Cornered by Corona while writing a master’s thesis - Juggling multiple and opposing roles in a confined time and space

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.7146/qs.v9i3.149708

Keywords:

Master's thesis writing, COVID-19, female student, phenomenological life-world approach, single case study

Abstract

Writing a master’s thesis is often loaded with expectations and sometimes also a certain amount of anxiety. In this regard, previous research has mostly focused on the importance of the supervisor–supervisee relationship and not how students’ everyday lives and working conditions affect their writing process. Based on a single case study, we reveal tacit understandings and typifications of how everyday life affects master’s thesis writing, Looking at the pandemic as a breach, the analysis shows how COVID19 can function as a magnifying glass and expose how a female student managed to study when confined to home during lockdown. The analysis shows how she struggled to fulfil her ideals of being a good mother, a good student, and a good citizen and how the compression and collision of these typifications within limited time and space placed her in a double-bind situation, which led to emotional exhaustion and was counterproductive for her writing process. In conclusion, we argue that these findings call for a more holistic end ethical approach to master’s thesis supervision taking into consideration the moral and emotional pressures that master’s students encounter in their everyday lives.

Author Biographies

Helle Merete Nordentoft, Aarhus University, Danish School of Education

Helle Merete Nordentoft is an associate professor in guidance and counselling at the Department of Educational Science at Aarhus University, Denmark. She researches collective, interdisciplinary interactions and counselling practices in health care and educational settings. In her research, she uses participatory and visual qualitative methodological approaches from micro-sociological and sociocultural perspectives. Her ambition is to understand how diversity and, recently, GAI become drivers in students’ and practitioners’ critical reflexive learning processes.

Pia Seidler Cort, Aarhus University, Danish School of Education

Pia Seidler Cort is an associate professor at the Department of Educational Science at Aarhus University, Denmark. Her main fields of research are lifelong learning and lifelong guidance, with an emphasis on adult education and vocational education and training. She is interested in exploring the relationship between policy and practice and the implications of policy for organisations, professionals, and individuals. In recent years, she has gained an interest in temporal aspects of policy and practice, exploring the relationship between different temporal conceptualisations and rhythms.

Anne Larson, Aarhus University, Danish School of Education

Anne Larson is an associate professor at the Department of Educational Sociology at Aarhus University, Denmark. Her main research areas are education policy, adult education, and lifelong learning. She is interested in the relationship between different policy levels, e.g., transnational and national policy, and in how policy affects everyday life in organisations and individuals. With many years of experience as a university lecturer, she has recently become increasingly interested in how education policy shapes students' conditions.

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Published

2024-09-20

How to Cite

Nordentoft, H. M., Cort, P. S., & Larson, A. (2024). Cornered by Corona while writing a master’s thesis - Juggling multiple and opposing roles in a confined time and space. Qualitative Studies, 9(3), 96–121. https://doi.org/10.7146/qs.v9i3.149708

Issue

Vol. 9 No. 3 (2024): Educational Leadership in Higher Education

Section

Articles in English

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