An investigation of faculty engagement and academic scholarship on doctoral degree completion: A case study
Abstract
Doctoral programs are beleaguered by consistently low graduation productivity and have experienced inordinately high attrition rates of approximately 50% over the past 50 years. This case study explores Faculty Engagement (FE) and Academic Scholarship (AS) as influential factors that significantly contribute to the conferring of doctoral degrees. Additionally, it discusses institutional practices involving faculty commitment, student interaction, research support, dissertation preparation, time-to-degree completion, and other factors affecting doctoral degree completion. To the degree that FE and AS research information reflects the perceptions of students, faculty, and administrators engaged in doctoral programs, data for this study were obtained using a mixed methodology using Phenomenological Research and Ground Theory. Surveys were used to elicit the degree of engagement and scholarship exhibited by faculty and staff with doctoral students, institutional practices of tenure tracked faculty, rigors and experiences associated with the program, and challenges with dissertation preparation and research. Given the ever-increasing professional and domestic demands placed on doctoral students and faculty in general, this case study identifies FE as a major concern affecting areas in AS that warrants further research for the reversing the low trend in conferring doctoral degrees.
Subject Area
Educational evaluation|Higher Education Administration|Educational leadership
Recommended Citation
Cruz, Michael Angel, "An investigation of faculty engagement and academic scholarship on doctoral degree completion: A case study" (2014). ETD Collection for Fayetteville State University. AAI3664597.
https://digitalcommons.uncfsu.edu/dissertations/AAI3664597