The purposes of the study were to identify the dimensions of the quality of doctoral programs, to develop a qualitative index based on these dimensions, and to examine the validity of the index. A total of ten objective variables and 200 doctoral programs in the disciplines of physics, electrical engineering, biochemistry, and sociology were examined in this study. Alpha common factor analysis rotated using varimax was the statistical technique employed to identify the dimensions of quality. Factor analysis identified two dimensions of the quality of doctoral programs in physics, electrical engineering, biochemistry, and sociology. The first dimension was the size-related input dimension dominated primarily by variables such as the number of graduate students, the number of faculty, the amount of departmental research spending, and the size of the library. The second dimension was the outcomes dimension dominated by variables such as the student success rate of gaining academic/research positions in Ph.D.-granting universities, faculty research productivity, faculty grantsmanship, and the student success rate of gaining professional employment outside academia. When one or both dimensions were used as bases for ranking programs, the method that used both dimensions (the composite QI) was better in producing plausible rankings of programs. The main advantage of using both dimensions was that the second dimension acted as a suppressant (or control) to the first factor causing the index to produce a more plausible estimate of quality.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:arizona.edu/oai:arizona.openrepository.com:10150/188016 |
| Date | January 1985 |
| Creators | TAN, DAVID LYE. |
| Publisher | The University of Arizona. |
| Source Sets | University of Arizona |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text, Dissertation-Reproduction (electronic) |
| Rights | Copyright © is held by the author. Digital access to this material is made possible by the University Libraries, University of Arizona. Further transmission, reproduction or presentation (such as public display or performance) of protected items is prohibited except with permission of the author. |
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