A glimpse into postgraduate students’ research undertakings

The paper has sought to cover a panorama of issues related to postgraduate students’ challenges in writing research proposals and reports. It used experience survey and insight-stimulating design and therefore, it falls under the category of exploratory research (formulative research study). The data of the research was obtained from 32 postgraduate students and 18 thesis supervisors who were selected using convenience sampling technique. Semi-structured interview and focus group discussion were used to gather data. The findings of the study indicated that among others, lack of relationship between the theoretically acquired knowledge and its application, course delivery technique, English language proficiency level, rapport between supervisors and advisees, and students’ intellectual and psychological readiness were the most prevalent threats posed to postgraduate research undertakings. This paper concluded that post graduate students’ selection criteria should consider test results of applicants’ language proficiency and knowledge in the field to which the students apply as key criteria. In addition, the course delivery techniques should be molded towards applicability of the acquired knowledge.