Page 93 - Academic and Research Book_WEB

CHAPTER 8

Roles, Responsibilities, and Ethics of Research Supervisors

Parimal H. Vyas

Research supervision is a multifaceted interaction between a research supervisor and research scholar.
The collaboration between the two plays an important role in influencing the excellence of supervisory
practices. ‘Supervision’ is the process of training, guiding, counselling, coaching, mentoring, and
leading the research scholar to successfully carry out research activities. The researcher aims to be
recognized with the award of a doctoral research degree. Supervision is a vital element of research
studies. The expectations of a research scholar and the supervisory style of the supervisor or research
guide shape the quality of the supervisory process. This is most crucial in creating and building a
stimulating and productive research environment.

Research supervision has two important aspects: Style of supervision and Quality of supervision. The
relationship between these two is most important.

• Style of supervision is identified as the manner in which a supervisor executes the supervisory
process, considering his or her understanding of the research scholar’s research needs. Because
such needs vary between students, there is no fixed formula for good supervisory practice.
• Quality of supervision evolves when the supervisory process is adapted to meet the specific
needs of the research scholar in question.
Research supervision enables learning ethical issues in research, both internal (pertaining to aspects
within the research framework) and external (aspects related to relationships with colleagues, funding
agency, and authorship) (Löfström and Pyhältö, 2014).
Ethical aspects also feature in the supervisor-research scholar relationship. The manner in which the
supervisor fulfils his or her responsibilities is a matter of ethics and one that has not been adequately
addressed in the realm of research ethics.

Review of Literature

Bennett and Knibbs (1986) rationalized that an appropriate supervision strategy has to be based on

understanding the role expectations of a research scholar and the set of needs arising from his or her
individual traits.

• An intelligent knowledgeable student may look for expert help from the supervisor on research
methodology.
• Another research scholar, who is self-motivated, may not like to be dependent on the research
supervisor but might need critical feedback and reflection on his or her efforts and research activities.
• A long-distance research scholar, may need a lot of guidance

• An academically strong and sharp research scholar may only need the assurance from research
supervisor to avoid any technical hitches in the research study.

According to several authorities (Meyer, et al., 2005; Case, 2008; Pyhältö, et al., 2011), only perfect
supervision can ensure the optimum time in research degree completion, build capabilities, and
ensure the research scholar’s pleasure and fulfilment with the overall research practices.

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