The Path to the Ph.D. Measuring Graduate Attrition in the Sciences and Humanities (1996) / Chapter Skim
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CURRENT APPROACHES TO THE MEASUREMENT OF GRADUATE ATTRITION
CURRENT APPROACHES TO THE MEASUREMENT OF GRADUATE ATTRITION
Pages 13-28
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From page 13... ...
The cumulative effect of studies with different reference dates, different coverage, and different definitions has been to create data sets that generate incompatible statistical results (Duncan 1977~. Despite the limitations, recent studies of student attrition provide a usefi~]
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From page 14... ...
Attrition Dom graduate study refers to a reduction in the number of individuals pursuing the Ph.D. The most accurate calculation of "attrition" depends on the specification of a group or cohort of students who begin doctoral study at the same time and then a later look at that cohort to determine the proportion of students having completed their degrees by a certain time (to derive a "completion rate")
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From page 15... ...
programs vary widely in their definition of when students begin doctoral study, even within the same university. A review of the literature on higher education 7In addition to students no longer enrolled, there are two over groups of"noncompleters": individuals who are still enrolled In the program and Rose who have "stopped out." This latter group Includes students who are not enrolled at a particular time but may return to the program in the fixture.
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From page 16... ...
Student records provide a rich data set that plots the career trajectory of the doctoral work force at a critical phase of its unfolding. With the advent of computerized data systems, there has been a small but increasing trend toward the analysis of student records for purposes of estimating graduate attrition.
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From page 17... ...
The completion rates that we calculate on Be basis of the Ten-Un~versity data set treat all students who have left each university as having dropped out, even though some may have completed a PhD after transferring to another university. The National Fellowship data set, on the over hand, tracks individual students who have moved from one university to another, and the completion rates including transfers will, of course, be somewhat higher than the corresponding completion rates that do not allow for transfers" (pp.
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From page 18... ...
Responding to concerns about anticipated shortages of skilled personnel, the Graduate Division broke from its "traditional role" and undertook research "to design and implement programs that encourage students to complete their degrees and to do so in a reasonable amount of time" (Nerad and Cerny 1991, I)
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From page 19... ...
In addition, Me authors arranged for the administrators in the Graduate Division to meet monthly wad representatives of Me Graduate Council to specify recommendations for action, such as "a new policy requiring students to meet annually with at least two members of Weir dissertation committee to review their progress on their dissertations and to map out a plan for the following year." Contrary to popular belief, Me majority of graduate students who did not earn their doctorates left the program before advancement to candidacy for the Ph.D., not after. Through in-depth interviews, the authors asked 40 UCBerkeley students from history, English, French, and sociology why they left doctoral studies.
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From page 20... ...
The authors found that one of the factors making the study of graduate programs more difficult than studies of undergraduate programs is the fact that there is not "one" doctoral program, but "many": "Every Ph.D.granting department can set its own policies and is quite distinct in its program Dom others within the University." Findings are presented in Figure 2-5 for three divisions at the University of Pennsylvania: the humanities, the social sciences, and the natural sciences. The authors observe major differences among divisions with regard to attrition: The Natural Sciences tend to lose their students early, while other divisions con tinue to lose students even after a decade of study.
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From page 21... ...
Noting that graduate education has many outcomes, Bowen and Rudenstine focus attention on completion rates and time-tode~ee using data Dom a set of ~ O institutions for entering cohorts in six specific fields: English, history, economics, political science, mathematics, and physics. The authors acknowledge that distinguishing Ph.D.
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From page 22... ...
The authors spent over a year on the project using data from five of Me 36 separate Graduate groups In Me School of Arm and Sciences at We Ur~versi~ of Pennsylvania. They gathered a wide variety of academic, demographic, and financial data for each student in order to "build the data base of graduate student information required for this study." Miselis and her colleagues described numerous issues Involved in creating Me computerized data system, noting two general problems they encountered: The first had to do with errors In the natal and the second wad student characteristics.
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From page 23... ...
Several explanations are offered for the differences across fields Financial support continues to be an important factor in degree completion, and there is more support available in the natural sciences than in the humanities or social sciences and less reliance on teaching assistantships. However, even when financial support was not an issue (in the case of fellowship recipients)
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From page 24... ...
colleagues. Students in the humanities doing independent library research have to seek out faculty help, may not receive regular monitoring, and may work alone for long periods oftime.
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Hi. 2.'.: FIGURE 2-7 Attrition by stage and fields, 1967-1971 and 1972-1976 entering cohorts.
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From page 26... ...
Bodian, Lester Hal 1987 "Career Instrumentality of Degree Completion as a Factor in Doctoral Student Attrition." Ph.D. dies., University of Maryland.
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From page 27... ...
27 Valentine, Nancy L 1987 "Factors Related to Attrition Dom Doctor of Education Programs." Paper presented at annual meeting of the Association of Institutional Research, Kansas City, Missouri, May 3-6.
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