Engagement and challenges in supervisory feedback : supervisors’ and students’ perceptions

Abstract

Engagement with feedback from supervisors is central to developing graduate students’ research and writing skills. Such engagement, however, is not the students’ sole responsibility because different factors might mediate the process. Supervisors’ and students’ differing perceptions of supervisory feedback can create misunderstandings, might inhibit the latter’s engagement with such feedback, and reduce its learning affordances. This article reports a study examining the perceptions that Nepalese Master’s supervisors and students held of student engagement with and challenges in supervisory feedback. The study drew on questionnaire data collected from 30 thesis supervisors and 50 Master’s students and the follow-up interviews with five supervisors and five students at a public university in Nepal. The findings show a marked difference in supervisors’ and the students’ perceptions. The observed differences are considered in terms of the nature of student engagement, the participants’ research experience, and factors contributing to the perceived challenges in supervisory feedback.