Need-achievement, expectations and life purpose: A french-argentine study of PhDs in education

Abstract

Here we present a comparative research study of doctoral programs in the social sciences in Argentina and France (2009-2017). The focus is to analyze professional pathways and their relationship to base, socio-cultural, psychosocial and structural conditioning factors. The perspective of analysis used is macro-meso-micro-macro in sustained interaction, in light of the author‟s systemic theory sui generis: The Three-Dimensional Spiral of Sense. The methodology used was both quantitative and qualitative. In this paper we focus on the qualitative and on only one of its components: Expectations and Need achievement as they relate to a feeling of achievement and personal/Professional Satisfaction. The technique usedwas hierarchical evocation. This allows us to distinguish which aspects are found in the nucleus of representations shared.We worked with three samples, from three doctoral programs in Education. Our findings reveal that in this disciplinary field– historically devalued – is linked to Satisfaction, Life objectives and Achievement more than with economic benefits (investment model).