Representing doctoral practice in the laboratory sciences

At the same time, an inherent bias in the current literature has been identified. For example, Pearson (2005: 125) has argued that ‘much of the recent scholarship on doctoral education is focused on social sciences, humanities and professional fields’. More recently, a review of the literature conducted in the United Kingdom found that ‘there is little qualitative research evidence available on the doctoral student experience in science’ (Leonard et al., 2006). Another finding was that the majority of studies were not based on any discernible theoretical framework. A study of doctoral practice in the laboratory sciences is thus an important and timely contribution to the literature. The objective of this chapter is to investigate the representation of doctoral practice with a particular focus on pedagogy.