Doctoral Dissertation Research: Analysis of Institutional Characteristics that Contribute to Extended Time to Doctoral Degree

本研究的目的是找出影响博士生完成学业和毕业所需时间最长的制度性因素。与他们的学科同行进行比较的是具有全国代表性的样本，但没有透露任何机构或学生的身份。这项研究合并了来自两个国家收集的数据来源：(1)博士生收入调查(SED)；(2)来自国家研究委员会(NRC)的基于数据的美国研究-博士项目评估的补充数据(而不是排名)。SED和NRC数据被合并，以使用NRC分类法确定每个学科内的时间到学位的模式和延长的时间到学位的时间点。然后，分析寻找不同水平的数据之间的相互作用--学生素质、社会人口因素和制度因素--以确定哪些因素在一定程度上影响延长的时间。这项研究背后的驱动力在目前的文献中是空白的。我们知道，攻读博士学位的时间长短在不同学科之间差别很大。虽然其他研究已经评估了各种个人和项目因素之间的交互作用，但制度因素对延长学位时间的影响尚未得到具体调查。此外，以前还没有使用合并的SED和NRC数据来评估博士学位延长时间的统计分析。这项研究试图填补这一空白，并为知识体系增加新的信息。更广泛的影响：这项研究的一个重要结果将是基于研究确定与延长时间到程度相关的制度因素。机构、博士生和研究人员都将能够识别受学位延长现象影响的不同领域和人群，从而就促进及时完成博士学位的有效战略做出更明智的决定。该项目还将培训一名使用多个大规模国家数据集的新研究人员。

The purpose of this research is to identify institutional factors that impact time to degree for the doctoral students who take the longest to complete their studies and graduate. Comparisons are made relative to their disciplinary peers, across nationally representative samples, without disclosing the identity of any institution or student. This study merges data from two nationally collected sources: (1) The Survey of Earned Doctorates (SED); and (2) The supplemental data (not rankings) from the National Research Council's (NRC) A Data-based Assessment of Research-Doctorate Programs in the United States. The SED and NRC data are merged to determine the patterns of time to degree and the point of extended time to degree within each discipline using the NRC taxonomy. The analysis then looks for interactions between the different levels of data--student qualities, socio-demographic factors, and institutional factors--to identify which factors influence extended time to degree.The driving force behind the research is a void in the current literature. We know that the length of time to doctoral degree varies widely within and across disciplines. While other research has evaluated interactions between various individual and program factors on time to doctoral degree, the impact of institutional factors on extended time to degree has not been specifically investigated. Furthermore, a statistical analysis has not previously been conducted using merged SED and NRC data to evaluate extended time to doctoral degree. This research seeks to fill that void and to add new information to the body of knowledge. Broader impacts: One significant outcome from this study will be the research-based identification of institutional factors associated with extended time to degree. Institutions, doctoral students, and researchers will all be able to identify different fields and populations impacted by the phenomenon of extended time to degree and thereby make more informed decisions about effective strategies to promote timely doctoral degree completion. This project will also train a new researcher in the use of multiple large-scale national datasets.