The role of research project participation on PhD students perceived skill enhancement

Abstract This paper explores the association between PhD students’ research project participation and perceived skill enhancement during doctoral studies. Based on data of 10,819 PhD students in Chinese mainland universities, we assess if they perceive participation in research projects to have enhanced their research and generic skills. The findings show that participation in research projects leads to a perceived enhancement of skills. Participation in more projects leads to a perceived accumulated gain in both research and generic skills. The perception of skill enhancement from participating in projects can be mostly explained by the level of satisfaction with research project participation. The effects of ability, proxied by the undergraduate university and the number of publications of students as the first or corresponding authors, are mixed. Student engagement in specific tasks, such as project research design, contributes to the perception of skill enhancement, whereas participation in most other tasks appears irrelevant. This suggests that involvement in particular activities may be less critical than anticipated for the perceived development of research and generic skills. Overall, the findings indicate that participating in research projects during doctoral studies enhances the perceived acquisition of both research and generic skills, positioning project involvement as a key activity for skill development.