Selection Process of Supervisor for Doctoral Dissertation Using Analytical Network Process (ANP): An Iranian Study

Abstract

One of the most critical activities that the PhD. Student maybe faced is selecting supervisor for her dissertation. Most often these decisions are in the form of a selection problem from a finite number of choices. The selection is based on a set of criteria, such as professors’ reputation, knowledge, and matching of interests among others. However, the application of these criteria in selecting a supervisor is often done in an unplanned manner, which can become one of the reasons for regret, lack of motivation, and poor quality of research output.
The need for having a supervisor who fits well with the students’ preferences can hardly be overemphasized. The basic assumptions in this study, is that the criterions have relationships with each others. So the AHP method could not be a good way for evaluating the problem.
The paper aims to demonstrate the use of analytical network process (ANP) in the selection of a thesis supervisor. A survey of doctoral students is conducted to obtain a list of criteria that are significant for selection of a research guide and then modeled as an ANP problem. A survey of junior and senior doctoral students in Tehran University is also conducted to ascertain the relative weights of the criteria elements to demonstrate the application of the proposed method.