Abstract
Emphasis is growing on the use and form of doctoral acknowledgements, which are often viewed as sites of gratitude. Research has not addressed whether examiners are influenced by doctoral acknowledgements. We explore whether examiners read or do not read the acknowledgements, the reasons for their choice in this regard and whether the acknowledgements have an impact on examiners' overall judgement of the thesis. Data collected through an exploratory qualitative online survey indicated that the majority of examiners do read the acknowledgements for a number of reasons: to check on the extent to which the work is the candidate's own, to check on the quality of the student or supervisors and to discern the human being behind the thesis. Those who do not read them believe that the acknowledgements are not relevant to the examination process, they are not part of science, they are a personal statement and they have nothing to do with the quality of the work. Even though the majority of the examiners believe that they are not influenced by the acknowledgements, there was bias in their responses. This insight has pedagogical implications that relate to how doctoral supervisors and doctoral candidates understand and structure acknowledgements to meet the requirements of the examiners.