Calling it quits: a longitudinal study of factors associated with dropout among doctoral students

Figures & data

Table 1. Frequency table of dropout.

	N	%
Dropped out	62	10.5
Did not drop out	527	89.5
Total	589	100

Table 2. Logistic regression models of predictors of dropout during PhD track (n = 589).

	Base model (1)			Model 2: supervisor support			Model 3: time pressure			Model 4: passion for research			Final model (5)
	B	OR	Sig.	B	OR	Sig.	B	OR	Sig.	B	OR	Sig.	B	OR	Sig.
Gender (ref. Male)	−.37	.69		−.41	.66		−.46	.63		−.45	.64		−.52	.59	(*)
Nationality (ref. Non-Belgian)	.12	1.13		−.02	.98		.13	1.14		−.02	.98		−.05	.95
Doctoral school (ref. NSE)
DSh	.62	1.87	(*)	.61	1.83	(*)	.47	1.59		.66	1.94	*	.49	1.63
LSM	.76	2.14	(*)	.84	2.31	*	.51	1.67		.92	2.51	*	.69	1.99
Type of contract (ref. personal mandate)
Teaching assistant	1.16	3.17	*	1.07	2.91	*	1.14	3.12	*	1.22	3.38	*	1.13	3.09	*
Project funding	.75	2.11	(*)	.67	1.96		.79	2.20	(*)	.72	2.06	(*)	.70	2.01
Other or self-financed	.68	1.97		.60	1.82		.62	1.86		.64	1.91		.53	1.69
Support supervisor				−.28	.76	***							−.17	.84	*
Time pressure							.31	1.37	***				.27	1.30	***
Passion for research										−.30	.74	***	−.18	.83	*
Constant	−3.1	.05	***	−.89	.41	n.s.	−4.25	.01	***	−.63	.53	n.s.	−1.19	.30	n.s.
Adjusted R^2	4.7			9.9			11.3			9.0			15.7

Notes: Levels of significance: ***p ≤ 0.001, **p ≤ 0.01, *p ≤ 0.05, (*)p ≤ 0.1.

Table 3. Logistic regression models of predictors of dropout during PhD track stratified by doctoral school (n_DSh= 236, n_NSE= 252, n_LSM= 101).

	Human Sciences (DSh)			Natural Sciences & Engineering (NSE)			Life Sciences & Medicine (LSM)
	B	OR	Sig.	B	OR	Sig.	B	OR	Sig.
Gender (ref. Male)	−.78	.46	(*)	−.26	.77		−1.26	.28	(*)
Nationality (ref. Non-Belgian)	.03	1.03		−.32	.73		.44	1.55
Type of contract (ref. Personal mandate)
Teaching assistant	2.40	10.97^a	*	.36	1.43^a		1.22	3.38
Funded	1.82	6.18^a	(*)	.01	1.01^a		1.29	3.65
Self-financed or other	2.26	9.57^ab	*	−1.31	.27^a		−.77	.46^b
Support supervisor	−.29	.75^a	*	−.08	.93		.06	1.07^a
Time pressure	.40	1.50^a	***	.14	1.16^a		.35	1.42	(*)
Passion for research	−.04	.96^a		−.44	.65^ab	**	−.04	.96^b
Constant	−2.91	.06	(*)	1.22	3.40	n.s.	−3.78	.02	n.s.
Adjusted R^2	27.5			12.8			18.6

Notes: Levels of significance: ***p ≤ 0.001, **p ≤ 0.01, *p ≤ 0.05, (*)p ≤ 0.1. Odd’s ratios sharing a letter in their subscript are significantly different from each other at α = 0.1.

Table A1. Average scores and standard deviations on supervisor support, time pressure and passion for research, by doctoral school (score between 0 and 10).

	DSh		NSE		LSM		Total
Support	7.64 (1.90)		7.78 (1.72)		7.84 (1.44)		7.73 (1.75)
Time pressure	3.87 (2.02)	^a	3.29 (1.87)	^ab	4.09 (2.10)	^b	3.66 (1.99)
Passion for research	8.20 (1.54)		8.26 (1.45)		8.40 (1.23)		8.26 (1.45)

Note: Values sharing a letter in their subscript are significantly different from each other at α = 0.01.

Table A2. Pearson correlations between supervisor support, time pressure and passion, by doctoral school.

	DSh			NSE			LSM			Total
	Support	Time pressure	Passion	Support	Time pressure	Passion	Support	Time pressure	Passion	Support	Time pressure	Passion
Support	1	−−0.26**	0.43**	1	−−0.20**	0.44**	1	−−0.17	0.27**	1	−−0.22**	0.42**
Time pressure		1	−−0.14*		1	−−0.11		1	−−0.24*		1	−−0.14**
Passion for research			1			1			1			1

Notes: Levels of significance: ***p ≤ 0.001, **p ≤ 0.01, *p ≤ 0.05, (*)p ≤ 0.1.

Table A3. Distribution of background characteristics (column percentages).

	DSh	NSE	LSM	Total
Gender ***
Male	41.5	63.1	25.7	48.0
Female	58.5	36.9	74.3	52.0
Nationality ***
Belgian	46.2	44.4	69.3	50.6
Non-Belgian	53.8	55.6	30.7	49.4
Type of contract ***
Teaching assistant	16.5	14.7	13.9	15.3
Personal mandate	18.2	27.4	32.7	24.6
Project funding	30.1	48.0	37.6	39.0
Other or self-financed	35.2	9.9	15.8	21.1
Doctoral school
DSh	–	–	–	40.1
NSE	–	–	–	42.8
LSM	–	–	–	17.1

Note: Significance level: ***p < 0.001.