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--- breaking the silence ---

Toward a Theory of Women's Doctoral Persistence

© Roberta-Anne Kerlin, 1997

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Title Page
Abstract
List of Tables
List of Figures
Acknowledgements
Dedication
Desideratum
Prelude to Dissertation

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

  1. Women's Participation in Higher Education
  2. Problems in Doctoral Education
    1. Increased Time to Degree
    2. Attrition in Doctoral Programs of Study
    3. Why the Concern about Attrition and Time-to-Degree?
  3. The Call for New Understandings of Doctoral Persistence
  4. Research Questions
  5. About the Study
  6. Theoretical Framework of the Study
  7. Significance of the Study
  8. Assumptions Underlying the Study
  9. Limitations of the Study

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW

  1. Introduction
  2. A Statistical Portrait of Doctoral Education
    1. Enrollment Trends
    2. Trends in Doctoral Degree Production
    3. Trends in Time to Degree
    4. Limitations of Statistical Data
  3. The ABD Phenomenon
  4. Institutional Practices Influencing Doctoral Progress
    1. Research Funding and Financial Support
    2. Mentoring and Advisor/Advisee Relationships
    3. Departmental Factors
    4. Academic Issues
  5. Personal and Social Factors Influencing Women's Progress
    1. Gender Stereotyping
    2. Social Class
    3. Self-Selection
    4. Role Conflict
    5. Age Discrimination
  6. The Leaking Pipeline
  7. The Need for New Models of Doctoral Persistence

CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY

  1. Design of the Study
    1. Criteria for Selecting Study Participants
    2. Invitation to Participate in the Study
    3. Storytelling/Narrative as a Method of Inquiry
    4. Duration of the Study
    5. Women's Responses to the Use of Electronic Mail
    6. Rationale of Storytelling/Narrative as a Method of Inquiry
    7. The Role of the Researcher
  2. Interpreting the Stories
    1. About Grounded Theory
    2. Grounded Theory Method
    3. Ensuring Rigor and Empirical Grounding of the Study
    4. Ensuring Narrative Rigor
  3. The Pilot Study
    1. Selecting Participants for the Pilot Study
    2. Initial Exchanges with the Women
    3. About the Women Respondents
    4. Preliminary Findings
    5. Feedback from the Participants
    6. Implications of the Pilot Study
CHAPTER 4: THE DOCTORAL EXPERIENCE: WOMEN'S UNDERSTANDINGS

  1. Introduction
  2. A Demographic Portrait of the Study Participants
  3. Background Portraits of the Women
  4. Women's Understandings
      1. Task Dimensions of Course Work
      2. Program Relationships
CHAPTER 5: TOWARD A THEORY OF WOMEN'S DOCTORAL PERSISTENCE

  1. Summary and Conclusions
    1. Personal and Social Factors Influencing Women's Progress
      1. Academic Self-Concept
      2. Gender
      3. Age
      4. Health Factors
      5. Financial Status
      6. Family Issues
      7. Class/Cultural Identity
    2. Institutional Factors Influencing Women's Progres
      1. Program Status
      2. Department Climate
      3. Department Policies and Practices or What you don't specifically ask, they won't tell you
      4. Advisor/Advisee Relationships
    3. Transformation of Self
    4. Elements of a Theory of Women's Doctoral Persistence
  2. Implications and Conceptual Contributions of this Study
  3. Methodological Contributions of this Study
    1. Locating Participants
    2. Time and Place Considerations
    3. Privacy and Security Issues
    4. Collecting Online Data
    5. Developing Trust and Rapport in an Electronic Medium
  4. Suggestions for Further Research

EPILOGUE


APPENDICES

Appendix A Female Doctoral Enrollment in Canada by Registration Status, as a Percent of Total Enrollment, 1973-94
Appendix B Letter to Prospective Study Participants
Appendix C Interview Questions
Appendix D Human Subjects Research Consent Form
Appendix E Protection of Human Subjects
Appendix F Biographic Questionnaire
Appendix G Follow-up Questions
Appendix H DOC-TALK Posts

LIST OF TABLES

Table 1. Doctorates Awarded by US Universities, 1963 to 1993
Table 2. Doctorates Awarded in Canada by Gender, 1977-1992
Table 3. Percentage of Doctorates Granted by US Universities to Women by Discipline, 1963 to 1993.
Table 4. Doctoral Degrees Awarded in Canada by Discipline, 1993-1994
Table 5. Percent Graduate Enrollment in Canada by Gender and Discipline, 1993-1994
Table 6. 1990 Graduation Rate (%) of the Fall 1980 Ontario Doctoral Cohort
Table 7. Doctorates Awarded by US Universities by Gender and Field, 1963 to 1993
Table 8. Status of 1986 Entering Doctoral Cohort in Canada by Division and Gender, 1994
Table 9. Median Years to US Doctorate, 1963-1993
Table 10. Mean Years to US Doctorate by Field of Study, 1967-1986
Table 11. Median Years to Doctorate for US Citizens
Table 12. Mean Number of Months to Doctorate in Canada by Division and Gender
Table 13. Reasons for Leaving Doctoral Programs
Table 14. Institutional and Field-Specific Factors in Time to Degree
Table 15. Factors that influence students' decisions to withdraw from their programs
Table 16. A Demographic Portrait of the Study Participants
Table 17. Undergraduate Education of the Study Participants
Table 18. Graduate Education of the Study Participants
Table 19. Factors Influencing Women's Degree Progress

 

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure
Only
See Figure in Chapter Context
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Doctoral Enrollment in Canada by Registration Status, as a Percent of Total Enrollment, 1973-1994.
Figure 1 - Chapter 2
 
Conceptual Model of Graduate Student Degree Progress.
Figure 2 - Chapter 2
 
Empirical Model of Doctoral Degree Progress.
Figure 3 - Chapter 2
 
Overview of Task and Relational Dimensions of the Course Work Phase of the Doctorate.
Figure 4 - Chapter 4
 
Task dimensions of the course work phase of the doctorate.
Figure 5 - Chapter 4
 
Relational dimensions of the course work phase of the doctorate.
Figure 6 - Chapter 4
 
Detailed View of Task and Relational Dimensions of the Course Work Phase of the Doctorate.
Figure 7 - Chapter 4


REFERENCES