Interdisciplinary Dissertation Research Among Public Health Doctoral Trainees, 2003-2015

Given the call for more interdisciplinary research in public health, the objectives of this study were to (1) examine the correlates of interdisciplinary dissertation completion and (2) identify secondary fields most common among interdisciplinary public health graduates. METHODS: We analyzed pooled cross-sectional data from 11 120 doctoral graduates in the Survey of Earned Doctorates, 2003-2015. The primary outcome was interdisciplinary dissertation completion. Covariates included primary public health field, sociodemographic characteristics, and institutional attributes. RESULTS: From 2003 to 2015, a total of 4005 of 11 120 (36.0%) doctoral graduates in public health reported interdisciplinary dissertations, with significant increases observed in recent years. Compared with general public health graduates, graduates of environmental health (odds ratio [OR] = 1.74; P < .001) and health services administration (OR = 1.38; P < .001) doctoral programs were significantly more likely to report completing interdisciplinary dissertation work, whereas graduates from biostatistics (OR = 0.51; P < .001) and epidemiology (OR = 0.76; P < .001) were less likely to do so. Completing an interdisciplinary dissertation was associated with being male, a non-US citizen, a graduate of a private institution, and a graduate of an institution with high but not the highest level of research activity. Many secondary dissertation fields reported by interdisciplinary graduates included other public health fields. CONCLUSION: Although interdisciplinary dissertation research among doctoral graduates in public health has increased in recent years, such work is bounded in certain fields of public health and certain types of graduates and institutions. Academic administrators and other stakeholders may use these results to inform greater interdisciplinary activity during doctoral training and to evaluate current and future collaborations across departments or schools

What Do Graduate Students Want From The Writing Center? Tutoring Practices To Support Dissertations and Thesis Writers

Graduate writers—who are experienced students and emerging experts in their fields—face a range of challenges in academic writing, including finding the confidence to write, integrating relevant literature, and interpreting data (Kamler and Thomson 1). Graduate programs require students to produce a large quantity of high-quality, varied writing, and without focused support, developing “these skills may be a function of chance rather than design” (Aitchison 907). Addressing this gap between preparation and expected performance, the Council of Graduate Schools Ph.D. Completion Project recommends writing support as a way to shorten doctoral degree completion time and improve retention. The project calls for writing assistance “through trained writing coaches or writing consultants,” ideally senior-level graduate students, and advises universities to create opportunities for students to “focus on the dissertation . . . receive feedback, and build peer support” (“Executive Summary” 4). Since a lack of help and peer interaction contributes to high attrition rates from doctoral programs, particularly among students in marginalized positions, the stakes of this discussion are high.University Writing Cente

On the shoulders of students? The contribution of PhD students to the advancement of knowledge

Using the participation in peer reviewed publications of all doctoral students in Quebec over the 2000-2007 period this paper provides the first large scale analysis of their research effort. It shows that PhD students contribute to about a third of the publication output of the province, with doctoral students in the natural and medical sciences being present in a higher proportion of papers published than their colleagues of the social sciences and humanities. Collaboration is an important component of this socialization: disciplines in which student collaboration is higher are also those in which doctoral students are the most involved in peer-reviewed publications. In terms of scientific impact, papers co-signed by doctorate students obtain significantly lower citation rates than other Quebec papers, except in natural sciences and engineering. Finally, this paper shows that involving doctoral students in publications is positively linked with degree completion and ulterior career in research.Comment: 41 pages, 7 figures, forthcoming in Scientometric

The PhD track: who succeeds, who drops out?

Doctoral completion rates are an indicator of successful doctoral programmes and of a region's potential of highly skilled workforce. The Human Resources in Research - Flanders (HRRF) database contains data of all academic staff appointments, doctoral student registrations, and doctoral degrees of all Flemish universities from 1990 onwards. Previous research has identified the following factors as affecting successfully completing the PhD: cohort, scientific discipline, type of scholarship or appointment, gender, age, and nationality. We present a competing risk analysis of factors determining PhD completion and drop-out. This event history technique allows for determining the relative impact of each of these characteristics on the level of success/failure and time to degree. It predicts at what time periods the 'time to degree' and 'time till drop out' is most likely to occur, and why some individuals experience the event earlier than others. Our results show that scientific discipline and funding situation are the most important factors predicting success in obtaining the doctorate degree

Some Temperance on the Doctoral Studies and On-Line Education

Toward the goal of doctoral studies, it is necessary to combine two basic characteristics of independent study. I like to call it an independent study, which would be partial to capture the whole of graduate studies. As for its high honor, the title page of dissertation in vast of universities usually use the phrase “...submitted for the partial fulfillment of doctorate degree...”. That phrase implies that the completion of dissertation would be a major part of doctoral studies, but should be partial depending on some of additional factors. Idealistically, that could be the whole quality as an independent researcher or investigator, and possibly the kind of human paradigm as a prospective teacher. In any case, we would not be incorrect if we see our principal work at the graduate level learning the ways of independent scholar. In this context, I would propose some of elements to be addressed in the end to guide the paradigm of doctoral studies and especially involving the e-age

Review of the Book \u3ci\u3eIn Pursuit of the Ph.D.\u3c/i\u3e

[Excerpt] When William Bowen, the President of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation (formerly the President of Princeton University), and Neil Rudenstine, the President of Harvard University (formerly Executive Vice President of Mellon), combine to write a book on doctoral study in the arts and sciences, the academic profession must take notice. And well it should. Building on Bowen and Julie Ann Sosa\u27s (1989) predictions of forthcoming shortages of Ph.D.\u27s in the arts and sciences, In Pursuit of the Ph.D. provides a detailed analysis of the propensity of American college graduates to enter doctoral programs in the arts and sciences and of doctoral students\u27 completion rates and times-to-degree. Bowen and Rudenstine also carefully analyze the role that labor market characteristics, financial support patterns, institutional characteristics, and graduate program policies play in influencing these outcomes. Finally, they both implicitly and explicitly lay out an agenda for future research. In Pursuit is thus a must read for faculty and administrators involved in graduate education and for economists interested in higher education and academic labor supply issues

The Changing Distributions of New Ph.D. Economists and Their Employment: Implications for the Future

[Excerpt] Academic careers are no longer the be-all and end-all for economics Ph.D. students, and the findings and background provided by Siegfried and Stock help to explain why this is so. The median age at which individuals receive economics Ph.D.\u27s in the Siegfried and Stock sample is 32. While they are somewhat surprised at this finding, it parallels the experiences of many other fields. Increasingly, students are working before proceeding to doctoral studies. Often Ph.D. students in economics enter their programs after having spent several years working for government agencies or research consulting companies—work that has whetted their appetites for graduate study in economics that will enable them to make greater contributions in the policy arena. As these students proceed through doctoral studies, average time to degree has also increased. It is unclear whether this has occurred across institutions, or whether the phenomenon is a byproduct of Ph.D.\u27s increasingly coming from lower-ranked institutions at which financial support for graduate students is less adequate. Less adequate financial support is known to lengthen time to degree and reduce doctoral completion rates (Ehrenberg and Mavros, 1995)

On Doctoral Student Development: Exploring Faculty Mentoring in the Shaping of African American Doctoral Student Success

This study examines the influence of faculty mentorship in the shaping of African American doctoral student success. A case analysis framework is used to investigate the belief systems that doctoral students held about their doctoral experience. Data collection involved a one-phase semi-structured interview protocol used to gather information about these experiences from a post-degree perspective. African American doctoral degree completion is addressed as a critical function of student success within an elite educational context. Results of the study demonstrate that the African American doctoral degree completion is complicated by students\u27 perceptions of faculty advising, faculty behavior and the lack of diverse faculty leadership

Reasons for Doctoral non-completion; one non-completing Doctoral student’s voice on limitations in the academic literature

Timely completion has recently been an important focus of academic literature on supervising Doctoral students. This paper is a reflection on the academic literature on timely doctoral completion by a former Doctoral student who has been a serial non-completer. This reflection explores whether academics’ constructions, reported in the research literature, of the causes and symptoms of doctoral non-completion relate to this student’s experience. The reflection concludes that there is a significant blind spot in the Doctoral non-completion literature. This blind spot relates to a possible mismatch between students’ and academics’ conceptions of research. In addition to this conclusion, the paper is a small exemplification of educators using their own autobiographies as learners as a method for critical reflection on practice. It also considers the possibility of developing this approach into autoethnography

How the doctorate contributes to the formation of active researchers: what the research tells us

While much research focuses on factors contributing to doctoral completion, few studies explore the role of the doctorate in forming active researchers with the skills, know-how and appetite to pursue research post-completion. This article investigates 15 existing studies for evidence of what factors in the doctoral experience may contribute to the formation of an active researcher with a capacity for later research productivity. The analysis reveals a productive advisor may be key to forming an active researcher and, although inconclusive, productivity post-completion. Further detailed research is required, however, into how the advisor influences candidates&#039; productivity. The article also points to other potentially influential factors requiring further investigation, such as: developing collaborative capacities, conceptualising the purpose of the doctorate as forming an active researcher, advisor mentoring and fostering emotional engagement with research