Discovering Criteria Contributing to Nursing Master’s Students’ Judgement of the Quality of Research Supervision

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to identify criteria contributing to nursing master’s students’ judgement of the quality of research supervision and to obtain suggestions for its improvement. Participants were 656 master’s graduates of less than five years after completion, who completed a questionnaire that consisted of open-ended questions that asked the research supervision they had received and perceived as “good” or “not good”. Content validity of the questionnaire was established through evaluation by the nursing faculties and pilot study. Content analysis for nursing education based on Berelson’s methodology was applied. Of the 314 surveys returned (return rate 47.9%), 289 valid responses were analyzed, and 25 criteria contributing to nursing master’s students’ judgement of the quality of research supervision were identified. Reliability was confirmed by calculating agreement rates using Scott’s formula, (all over 80%). The results indicated six aspects contributed to nursing master’s students’ judgement of the quality of research supervision: a) criteria related to securing a schedule for research supervision, b) criteria related to preparation for research supervision, c) criteria related to the method of research supervision according to the students’ individual situation, d) criteria related to the faculties’ attitude throughout the research supervision process, e) criteria related to the interaction between the faculties and students during research supervision, and f) criteria related to showing role model behavior as a researcher. It is suggested that effective research supervision can be implemented using these 25 criteria and prioritizing the attainment goal of master’s thesis completion.