Literature Review
Jones (2013) examined 995 papers, written over the past 40 years, regarding issues pertaining to
doctoral studies. He presented six central themes through which the management and training of
doctoral students had been demonstrated: teaching, doctoral program design, writing and research,
employment and career, student-supervisor relationship, and the doctoral student experience.
According to Jones, four problems relating to doctoral research are commonly discussed in
the literature: program attrition, supervisor relationship, supervisor quality, and social isolation.