An examination of the recent literature revealed there are no established standards for orienting online doctoral students. To address this problem, the relevant literature was examined and suggested that doctoral students can be effectively oriented to their academic environment when provided with the requisite programmatic and institutional information, and factors that support socialization and self-efficacy. A literature-based orientation was developed to examine its impact on students’ first semester success in terms of rates of retention and grade point averages (GPA). This was accomplished using a developmental study approach that included three primary phases: 1) development of a literature-based orientation; 2) implementation of a synchronous online orientation; and 3) evaluation of the impact of the orientation on students’ programmatic knowledge and their perceptions of the factors of self-efficacy and socialization. A survey instrument was developed to evaluate the impact of the orientation on participants and administered to the fall 2017 online doctoral cohort in the criminal justice doctoral (DCJ) program at Nova Southeastern University. Survey results showed that student levels of knowledge increased significantly and those students placed a great deal of value on the socialization factors related to academic relationships with other students and faculty. Students entered the doctoral program with relative high levels of self-efficacy although their confidence level dropped slightly when asked about their ability to persist when encountering personal, financial, or familial difficulties. Included in the evaluation phase were comparisons of archival GPA and retention data from the 2014 DCJ cohort, who did not have the option of participating in a synchronous orientation compared with the 2017 cohort who did participate in the orientation. Additional comparisons were made within the 2017 cohort between those that participated in the orientation and those that did not. The results of the quantitative analyses revealed an 8% increase in retention rates for the 2017 cohort students that participated over the 2014 cohort. The 2017 cohort students that participated in the orientation showed a slight decrease (7%) in overall GPA when compared to the 2014 cohort. Further comparisons made within the 2017 cohort showed that students who participated in the orientation had better rates of retention and GPAs than the students who did not participate. The findings of study provided the following recommendations regarding the minimum standards to include in an orientation including the programmatic factors associated with curriculum requirements, deadline to obtain degree, and location of important program documents such as academic calendars, handbooks/catalogs, and dissertation guidelines. Institutional components included the registration process, academic advisor information, learning management system introduction, research library introduction, financial aid and military veteran specific information. Additionally, the factors that supported socialization and self-efficacy were recommended to be included in a set of orientation standards. Those factors should support student-to-faculty-to-student academic relationships and students who encounter personal, financial, or familial barriers respectively.

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Thesis advisor: Heather Rowan-Kenyon / This study's purpose was to compare the lived experiences of doctoral women studying Education, a prototypically female field, with women studying Engineering, a prototypically male field to illustrate the phenomenon of doctoral degree progress in the two fields. Using critical feminist theory and Valian's (1999) concept of gender schemas, this study examined doctoral education culture in Education and Engineering and how these cultures influence women's doctoral student experiences and in turn their degree progress (Tong, 2009). Although women represent over 50% of doctoral student enrollment and degrees earned, gender disparities exist in Education and Engineering. Once enrolled, women are proportionally more likely to complete Education doctorates and less likely to complete Engineering doctorates (Council of Graduate Schools, 2008; Gonzales, Allum, and Sowell, 2013; Nettles and Millett, 2006). This trend is important because it implies there is something about Education and Engineering doctoral environments that make them more and less conducive for women's success, respectively (Gardner and Mendoza, 2010). This study used a qualitative interpretive phenomenological analysis (IPA) approach to capture the essence of women's doctoral degree progress by interpreting the lived experiences of 10 Education and 11 Engineering doctoral women (Smith, Flowers, and Larkin, 2009). After 63 in-depth interviews and two focus groups, four themes emerged. Overall, the Education women reported fewer positive doctoral experiences and more barriers to degree progress than the Engineering women due to the funding and research assistantship structure, the faculty advisor relationship, and the department environment. Both groups of women described doctoral education culture as proactive, independent, and competitive - characteristics more consistent with masculine gender schemas. Doctoral education culture also reflected the feminine gender schemas of flexibility and collegiality/collaboration, which were more apparent in the prototypically masculine Engineering field than in the prototypically feminine Education field. Implications for how doctoral education can be re-conceptualized, delivered, and researched are provided, calling for the incorporation of more feminine gender schemas into doctoral education culture in order to promote and achieve gender equity. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2014. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Educational Leadership and Higher Education.

Career prospects are a motivating factor for entry and retention of doctoral students, especially in the discipline of engineering. While doctoral student training provides them with highly specialized skills to be an independent researcher, they may not have the requisite skills or guidance to secure the job position of their choice. Therefore, it is important to provide doctoral students with opportunities, training, and information (i.e., resources) about different types of careers to not only ensure they are productive contributors of teaching and research, but also equip them for future career prospects. Research techniques based upon in-depth narrative interviews and combining research with action were used to explain how doctoral students develop and fit in with their intended careers and was used to explore what supports and challenges contribute to their intended career paths. Analysis of the data revealed three themes: (1) Engineering Doctoral Identity; (2) Engineering Doctoral Skill Development; and (3) Time. Research emerged as central to engineering doctoral identity and was reinforced by ‘Insiders’, or people who had a Ph.D. in engineering. Insiders’ and doctoral students’ value of research came at the cost of relatively devaluing other skills (e.g., teaching) and associated career resources. These students had to consider and compromise how they fit within an engineering doctoral identity that is premised on research. This negotiation influenced the skills they developed and how they crafted tactics to acquire necessary skills for future careers. At the same time, participants were struggling to cope with immediate demands of their study while also working towards future career goals. Participants struggled to optimize their time, and in response utilized “Time Adaptive Tactics” such as flexibility, networking, and leveraging career resources. Engineering doctoral student and university staff perceptions of career resources were compared against each other which revealed that students utilize resources based upon a hierarchy that considers how specific and close in time and location those resources are. Whereas staff believed their resources were beneficial regardless of these factors. Additionally, the career resources that participants used were influenced by Insiders and how they implicitly showed they valued those resources.

The doctoral student completion rate in the United States is approximately 57% across all disciplines. The purpose of this mixed-methods study was to investigate doctoral students' perceptions of program completion across multiple online doctoral programs at a single university. The quantitative component examined differences in 4 doctoral program completion-related factors between students in 2 capstone completion stages and 6 academic programs. The qualitative component included an analysis of student perceptions of program completion. Attribution theory was used as a framework to understand the ways that personal attributions influence the success of the participants. The Doctoral Completion and Persistence Scale (DCPS) used in this study measured success scales of individual ability to persist, inter-program relationships, program culture, and dissertation preparation. Four 2-way analysis of variances were used to test for mean differences in these scale scores between preprospectus (n = 10) and postprospectus (n = 18) students enrolled in the doctoral programs. Individual ability to persist scores were significantly higher for preprospectus students and there were no significant differences found between programs. The DCPS' qualitative open-ended prompts were also analyzed for themes in reflections. Open coding and thematic analysis revealed that faculty relationships were an important emergent theme for maintaining persistence for all students. A professional development project was developed to provide strategies to assist doctoral stakeholders in their efforts to increase student persistence. Positive social change results when students persist and complete their doctoral programs with the collective support of stakeholders.

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The peculiarities of Lithuanian doctoral students’ professional identity and its multiplicity are analyzed. It is presumed that psychological, social and academic environmental factors may explain the doctoral students’ professional identity expression, which is observed through the professional roles: researcher-scientist, teacher and public service provider/practitioner. The theoretical part presents the problems of terminology regarding identity phenomenon, a disquisition of the professional identity concept by integrating identity and social identity theories, the peculiarities of the doctoral student’s professional identity formation within the career construction theory perspective, analysis of the factors that possibly explain doctoral student’s professional identity expression in the context of the systems theory, and finally, a theoretical model of the study is constructed. The empirical part covers the results of the study implemented in 2013. The sample consisted of 494 doctoral students from 22 higher education institutions in Lithuania. The results indicated that particular personality traits and thinking styles, subjectively perceived social support from various sources (scientific supervisor, colleagues and other students, employer, family and friends), as well as academic environmental factors (working conditions and scientific field) are significant for doctoral students’ identification with different professional roles. Modeling the interaction of factors... [to full text] / Daktaro disertacijoje analizuojama Lietuvos doktorantų profesinio identiteto daugialypiškumo problematika. Darbe keliama prielaida, kad psichologiniai, socialiniai ir akademinės aplinkos veiksniai gali paaiškinti doktorantų profesinio identiteto raišką, kurią stebime per atliekamus profesinius vaidmenis: tyrėjo-mokslininko, dėstytojo ir visuomeninių paslaugų teikėjo/praktiko. Disertacijos teorinėje dalyje pristatoma identiteto reiškinio terminijos problematika, profesinio identiteto sampratos aiškinimas integruojant identiteto ir socialinio identiteto teorijas, doktoranto profesinio identiteto formavimosi ypatumai per karjeros konstravimo teorijos prizmę, doktoranto profesinį identitetą lemiančių veiksnių analizė sistemų teorijos kontekste, pateikiamas teorinis tyrimo modelis. Empirinėje darbo dalyje pristatomi 2013 m. atliktos Lietuvos doktorantų apklausos rezultatai. Tyrimo imtis – 494 doktorantai iš 22 aukštojo mokslo institucijų Lietuvoje. Tyrimo rezultatų analizė atskleidė, kad tam tikri doktorantų asmenybės bruožai bei mąstymo stiliai, subjektyviai suvokiamas palaikymas iš skirtingų socialinių šaltinių (mokslinio vadovo, kolegų ir kitų studentų, šeimos ir draugų, darbdavio) bei akademinės aplinkos veiksniai (darbo sąlygos bei mokslo sritis) turi reikšmę doktorantų identifikacijai su skirtingais profesiniais vaidmenimis. Kompleksinis veiksnių sąveikos įvertinimas atskleidė, kad doktorantų profesinio identiteto raiškai tam tikri veiksniai yra svarbūs netiesiogiai, o per... [toliau žr. visą tekstą]

Background: Challenges in thesis proposal writing have resulted in doctoral students dropping from research studies resulting in the shortage of doctoral prepared nurses. Impediments include lack of human and non-human resources. Benner’s theory of novice to expert formed the basis for the development of the strategic intervention and action plan to address the challenges and strengths experienced by master’s prepared doctoral students during thesis proposal writing Purpose: The purpose of this research was to develop a strategic intervention and action plan that can be used to assist doctoral students to succeed in thesis proposal writing. Methods: An exploratory mixed-methods approach combining qualitative and quantitative data collection and analysis in four phases was used. In Phase 1 qualitative data from two open-ended questions were used to gather data, combined with literature to develop a questionnaire for Phase 2. A questionnaire was developed from data obtained from Phase 2 as well as a thorough literature review to develop the strategic intervention and Action plan. In Phase 4 the strategic intervention and action plan was validated using the Delphi technique and experts acted as panellists for the validation. Framework: Benner’s novice to expert theoretical framework was adopted for the study because of the assumption that doctoral students need a change of perception and assistance in order to develop critical thinking skills that will enhance the development of research competencies. This framework was used because of its relevance to the study. Research Findings: Competence in doctoral thesis proposal writing is affected by human resources as well as non-human resources. The identified strategic interventions that were included in the action plan were: recruitment of competent supervisors, training and mentoring of new supervisors, achieving of a realistic student/supervisor ratio for supervision of students, timely allocation of supervisors, recruiting of subject librarians and employment of adequate library support, provision of peer support programmes, implementation of a student recruitment and selection plan, provision of student support programmes to enhance research skills and competencies, binding contracts to stipulate students responsibility, provision of adequate research resources, and implementation of a bursary system among others. Conclusion: The strategic intervention and action plan was developed using the input of doctoral nursing students who were in the process of completing their thesis proposal and a thorough literature review. The inclusion of the deans of nursing of universities and universities of technology of South Africa (FUNDISA) will enhance the possibility for the implementation of the strategic intervention and action plan which can contribute to assisting the master’s prepared doctoral students to successfully transition from novice students with little or no research knowledge to competent thesis proposal writers. / Health Studies / D. Litt. et Phil. (Health Studies)