Experiences influencing degree completion articulated by doctoral students in education administration.

Higher education;Doctoral students;Graduate students;Persistence;Degree completion;Social integration;Academic integration

David Lee Barnett

University:University of Louisville

Department:Department of Leadership, Foundations, and Human Resource Education

关键词: Higher education;    Doctoral students;    Graduate students;    Persistence;    Degree completion;    Social integration;    Academic integration;   

Others  :  https://ir.library.louisville.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1073&context=etd

美国|英语

来源: The Universite of Louisville's Institutional Repository

【 摘 要 】

Educational literature indicates that approximately half of all doctoralstudents persist to degree completion. The literature indicates persistence ratesamong the social sciences are even lower. This study examined factorsinfluencing doctoral student persistence in education administration programs.Tinto's theory of graduate student persistence framed four researchquestions: Do the demographics of doctoral students persisting to degreecompletion in education administration differ from those not completing theirprograms? Do doctoral students in education administration programs articulateexperiences of academic integration as influencing their persistence? Dodoctoral students in education administration programs articulate experiences ofsocial integration as influencing their persistence? Do doctoral students ineducation administration programs attribute commitments to external obligationsas influencing their persistence?The design of the study was interpretive and exploratory in nature andutilized constant comparative analysis techniques. Survey and interview were used to collect participant views of doctoral student experiences. Participants (N= 30) for the study included those who had completed their dissertations (N = 15)and those who were All But Dissertation (N = 15) and attended twocomprehensive research universities in the southeastern United States.The major findings from the study were that (a) no differences existed indemographics reported by degree completers and ABO participants; (b) degreecompleters described experiences related to academic integration, socialintegration, and external obligations as having sustaining effects on theirperSistence to degree completion; (c) and ABO participants describedexperiences related to academic integration, social integration, and externalobligations as having restraining effects on their perSistence.Findings indicated that students having positive academic and socialintegration experiences and the ability to negotiate shared responsibility forduties related to external obligations were more likely to complete theirprograms. Findings also supported that students having negative academic andsocial integration experiences and an inability to negotiate shared responsibilityfor duties related to external obligations were less likely to complete theirprograms.