Ranking of Doctoral Programs of Health Education: Methodological Revisions and Results

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to replicate the Notaro, O'Rourke, and Eddy study to rank doctoral programs in health education, incorporating comments from professionals in health education to enhance the ranking study methods. This study used a multiple set of variables weighted by scholars and leaders in the field of health education. These variables included articles published; journal editorships; external funding of research; student activity; student/faculty ratio; mentoring and placement of doctoral students; and student support. Twenty-four of the 39 doctoral programs in health education participated in this study. Seventeen programs had at least 1 variable ranked in the top 10, and all but 1 program had at least 2 variables ranked in the top 20. Correlation analysis of the 7 variables provided additional insights. As in the Notaro, O'Rourke, and Eddy study, the faculty variables were not statistically significantly related to the student variables. Consistent with the literature, programs with a larger number of faculty tended to have a higher ranking than programs with a smaller number of faculty. Implications of the ranking for administrators, faculty, students, and the health education profession are discussed.