Malone Article Critique 1

Glenn E. Malone
EDPys 505
Article Critique
Purpose
Purpose: The authors purpose for this body of wor was to !in"esti#ate the
characteristics of #raduate pro#ra$s in the hu$anities and related social sciences that
influence PhD students attrition and #raduation possibilities% &p' 1()*'
Problem+ The proble$ was clear, it was tain# #raduate students an e-ceptionally lon#
ti$e to #raduate and $any were not finishin#' The authors e-plored the possible reasons
why'
Context
Background+ .ine years was the a"era#e a$ount of ti$e taen to co$plete a PhD in the
field of hu$anities and the related social sciences in the late 1/00s' 1n $ost cases, at
least half of those that started PhD pro#ra$s ne"er finished' 2e"eral foundations sou#ht
to pro"ide financial assistance to #raduate students as an incenti"e to stic with it3
pre"ious research indicated that they had little effect' The Mellon 4oundations pro#ra$
called the 5raduate Education 1nitiati"e &5E1* was different3 5E1 ai$ed to pro"ide
financial resources to #raduate students while i$pro"in# the structure and or#ani6ation of
the PhD pro#ra$s as well' 4ro$ 1//1 to 7000 the foundation pro"ided 850 $illion to 59
hu$anities and related social science depart$ents at 10 $a:or uni"ersities'
Theoretical Approach+ 2ur"ey data was used to collect infor$ation fro$ both a
treat$ent and control #roup' Then, factor analysis was used to #roup o"er 100 pro#ra$
characteristics' 4inally, esti$ates were $ade on the i$pact of each on attrition and
#raduation rates'
Literature e!ie": Althou#h pre"ious research on 5E1 was $entioned and cited, a
literature re"iew was not $entioned per se'
#esign and Logic
The researchers used an approach that can be easily replicated in other pro#ra$ studies'
Their desi#n was lo#ical3 it built on pre"ious research while addressin# a real proble$
that needed attention' The $ethods were co$plicated and difficult for $e to discern as a
no"ice researcher'
$ources o% E!idence
&nstruments: !The 5raduate Education 2ur"ey &5E2* was a retrospecti"e sur"ey
conducted by Mathe$atical Policy ;esearch 1nc' of all PhD students who had entered
treat$ent and control depart$ents PhD pro#ra$s durin# the 1/07 to 1//< period &p'
1()*'
$ampling: !10,(70 indi"iduals were sur"eyed and the 5E2 achie"ed a rather re$arable
response rate of <9= with 1(,557 indi"iduals respondin# &p' 1()*'% The data collection
was hi#her for those who had co$pleted their PhDs'
#ata Collection Procedures: The researchers used sur"ey data on entrants to PhD
pro#ra$s at 99 of the treat$ent depart$ents and 91 control depart$ents durin# a 15>year
period' Annual data were collected on all PhD students that entered the depart$ents
PhD pro#ra$s durin# the 10 years prior to the i$ple$entation of the 5E1 pro#ra$ and
durin# the pro#ra$ period' 2i$ilar data was collected for all students that entered a set
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Malone Article Critique 7
of 50 control depart$ents PhD pro#ra$s3 so$e of the depart$ents were at the 10
uni"ersities in which other depart$ents were part of the 5E1 and so$e of these
depart$ents were at ( other $a:or uni"ersities in which no depart$ent recei"ed any
fundin# fro$ the 5E1'
Anal'sis and &nterpretation
2e"en factors were selected for analysis3 each was thorou#hly defined and co$pared'
The researchers then esti$ated a factor equation for each factor' 4inally, esti$ates were
#i"en on the i$pact of the 5E1 on each of the factors' The interpretations stated are
si$ple and rationally related to the data'
Ethics
Ethical issues were not address nor did they need to be' Ethics was not an issue for this
study or this article'
Conclusions and $igni%icance
Conclusions: 1$pro"in# ad"isin#, clarifyin# depart$ent e-pectations on pro#ress toward
the PhD, and $ain# clear depart$ental e-pectations on the nature of dissertations all
si#nificantly reduce attrition and i$pro"e #raduation probability' The #ood news is that
these chan#es are all relati"ely costless and can be i$ple$ented at the pro#ra$ le"el'
The authors research su##ests that the 5E1 pro#ra$ reduced attrition rates and i$pro"ed
#raduation rates by i$pro"in# clarity of e-pectations and encoura#in# students to finish
their dissertation as quicly as possible' 5E1 i$pacts were stron#est on the su$$er
require$ents, se$inar, and clarity of e-pectations'
$igni%icance: Althou#h the focus was on e"aluatin# 5E1, the $ethodolo#y used can be
applied in a wide ran#e of pro#ra$ e"aluation studies' This research supports the notion
that you dont need a pro#ra$ lie 5E1 to analy6e what pro#ra$ characteristics $atter'
The chan#es supported by the data and su##ested in the article can be done for little to no
cost' As a result, 1 appreciated the authors critical inquiry as to why uni"ersity
depart$ents ha"e not i$ple$ented the$'
e%erences:
Ehrenber#, ;'5', ?aubson, 5'@', 5roen, ?'A', 2o, E', A Price, ?' &700<*' 1nside the blac
bo- of doctoral education+ Bhat pro#ra$ characteristics influence doctoral
students attrition and #raduation possibilitiesC Educational Evaluation and
Policy Analysis, 29(2), 1(9>150'
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