Research skills of university faculty and their impact on thesis supervision
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.47606/ACVEN/PH0594Keywords:
research skills, thesis supervision, scientific output, methodological quality, higher education.Abstract
Writing a thesis is a complex stage of university education, in which students integrate theoretical and methodological decisions under the guidance of an academic advisor. The objective of this study was to determine the impact of university faculty members’ research competencies on their supervision of undergraduate theses in education. A quantitative, non-experimental, retrospective, document-based study was conducted involving 32 advisor–thesis pairs from four private Peruvian universities. Each advisor’s research trajectory was reconstructed using a five-year retrospective window encompassing the year the thesis was approved and the four preceding years. Competencies were assessed based on productivity, continuity, publications in education, and thematic affinity; thesis supervision was approximated through the methodological quality of the completed theses. A total of 140 publications were identified; 19 advisors (59.4%) had at least one eligible publication, and 10 (31.3%) demonstrated research continuity. Thematic affinity could be calculated for 19 pairs and was predominantly low. The data did not provide sufficient statistical evidence of an association between the research indicators and methodological quality; the models showed low explanatory power and wide confidence intervals. It was concluded that, in the sample analyzed, higher scientific productivity or greater thematic similarity did not necessarily imply better methodological quality in the theses.
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Copyright (c) 2026 Armelo Lopez-Peña , Daniel Mijahuanga-Chumbe , David Jonatán Valdéz-Revilla , Doris Maribel Lloclla-Rosillo
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