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The Path to the Ph.D. Measuring Graduate Attrition in the Sciences and Humanities (1996) / Chapter Skim
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IDENTIFYING FACTORS THOUGHT TO CONTRIBUTE TO GRADUATE ATTRITION
Pages 29-32

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From page 29...
... In this method, records for students in one data set may be linked with information in another data set to examine the role of"antecedent conditions" that account for differences in completion outcomes. 29 The methodological difficulties encountered in linking separate data sets maintained by different organizations for the purposes of longitudinal analysis are demonstrated by the paucity of studies of this kind.
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From page 30...
... The authors concluded that formal doctoral preparation may be only as effective as "the informal support system that faculty and peers provide, and in some programs, for some people, such support is never provided." Issues in Measurement The work by Jacks and her colleagues is by no means a rigorous statistical account of attrition Mom doctoral programs. As the authors suggest, the study may best be considered "a collective biography of would-be scientists who consented to reflect In 19gO on their experiences in graduate school." As a measurement tool, prosopography (development of the collective biography)
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From page 31...
... Arguing that these graduate school mamculants had already been selected on the basis of those scores, Zwick suggests: "Within the select population of graduate students, it is likely that such personality factors as perseverance .
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From page 32...
... These studies demonstrate the utility of linking data sets in examinations of completion patterns. More formal analysis of these variables and other antecedent conditions might be considered by the research community as the opportunity to conduct this type of analysis presents itself again.
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Key Terms

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  • attainment patterns
  • longitudinal analyses
  • gre quantitative
  • graduate record
  • degree completion

  • school careers
  • entry date
  • augmenting statistical
  • authors suggest
  • analyzed undergraduate

  • programs revolved
  • supply data
  • leaving doctoral
  • graduate careers
  • subsequently determined

  • academic programs
  • include gre
  • record exam
  • studies demonstrate
  • predicted observed


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