Abstract:
The research dissertation and its supervision have been described by
researchers as the most advanced levels of learning and teaching
respectively. In spite of the intrinsic value of research and its supervision,
there are few studies that document the lived experiences of undergraduate
students in these areas. Existing studies are dominated by the opinions and
experiences of academic staff, and are primarily limited to the issues of
research assessment. To our knowledge, there is paucity of research on the
lived experiences of undergraduate students in Lesotho. The aim of this
paper is to explicate the students’ lived experiences of undergraduate
dissertation and its supervision at the National University of Lesotho (NUL).
We used interpretive qualitative research to give ‘voice’ to the participants,
and identified and interpreted key themes from interviews conducted over a
period of two academic years. We specifically used data collected from 17
interviewees in six focus groups, 11 interviewees a year later, documentary
analysis and observation over a period of two academic years. The
interviews were unstructured, and took between 60 and 120 minutes. We
ended the interviews once we realised that no new experiences were related
by participants. The analysis of data resulted in nine themes. In general,
students expressed positive views about dissertation as an important mode
of learning and assessment; acknowledged the important role of research
methodology course in undertaking research; found challenges in
undertaking some parts of dissertation; and complained about supervisors
who were not available, approachable, nurturing, organised, and did not
communicate constructive feedback on timely basis using modern
communication channels. While qualitative research findings cannot be
generalised, we submit that understanding learner experiences can
respectively benefit and inform undergraduate learning and supervision at
universities.
