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Abstract
Prior research has suggested factors such as university and program ranking may impact master’s students’ decisions to attend particular doctoral programs. One source of this information is likely their graduate director. However, sparse research exists on graduate directors’ referrals to doctoral education and specific programs. To address this gap in the literature, we surveyed 143 criminal justice graduate directors at masters-granting institutions across the U.S. Respondents were asked about the factors that influence their decisions to (1) recommend students to doctoral education, (2) recommend specific Ph.D. programs, (3) their perceptions of the quality of education at specific programs and (4) their likelihood of referring students to those doctoral programs. Results suggest that the referral decision is a multi-faceted concept. Findings also indicate that master’s program graduate directors’ ranking of criminal justice Ph.D. programs diverge from popular rankings of similar Ph.D. programs. Implications, limitations, and directions for future research are discussed.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Notes
1 At the time of submission, the USNWR 2021 was released, but due to differences in programs included & excluded in the 2021 rankings and those provided in our survey, we report out the 2018 rankings. New calculations based on the 2021 rankings are available upon request.
2 Due to space limitations, this table is not included but is available upon request.
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Lisa M. Growette Bostaph
Lisa Growette Bostaph is a Professor of Criminal Justice at Boise State University. She received her Ph.D. in Criminal Justice from the University of Cincinnati. Dr. Bostaph’s research focuses on police decision-making, criminal justice system response to victimization, and criminal justice education.
Benjamin P. Comer
Benjamin P. Comer received his M.A. in Criminal Justice from Boise State University. He is currently a Ph.D. student at Sam Houston State University. His research focuses on gun violence, school gun violence, and spatial criminology.
John W. Ropp
John Ropp received his M.A. in Criminal Justice from Boise State University. He is currently a Ph.D. student at Michigan State University. His research focuses on public trust and confidence in the state courts, sentencing, and sexual victimization.