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Growth mindsets and research development: a mixed-methods study among doctoral students
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DOI：10.1080/03075079.2026.2675462.png)
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Abstract
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Growth mindsets, or the belief that abilities could improve through effort and strategies, have been extensively studied in K-12 education, where they have been found to be positively associated with academic development. However, their application in doctoral education, a more complex and autonomous learning context, has received limited attention. This represents an important gap, as doctoral students are not only expected to master existing knowledge but also to produce new knowledge under considerable intellectual and emotional demands. To address this gap, we adopted an explanatory sequential mixed-methods design to examine how growth mindsets related to doctoral students’ research development. Study 1 used a quantitative approach, involving surveys with 379 students. We found that stronger growth mindsets were associated with higher research skills, self-efficacy, productivity, and satisfaction, and these associations were consistent across gender, discipline, study phase, and socioeconomic background. Study 2 used a qualitative approach involving interviews with 18 students. The qualitative findings broadly corroborated the quantitative results and surfaced new themes, including the key roles of adaptive motivation and self-regulated learning in explaining how growth mindsets contribute to research development. Furthermore, supervisor and peer support were also important in supporting students’ growth mindsets. These findings underscore the value of fostering growth mindsets to support doctoral students’ research development amid an increasingly demanding academic landscape.
Keywords:
Growth mindsets
doctoral students
research development
research skills
research satisfaction
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