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This study examined postgraduate candidates’ supervision experiences across different research stages at Pakistan’s leading ODL institution. Using a mixed-method sequential design (Quan→qual), it surveyed candidates from four faculties and analyzed responses via an adapted Supervisor-Supervisee Relationship Questionnaire plus autobiographical accounts. Focused group discussions at provincial headquarters explored region-specific, ethnic, and cultural supervision issues, informing academic and administrative improvements.",{"@graph":69,"@context":122},[70,84,105],{"@type":71,"itemListElement":72},"BreadcrumbList",[73,77,79,82],{"item":74,"name":75,"@type":76,"position":8},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":78,"name":9,"@type":76,"position":14},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/",{"item":80,"name":40,"@type":76,"position":81},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/research-report/",3,{"item":83,"name":65,"@type":76,"position":19},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/profiling-the-supervision-experiences-of-postgraduate-research-students-with-different-personal-and-institutional-factors-in-open-and-distance-learning-environment/596368/",{"url":83,"name":65,"@type":85,"image":86,"author":91,"headline":65,"publisher":94,"fileFormat":97,"inLanguage":63,"description":67,"dateModified":98,"datePublished":99,"encodingFormat":97,"isAccessibleForFree":100,"interactionStatistic":101},"DigitalDocument",{"url":87,"@type":88,"width":89,"height":90},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/profiling-the-supervision-experiences-of-postgraduate-research-students-with-different-personal-and-institutional-factors-in-open-and-distance-learning-environment/596368.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":92,"@type":93},"Alexandar","Person",{"url":74,"name":95,"@type":96},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-10-29","2026-10-15",true,{"@type":102,"interactionType":103,"userInteractionCount":24},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":104},"ViewAction",{"@type":106,"mainEntity":107},"FAQPage",[108,114,118],{"name":109,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":111},"What does the study investigate about postgraduate supervision in ODL?","Question",{"text":112,"@type":113},"It investigates supervision experiences of postgraduate research students across different research stages, and how these experiences relate to personal and institutional factors in an open and distance learning environment.","Answer",{"name":115,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":116},"How was the research designed and what methods were used?",{"text":117,"@type":113},"The study used a mixed-method sequential approach (Quan→qual). It combined a survey using an adapted Supervisor-Supervisee Relationship Questionnaire and autobiographical accounts, followed by focused group discussions.",{"name":119,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":120},"Where were the region-specific supervision issues explored?",{"text":121,"@type":113},"Region-specific issues were explored at Provincial Head Quarters (PHQs) of the university, with attention to ethnic and cultural aspects.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":83,"og:type":124,"og:title":65,"og:site_name":95,"og:description":67},"article",{"robots":126,"canonical":83},"index,follow",{"doc_id":128,"site_id":62},596368,1792189146,{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":131},{"doc_id":128,"user_id":132,"nickname":92,"user_avatar":133,"doc_module":4,"category_id":39,"category_name":40,"doc_title":65,"doc_description":67,"doc_content":134,"file_id":135,"file_url":136,"file_type":137,"file_size":138,"view_count":24,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":8,"is_downloadable":8,"audit_status":8,"page_count":139,"language":140,"language_code":63,"site_id":62,"html_lang":63,"table_of_contents":141,"faqs":142,"seo_title":143,"seo_description":67,"update_tm":144,"read_time":145},962090768658,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_6f874abed73319feea01a86fa6f0fab8","Profiling the Supervision Experiences of Postgraduate Research Students with Different Personal and Institutional Factors in Open and Distance Learning Environment  \nTooba Saleem* and Nasir Mahmood**  \nAbstract  \nQuality in research supervision is one of the main concerns among the institutions and stakeholders today especially those involved in open and distance learning (ODL) . This research examined the supervision experiences of postgraduate research candidates during different stages of research at the biggest open and distance learning institution of Pakistan. The study was based on mixed-method approach using sequential design (Quan→qual) . Survey was conducted from the postgraduate research candidates enrolled under the four different faculties of Allama Iqbal Open University, Pakistan. An adapted version of Supervisor-Supervisee Relationship Questionnaire (Saleem, 2014) was administered along with autobiographical accounts of the research candidates selected through a multi-stage sampling design. The generated data were used to identify the supervision related experiences of research candidates with respect to the different personal and institutional factors. Further, to explore region specific supervision issues, their reasons with respect to the ethnic and cultural aspects focused group discussion was conducted at Provincial Head Quarters (PHQs) of the university. The findings implicated valuable academic and administrative adaptations for improving the quality of research supervision practices for open and distance learning institution.  \nKeywords: Research supervision experiences, distance learning, supervisory relationship, Doctoral research  \n*  \nLecturer, Allama Iqbal Open University, Islamabad. Email: [tooba.saleem@aiou.edu.pk](tooba.saleem@aiou.edu.pk)[ ](tooba.saleem@aiou.edu.pk)**  \nProfessor, Allama Iqbal Open University, Islamabad. Email: [nasir.mahmood@aiou.edu.pk](nasir.mahmood@aiou.edu.pk)  \nIntroduction  \nAllama Iqbal Open University is the oldest open and distance learning institution in Pakistan that was established in 1974. It is the largest institution in Pakistan providing mass education to the 1.3 million students from all the corners (i.e. Punjab, Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Baluchistan, Azad Jammu Kashmir and Gilgit Baltistan) of the country. More than 70 percent students are employed, the female enrollment is more than 50 percent. The rural-urban distribution of the students is 58% and 42% respectively. At present a large number of clienteles is in SSC, Intermediate, Bachelor and Teacher Education porgrammes. However, for the last few years the university has been emphasizing more on higher education (AIOU, 2016) . Consequently, the candidates enorolled in postgraduate (MPhil/ PhD) level programmes has significantly grown from 916 to 13062 in the last five years (See figure 1& table 1 for details) .  \n*2012-2016: MPhil/ PhD enrollment data Source: AIOU data information cell  \nFigure 1. Semester-wise male-female enrollment trend in last five years atAIOU  \nCurrently, university is offering MPhil/ PhD degrees under the four disciplines i.e. Education, Social Sciences and Humanities, Islamic Studies ab=nd Physical Sciences and their subsequent departments. Unfortunately, there is a total of only 92 full-time PhD faculty members in the four disciplines (AIOU, 2017) . Hence, it is not possible for the existing faculty to supervise all the enrolled candidates. Moreover, the candidates from far flung areas have freedom to select the supervisor from the nearby universities or from their own university according to their choice.  \nSubsequently, candidates generally prefer to select the supervisors from the nearby universities as most of them are professionals and this flexibility in supervision selection provides them an opportunity to take up their studies along with their jobs. But, meanwhile the quality of supervision becomes a question mark when it comes to monitor their progress, the essential par","cbCaioAEj6nueZ9f","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaioAEj6nueZ9f","pdf",487484,28,"English","# Introduction\n## Rationale of the Research","[{\"question\":\"What does the study investigate about postgraduate supervision in ODL?\",\"answer\":\"It investigates supervision experiences of postgraduate research students across different research stages, and how these experiences relate to personal and institutional factors in an open and distance learning environment.\"},{\"question\":\"How was the research designed and what methods were used?\",\"answer\":\"The study used a mixed-method sequential approach (Quan→qual). It combined a survey using an adapted Supervisor-Supervisee Relationship Questionnaire and autobiographical accounts, followed by focused group discussions.\"},{\"question\":\"Where were the region-specific supervision issues explored?\",\"answer\":\"Region-specific issues were explored at Provincial Head Quarters (PHQs) of the university, with attention to ethnic and cultural aspects.\"}]","Profiling the Supervision Experiences of Postgraduate Research Students with Different Personal and Institutional Factors in Open and Distance Learning Environment | PDF",1792082948,71]