Doctoral Students’ Perspectives on Their Doctoral Programs and Departments

ABSTRACT

In this article, we examined Kinesiology Doctoral Students’ (DS) perspectives on their doctoral programs and departments. Using the Kinesiology Doctoral Student (KDS) survey, 121 current and past DS provided information on 10 different aspects related to teacher training. Specifically, the items consisted of measures of DS perceptions on: (a) enrollment pattern, (b) requirements—(e.g., master’s degree, comprehensive exam, etc.), (c) hurdles (qualifiers, prelims, orals, etc.), (d) flexibility of doctoral program, (e) annual review, (f) whether DS have active role in decisions, (g) competition for faculty attention, (h) being part of a supportive community, (i) understanding of time to completion, (j) selection of a different advisor, (k) selection of a  different university, and (l) not going to graduate school. Descriptive data analyses of: (a) enrollment pattern revealed that 87% of DS were enrolled full-time and (b) many requirements were a part of the DS program. This topic was viewed through three lenses: (a) status (past and current DS), (b) gender, and (c) subdisciplines (SBS and HS). When t-tests were applied, three significant differences emerged: (a) current participants viewed exams and other program benchmarks as arbitrary obstacles when compared to past participants, (b) males viewed exams and other program benchmarks as arbitrary obstacles when compared to females, and (c) past participants had a clearer understanding of how long he/she would be a DS compared to current participants.

KEYWORDS:

• Higher education
• graduate study
• graduate students
• doctoral study
• perceptions
• doctoral programs
• departments