Feedback is a significant and productive contribution in the creation of a good quality thesis. Researchers need to seek feedback and use it in their research. Ph.D. is away from regular lectures, tutorials or classroom sessions. Most of the work that is done is the initiative, and the effort of the researcher himself. It is independent decision making only with some broader guidance from the end of the supervisor. Not all the initiatives lead to success followed by regular and timely feedback. It is important to understand whether the effort and energy are getting used in the right direction. As a scholar, you need to take an initiative to meet up with your supervisor and ensure that his feedback is getting used towards improvising the quality of your work.
Remember that just casual interaction is not good enough. You need regular, focused, and timely supervision so that it is actually fruitful for the improvisation of your content. Let us discuss here the different areas of your dissertation, where you need to get feedback from your guide:
In the formative stage: At this stage, you may want to discuss ideas so that you can know that they are feasible, practical, and result oriented. The experience and expertise of your supervisor would be needed here to ensure that the foundation of your thesis is strong and result oriented.
The middle years: By this stage, the results would have started to produce, and you get to know what is the best methodology and approach to analyse your results. Some things which are not working, or are the hurdles and obstacles in your journey, you need to identify them at this stage and remove them from the further effort of your research. You must specifically, and directly seek from your supervisor the input regarding whether or not your results are going in the right direction.
At the later stage: This is very crucial. At this stage, your supervisor can judge the quality of your work, and suggest how you can present it better or embellish it with add on to make it ready for approvals and clearance. The suggestion given by him may not occur to you because you have not faced it before, and he has the experience and expertise which you don’t have at this stage. The quality of work can be enriched, and improved by the right feedback at this stage.
I think feedback is the mostly crucial thing during that time of research. It is what improves the overall quality of the work.
If you ask me, feedback is the most annoying thing in the PhD journey.
Athough feedback is annoying, it is essential as it can provide a scope for improvement.