What do we get out of Master's study?

I got to thinking about what Master's students got out of undertaking a programme of study, and did a bit of hunting to try and find some New Zealand data.

Firstly, I was lucky enough to find a summary of a 2008 supervisor survey undertaken by Julie Dlaskova and Romain Mirosa from Otago, which found ten characteristics: intelligence; independence/confidence; commitment; literacy/numeracy; Time management/organisational skills; curiosity/ability to learn; enthusiasm and passion; ability to think; hard working/ diligence; and motivation. If we count the number of elements minus the forward slashes and 'ands', Otago came up with 16 strengths or skills, honed by post-graduate study in the eyes of supervisors.

Secondly, the University of Edinburgh came up with three groups of strengths: knowledge; skills; and experience. However, they expand skills into an eleven point list: Independent project management; critical thinking and analysis; creative problem-solving; cross-disciplinary and cross-cultural collaboration; applying inquiry skills; professionalism; making decisions from complex, unpredictable, and incomplete information; being an independent learner; critically analysing literature; effective communication to a range of audiences; self-motivation.

Thirdly I found a 1999 study by Demb and Funk from Ohio State University about the perceived benefits of a master's thesis. They found that students were layered in eight developmental stages: "a) the decision, b) framing the research question, c) literature review, d) data collection, e) data analysis, f) writing, g) the oral defense, and h) finishing" (p. 21), which then led to a number of learning outcomes. Students learned scoping and literature to get to a question. The literature review taught critical reading, analysis and deep reading. Data collection taught interpersonal skills, instrument design, pattern-seeking and questioning, while data analysis encouraged tenacity and pattern-seeking. Writing developed audience-identification skills, evidence-focus, objectivity and specificity. Collectively this led to greater self-confidence, a sense of achievement and professionalism.

While realising that this is a once-over-lightly analysis, if we tabulate these results, we get some reasonably clear cross-over:

Otago	Edinburgh	Ohio State	Summary
Intelligence; curiosity/ ability to learn	Knowledge		Learning
	Experience
Time management/ organisational skills;	Independent project management		Project management
	Creative problem-solving
Ability to think	Critically analysing literature	Scoping and using literature to get to a question; critical reading, analysis and deep reading	Critical thinking, deep analysis
	Critical thinking and analysis	Interpersonal skills, instrument design, pattern-seeking and questioning	Questioning
Commitment; hard working/diligence	Critical thinking and analysis	Tenacity and pattern-seeking	Committed pattern-seeking
	Effective communication to a range of audiences	Audience-identification skills, evidence-focus, objectivity, and specificity	Clear audience-identification and communication
Confidence		Self-confidence	Confidence
		Sense of achievement
	Professionalism	Professionalism	Professionalism
Motivation	Self-motivation		Motivation
Independence	Being an independent learner		Independent learning
	Making decisions from complex, unpredictable, and incomplete information
	Cross-disciplinary and cross-cultural collaboration
	Applying inquiry skills
Literacy/ numeracy
Enthusiasm and passion

Where two items roughly matched, then I have assumed they have a place in the summary. This gives us a fast-and-dirty list of ten items: learning; project management; critical thinking, deep analysis; questioning; committed pattern-seeking; clear audience-identification and communication; confidence; professionalism; motivation; and independent learning.

There appears to be some reasonable cross-over. It would be interesting to do a proper study in this area at some stage, rather than a skim.


Sam

References:

• Demb, A., & Funk, K. (1999). What do they master? Perceived benefits of the master's thesis experience. NACADA Journal, 19(2), 18-27. https://doi.org/10.12930/0271-9517-19.2.18
• Otago University (2020). Perspectives on quality candidates. Retrieved from https://www.otago.ac.nz/graduate-research/study/otago404001.html
• The University of Edinburgh (2020). What have you gained from postgraduate study? Retrieved from https://www.ed.ac.uk/students/academic-life/study-support/supporting-taught-postgraduates/moving-on/what-gained-from-study