I tried hard to follow my supervisor’s guidance and instruction and respect her authority, but her approach led me to where I was unable to function or make progress... They blamed me for being slow in completing tasks.

If I asked a question, expect to be told to find my own answer. If that answer is wrong, be sent away to come up with another one. Spend months alone with the questionnaire, going over and over again....

In our last supervision session my request to discuss how we worked, my inability to make progress with their way of responding to my work in progress, the tears pouring down my face, were not mentioned.  Instead I was given a description of how they thought of me: ‘i'm struggling to write’, no politeness or support, they told I should think carefully to stop n come back again, I'm like Asian Student will only do what have been asked, not expecting me to be a dependent PhD student, which apparently ends in a statement I'm underperformance, not meeting their expectations, slow... Bla bla bla.. I'm not like other part-time students, they are far more better than me, coz they have done most of the tasks given...Maybe this is not a right time to study PhD... I was asked to finished unrealistic tasks within three months .... And if not, I'm inability to progress.

I'm not sure what should i do.. If I didn’t like their approach, or thought that they were the right supervisors...maybe I could go to a different faculty and find another or other supervisors who won’t mind I'm slow... This response showed neither an understanding of having a supervisor will help nor my own intention to complete in a timely manner...

I'm not sure what should i do...

It's a bit hard to understand what you are trying to say. Have you told your supervisors that you are struggling and they have said you are under performing?

It's quite common for supervisors to not answer questions and expect you to think about it. Have you tried asking the question and giving them a list of options and saying that you're not sure which one it is? If they still tell you to read more after this, then insist that they tell you the answer because you can't find out. Don't forget that half the time they don't know the answer (but they don't want to tell you this) or there may not be one!

Don't agree to complete tasks that you know you can't do! You need to be more assertive. You could take someone else into one of your meetings with you maybe? Have you tried talking to the pastoral support in your department? It's usually another academic.

These problems are caused by poor communication. Your supervisors don't understand why you are not doing what they want you to do, and you aren't able to make them understand. That's why explaining it to someone else and having them discuss this with supervisors is probably better that you trying to manage this alone.

I think it's very easy for part-time students to underestimate how much time needs to be dedicated to the PhD to have a chance of completing in time, and I wonder if this is what is happening here. The supervisors know that you need to reach milestones by certain points and you're off target. I know you think they are unfair to complain about your progress but if they know you are heading towards failing an annual review / upgrade process, then they do have to warn you.

It sounds like there is a bit of a mismatch of expectations. You feel that you are struggling and need more support and time yet your supervisors are expecting you to work more independently (and quickly). Independent study is what the PhD is about, that is true. But at the same time, we should be able to expect some guidance from our supervisors. It is hard to judge a situation from one posting.

My suggestions would be to take a bit of time out (a few days) away from the situation, and during or after this time really reflect on the following: Are their expectations really unreasonable? Do you want to make this work? Could you work in a more effective way? What could help you be more efficient? Are there any other sources of support you can use, e.g., other students for advice?

Also I would definitely recommend talking to your advisor if you have one. Try not to criticize your supervisors (even if you think they are worthy of it). Take an attitude of: I want to make this work (if you do). Switching supervisors may be something you can talk about with the advisor/support person. It could be that you need to make some changes too, not just your supervisors. In that case, switching supervisors would not help - the same problems would happen again.

Good luck.

Hi, elaineckf,

I echo what Tudor_Queen has said. There appears to be a mismatch of expectations. You want someone hands on, they are very hands off. However, asking you to spend months alone is too much, even if they want to train you. Another thing to consider is, did they send you away "to find your own answer" because perhaps they did not know it themselves and wanted to look good? Are you the first student working on a new area of research in your group?

You stated: "maybe I could go to a different faculty and find another or other supervisors". I have worked with enough students with problems now to say "Please trust your gut feelings". These supervisors and this project just might not be the one for you. Importantly, you are still so early in your candidature and can change things. Please talk to your postgraduate coordinator or PHD department officer in confidence. They can give you advice on potential things that you could try to solve the situation. Generally, people (aka supervisors) never change, so you will have to change your behaviour and/or environment (project + group) to improve the situation. The decision is yours to make.

Besides that, I think your supervisors are potentially racist when they said you are "like Asian Student will only do what have been asked..." Why work with people like that? I will stop my comment at that.