Dr. Behal is a research methodologist and academic coach. His work is centered on supporting doctoral students as they navigate the hills and valleys of an arduous academic journey. Unlike many coaches that work with a transactional mindset and charge per deliverable, his work is more holistic and not piecemeal. As a strong advocate of evidence-based research and systematic literature reviews, he encourages students to push the envelope and extend the limits of what they see as possible. Students enrolled in doctoral programs typically find that individualized attention is lacking from faculty mentors and guides. Dr. Behal takes pride in addressing this important gap and offering personalized attention to each student, while helping them produce applied research that is both generative and purposeful. Research must help solve real world problems or it amounts to very little.

His expertise lies in qualitative research, particularly hermeneutic phenomenology, critical phenomenology, interpretive phenomenological analysis (IPA), and grounded theory. As a private coach and confidant, he also helps students quickly identify strengths and gray areas on which to concentrate, as they go through the process of applying to prestigious doctoral programs overseas. He charges students a one-time fee for comprehensive support via email, text, and occasional Zoom calls, as needed.

Dr. Behal holds a PhD in human and organizational development and a master’s degree in human and organizational systems from the Fielding Graduate University, Santa Barbara, California. He regularly publishes journal articles on a variety of topics in qualitative research and maintains a robust YouTube channel dedicated to the advancement of qualitative research. Since 2016, he has facilitated 24 onsite qualitative research workshops for doctoral scholars at premier universities in India.