still satisfied with their choice to enrol. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Perhaps this is a matter of sacrifice in anticipation of a future reward. Respondents reported tough times while pursuing their PhDs: 76% worked over 40 hours per week on their PhD, 74% were anxious about finishing on time, and 68% were worried about funding their research. More than a third of respondents had sought help for anxiety or depression caused by their study (36%). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A number of respondents also had special circumstances adding to their stress. 19% had to juggle their PhD studies with paid work; 13% were caring for a child or children; and 11% were caring for another adult (such as an elderly parent). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the sacrifices made to earn a PhD seem to be balanced by an expectation of payoff in the future. 67% of respondents believed their PhD would substantially or dramatically improve their career prospects, with 61% anticipating that they would find a permanent (non-trainee) role within 3 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Respondents also reported a number of factors which made the experience of earning a PhD satisfying. 76% enjoyed the degree of independence afforded to them in their programmes; 67% valued their ability to attend meetings and conferences; and 67% were satisfied with their relationship with their supervisor\/PI.** <\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, while two-thirds of respondents were satisfied with their supervisor\/PI relationship, this relationship had the potential to sour the whole PhD experience. 53% of those who were dissatisfied with their PhD programme overall also reported dissatisfaction with their supervisor\/PI relationship. And of the 21% of respondents who felt they had been bullied in their programme, supervisors\/PIs were the most common perpetrators of the bullying (48% of cases). As one respondent put it, the supervisor\/PI “can either make you happy during your PhD journey or destroy your life\/career.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So is the PhD just a giant gamble? Ultimately, only 8% of respondents said that, if they could start over, they wouldn’t <\/em>pursue a PhD. (Though 24% said they would change their supervisor\/PI.) That means that a whopping 92% of respondents would stick with their choice to start a PhD, despite the hardships and challenges they reported. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The write-up of the survey results in Nature<\/em> says that they tell “a story of personal reward and resilience against a backdrop of stress, uncertainty and struggles with depression and anxiety.” But it’s a story, evidently, that most respondents still want to inhabit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Note:<\/strong> You can view the full dataset from the survey here. <\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

*Because Nature<\/em> is a scientific publication, the results of this survey may disproportionately represent the experiences of PhD students in the sciences. They also represent a global experience rather than a New Zealand experience, with only 0.3% of responses coming from NZ.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

**This survey used the terminology “supervisor\/PI” in recognition of different models of PhD study and research around the world. PI means the Principal Investigator on a funded research project. Where a PI supervises a PhD student, the PI\/student relationship is roughly comparable to the supervisor\/student relationship in New Zealand PhD programmes. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Nature has recently released the results of its biggest ever survey of PhD students. More than 6,000 respondents from all over the world* answered questions about their job satisfaction, their […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6725,"featured_media":7721,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[73,158,117],"class_list":["post-7694","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-category-3","tag-experience","tag-phd","tag-survey"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thesislink.aut.ac.nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/Two-paths.jpg?fit=2000%2C1333&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p83npQ-206","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesislink.aut.ac.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7694","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesislink.aut.ac.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesislink.aut.ac.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesislink.aut.ac.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6725"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesislink.aut.ac.nz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7694"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/thesislink.aut.ac.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7694\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7724,"href":"https:\/\/thesislink.aut.ac.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7694\/revisions\/7724"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesislink.aut.ac.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/7721"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesislink.aut.ac.nz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7694"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesislink.aut.ac.nz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7694"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesislink.aut.ac.nz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7694"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}