Doctoral student quest... (Delamont et al. 2000 - so true...!)

individual
|
INTERPERSONAL : SCIENCES
humanistic ---------------------------------------  mechanistic
SOCIOLOGY : POLITICAL
|
group

It is apparent that there is no single  definition of the personal, intellectual quest on which doctoral students embark. Indeed we should not expect there to be one . . .	Scientific and academic knowledge  does not rest on a purely mechanistic set of definitions and requirements.  (Delamont et al. 2000: 51)

My source: Module 6 reading list.

Delamont, S., Atkinson, P. and Parry, O. (2000). The Doctoral Experience: Success and Failure in Graduate School. London: Falmer.

cited in:
Murray, R. (2003). How to Survive Your Viva : Defending a Thesis in an Oral Examination. Maidenhead: Open University Press.