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stanwyck
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« on: December 21, 2009, 07:36:36 PM » |
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Does anyone know of a study that documents attrition rates for Ph.D. programs that includes subfield information? I've been looking at the Council of Graduate Schools' Ph.D. Completion Project, which includes attrition data based on broad fields (Engineering breaks down into Biomedical, Chemical, Civil, etc., Humanities breaks down into English Languages & Lit., Foreign Languages & Lit., etc.). But what I'm trying to find is a study that captures subfield attrition rates for the humanities and social sciences, mostly Anthropology, History, Art History, and Foreign Languages.
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madhatter
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« Reply #1 on: December 21, 2009, 10:56:43 PM » |
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To the best of my knowledge, no such data is formally collected. Unfortunately.
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"I may be an evil scientist, but it doesn't take a degree purchased from the Internet with your ex-wife's money to know how special and important you are to me." -- Dr. Doofenschmirtz
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midwestgrad
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« Reply #2 on: December 22, 2009, 01:48:03 PM » |
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No. Most humanities programs deliberately refuse to collect this data.
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svenc
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« Reply #3 on: December 22, 2009, 01:52:43 PM » |
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I highly doubt any such report exists, as the data do not exist. Here's an example of a well-done study in economics (no subfield information) that won't answer your question, but does illustrate what would be involved in even trying to collect such data in a meaningful way: http://ideas.repec.org/p/van/wpaper/0608.html |
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In foris veritas.
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the_hanged_man
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« Reply #4 on: December 22, 2009, 07:18:17 PM » |
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As someone who is applying to graduate schools I find would that information incredibly useful. I've discovered its next to impossible to get a straight answer out of most DGSs when I ask that question. As a result I have to go to secondary sources such as internet forums and current grad students which are often biased or misinformed themselves.
Honestly, if someone appointed me Lord High Magister of the Ivory Tower I would require all programs to keep these types of statistics and publish them openly on the interwebs. A little bit of transparency and accountability would be a good thing.
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der_gadfly
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« Reply #6 on: December 28, 2009, 10:47:10 AM » |
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I am sure that someone here will correct me if I am wrong, but one MIGHT be able to find some data, not necessarily by subfield on the IPEDS site.
If the data are currently not reported, I am sure that sooner or later some government official will decide that the loan default rates for graduate students is too high, and that 'something needs to be done about it!' (a la the Governor in Blazing Saddles, played by Mel Brooks). If this were to happen, grad schools would have to start reporting - on all sorts of things!
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madhatter
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« Reply #7 on: December 28, 2009, 12:52:06 PM » |
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I am sure that someone here will correct me if I am wrong, but one MIGHT be able to find some data, not necessarily by subfield on the IPEDS site.
If the data are currently not reported, I am sure that sooner or later some government official will decide that the loan default rates for graduate students is too high, and that 'something needs to be done about it!' (a la the Governor in Blazing Saddles, played by Mel Brooks). If this were to happen, grad schools would have to start reporting - on all sorts of things!
No. IPEDS will report graduate enrollments but not retention or graduation data. |
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"I may be an evil scientist, but it doesn't take a degree purchased from the Internet with your ex-wife's money to know how special and important you are to me." -- Dr. Doofenschmirtz
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glowdart
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« Reply #8 on: December 28, 2009, 01:51:05 PM » |
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Would the accrediting agencies for specific disciplines have some of this information?
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daniel_von_flanagan
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« Reply #9 on: December 28, 2009, 02:01:19 PM » |
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Most public R1s track this information, and you can often find it on their graduate program website. For example, here's UCLA: http://www.phdcompletion.org/resources/CGSNSF2008_MitchellKernan.pdfNSF tracks completion time rates for the areas they fund, and publish a regular comprehensive report; I don'thave a link handy, but anyone sufficiently interested should be able to find it easily at nsf.gov - DvF |
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The U.S. Education Department is establishing a new national research center to study colleges' ability to successfully educate the country's growing numbers of academically underprepared administrators.
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polly_mer
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« Reply #10 on: December 28, 2009, 02:10:24 PM » |
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NSF tracks completion time rates for the areas they fund, and publish a regular comprehensive report; I don'thave a link handy, but anyone sufficiently interested should be able to find it easily at nsf.gov - DvF
Great info, DvF, but that's not going to help the OP who wanted humanities breakdowns. |
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If you haven't got either the anatomical or metaphorical balls to post your own question on a pseudonymous internet forum, then academia is the wrong job for you.
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daniel_von_flanagan
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« Reply #11 on: December 28, 2009, 02:15:56 PM » |
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NSF tracks completion time rates for the areas they fund, and publish a regular comprehensive report; I don'thave a link handy, but anyone sufficiently interested should be able to find it easily at nsf.gov - DvF
Great info, DvF, but that's not going to help the OP who wanted humanities breakdowns. NSF also tracks some social sciences (anthropology, psychology, a few others). - DvF |
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The U.S. Education Department is establishing a new national research center to study colleges' ability to successfully educate the country's growing numbers of academically underprepared administrators.
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polly_mer
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« Reply #12 on: December 28, 2009, 02:17:35 PM » |
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NSF tracks completion time rates for the areas they fund, and publish a regular comprehensive report; I don'thave a link handy, but anyone sufficiently interested should be able to find it easily at nsf.gov - DvF
Great info, DvF, but that's not going to help the OP who wanted humanities breakdowns. NSF also tracks some social sciences (anthropology, psychology, a few others). - DvF Sorry, I skipped right over anthropology in the OP's post to see things that I seriously doubt that NSF would fund. |
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If you haven't got either the anatomical or metaphorical balls to post your own question on a pseudonymous internet forum, then academia is the wrong job for you.
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