Communities of practice supporting doctoral studies

The learning environment for doctoral studies has been seen to be an important factor affecting the quality of doctoral education. Previous studies claim that students should have an opportunity to engage themselves with practising researchers and a community of peers, experts, and others. However, earlier research demonstrates disciplinary differences among learning environments and the students' opportunities to engage with the scientific community. This paper draws on the experiences of three small groups of doctoral students in order to illuminate the importance of communities of practice in doctoral education in terms of students' perceived experiences of doctoral study. The study is set in the context of industrial engineering and management. A qualitative methodology was used to explore students' experiences of participating in small groups and ways in which this participation has contributed to their doctoral studies. An inductive protocol was used to analyse the data gathered through thematic interviews (N = 10). The findings of this study suggest that communities of practice can have a positive effect on doctoral students' doctoral experience, and therefore support their doctoral studies. The results suggest that some students need help from faculties and departments in order to develop peer connections.