Browsing by Author "Myllylä, Marju"

Aim of the study. Writing of master’s thesis plays a key role in university studies and is often considered as the most demanding assignment in the master’s degree. Therefore, understanding students’ perspectives related to the master’s thesis process is important. Previous studies have suggested that both individual factors and factors related to supervision are essential in a thesis process. Previous studies related to master’s thesis process have not explored these factors simultaneously. The purpose of the present study was to find out which individual and supervisory factors students identify important in master’s thesis process and which ones they consider as enhancing or impeding factors. The research questions were: Which individual factors do the students report significant in master’s thesis process? Which supervisory factors do the students report significant in master’s thesis process? What kind of student profiles can be identified based on the individual and supervisory factors? Methods. The data consisted of semi-structed theme interviews collected from nine educational science students who had completed their studies. The theme interviews dealt with enhancing and impeding factors in the thesis process, time management and thesis seminar and supervision. The interview data were qualitatively content analysed by using an abductive strategy. Based on the analysis of individual and supervisory factors, four different student profiles were identified. Results and conclusions. The results suggested that essential individual factors in master’s thesis process according to the students were motivation, self-efficacy, self-regulation and factors related to research process. Students described the factors related to self-regulation as the most significant in thesis process and reported them partly enhancing and partly impeding factors. Time management was especially considered as a challenging factor related to self-regulation. The students considered individual and group supervision as the most central of the supervisory factors, whereas peer supervision was not viewed important. Individual supervision was mostly considered as a resource in the thesis process, whereas group supervision was party viewed in negative light. Based on the individual and supervisory factors, four different student profiles were identified. The profiles indicated that the individual and supervisory factors interact with each other in the master’s thesis process. Supervision can strengthen motivation and endorse self-regulation. Considering both the individual and supervisory factors is important in developing the master’s thesis process and supervision practices.