Doing a PhD is for most scholars a demanding and emotionally strenuous experience, frequently resulting in potentially promising researchers succumbing to despair soon after embarking on the journey. However, those who complete their doctoral studies recollect subsequently both the frustrations and exciting experiences encountered. This article describes one researcher’s ruminations to make sense of the extensive systematic analysis utilised in a quest to obtain a PhD and to understand the academic essence of the scholarly contribution of her PhD. Using the seven fundamental properties of Weick’s (1995) sensemaking theory as the theoretical lens, the researcher reflects on the experiences and observations faced en route to completing her PhD. The seven properties form the backdrop of the researcher’s qualitative sensemaking methodology in which she formulated three key phases to illustrate her sensemaking road, namely Mapping the Journey, Travelling the Road, and Reaching the Destination. This article reinforces the extent of the challenges a PhD study holds and provides detail of and insight into the application of the sensemaking theory that may be useful to postgraduate researchers and supervisors involved in qualitative inquiry.

中文翻译：

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攻读博士学位：通过感官分析镜头描绘旅程

对大多数学者来说，攻读博士学位是一种艰苦而又艰辛的经历，这常常导致潜在的有前途的研究人员在踏上旅程后很快就绝望了。然而，那些完成博士研究的人随后会回忆起所遇到的挫败感和令人兴奋的经历。本文介绍了一位研究人员的反省，以理解为寻求博士学位并了解其博士学位的学术贡献的学术本质而进行的广泛的系统分析。以韦克（1995）的感官制造理论的七个基本特性为理论视角，研究人员反思了在完成博士学位期间所面临的经验和观察。这七个属性构成了研究人员定性的感官方法论的背景，在该方法论中，她制定了三个关键阶段来说明她的感官道路，即：绘制旅程，行进路线和到达目的地。本文强调了博士学位研究面临的挑战的程度，并提供了意义分析理论的应用的详细信息和洞察力，这可能对参与定性探究的研究生研究人员和管理人员很有用。