The Profile of the Supervising Lecturer: On the Association between Supervision Outputs and the Nature of the Supervision

This study is a pioneer study that seeks to explore the association between supervision outputs and the nature of the supervision (by e-mail, face-to-face, the student’s independence). In addition, the association between the supervising lecturer’s personal background (gender, age), professional background (faculty, tenure, excellence in teaching), and the supervision outputs (articles written, presentations at conferences) and nature of the supervision is explored. The purpose of the study is to explore items in depth so that they can be used in developing a questionnaire exploring the association between supervision outputs and the nature of the supervision. The research findings show, for various items, significant interactions between age and gender, excellence in teaching, and tenure. Significant interactions were also found between gender and faculty, as well as between age and excellence in teaching. Differences were also found between faculties. The findings of this study might have practical consequences for establishing the output-guided association in research supervision, as well as for establishing the practical association between the nature of the supervision and the lecturer’s personal background, professional background, the supervision outputs, and the nature of the supervision. These findings constitute a foundation for methodological thinking concerning supervision by staff members, a subject that has considerable meaning for the initial steps taken by young student researchers and for the systematic establishment of the pattern of academic supervision, which although not frontal teaching may be even more demanding.