Doctoral Research Project Management
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broader perspectives on candidates’ opinions regarding their doctoral experience, we included
two additional objectives: a) to study candidates’ relations with their advisers, and b) to learn
about candidates’ lifestyle, experiences, and feelings in relation to their doctoral research process.
Our survey uses project management terminology adjusted to the framework of doctoral studies.
By analyzing candidates’ replies, we can learn whether doctoral students are aware of their management
challenges and if they possess the tools needed to manage a doctoral research project.
In order to conduct the research, we distributed a uniform questionnaire to doctoral candidates at
five leading Israeli research universities as well as universities in three Western European countries
– Italy, Portugal, and Switzerland. Following Becher’s (1994) discussion of disciplinary differences
within universities, we aimed to compare the opinions of students from different academic
disciplines (Humanities and Social Sciences vs. Natural Sciences and Engineering). Our
goal was to investigate the existence of opinion patterns across academic discipline and to possibly
identify specific patterns or establish a relationship between patterns and disciplines. We were
also interested in comparing opinions of doctoral students in Science and Engineering from Israel
and from Western Europe. This part of the study was motivated by the fact that Israeli universities
have been participating in the EU Programs for Research and Innovation. In these projects,
teams of scientists and engineers from Europe and Israel work together on innovative projects.
Graduate students from both places find themselves cooperating and sharing views and experiences.
Survey questionnaires were sent to all doctoral students by the graduate departments of each participating
university. The results received from candidates at each university were separately analyzed.
The graduate school at each participating university received a summary of their candidates’
results. As interesting as these findings are, we have not included these separate results in
this paper due to confidentiality concerns. Instead, we decided to present an analysis of the cumulative
results received from candidates in Israel and in Western Europe, comparing them by academic
field and location, as will be described below.