Dealing with Social Isolation to Minimize Doctoral Attrition – A Four Stage Framework

Introduction This paper builds on a previous study conducted by the same authors in order to complete and build a framework for dealing with feeling of social isolation at doctoral programs. In the previous study, Ali and Kohun (2006) established that social isolation is a major contributing factor to the decision of doctoral students to leave their programs prior to obtaining their degrees. The same study divided the completion phases of doctorate degree into four stages and identified common characteristics that potentially lead to increasing social isolation among the students. The study also identified certain characteristics that helped in dealing with isolation during doctoral studies. This paper takes our previous efforts a step further by establishing a framework for dealing with the feeling of social isolation in doctoral programs. The framework is intended to be used by faculty members and administrators in doctoral programs when contemplating redesigning or updating of their doctoral programs. Doctoral attrition has been the subject of numerous studies (Hawlery, 2003; Lewis, Ginsberg, Davies, & Smith, 2004; Lovitts, 2001; Lovitts & Nelson 2000). Most of these studies point to the difficulty and the problems associated with doctoral attrition. Such studies also indicate the severity of the consequences of doctoral attrition on the students and on the universities that offer these programs. These studies, however, received little attention from the doctoral programs themselves and as a result, the attrition problem remains unnoticed or marginalized (Lovitts, 2001). This paper emphasizes further the problem of attrition among doctoral students. It identifies four stages of doctoral completion and explains specific characteristics of each stage that may contribute to increasing social isolation among the doctoral students. It then suggests counter measures to social isolation for each stage. In this work, all such identified characteristics and counter measures are then combined into a framework that may help identify causes of social isolation and their remedies. Framework for This Study The purpose of this study is to develop a framework that will be used in dealing with isolation feelings at doctoral programs. The intended framework divides the completion phases of doctoral studies into four stages. Each stage has different characteristics and affects the students differently; thus, each stage is discussed separately. Two questions guide the discussion in this paper for each stage of completion: First, what characteristics in doctoral studies contribute to increasing social isolation among doctoral students? Second, what measures can be taken by doctoral programs in order to deal with and/or minimize the effect of social isolation among students? This paper intends to complete the following steps in order accomplish the task of developing the intended framework: 1- It begins by explaining about each of the topics of doctoral attrition and feeling of social isolation in general. It explains the causes of doctoral attrition and the factors that contribute to social isolation. 2- The topic of social isolation is discussed within four stages of the doctoral program. These four stages are not selected arbitrarily; instead this paper follows a previously established model that explains adjustment of graduate students to academic life (Beeler, 1991). Beeler's model describes the adjustment phases of students to graduate studies through four stages. Thus, this paper explains this framework and how it could be applied to the doctorate program. 3- Similar to the Beeler's model, this paper divides the completion phases of doctoral degrees into four stages. It relates the specific factors in each stage to increasing the feelings of social isolation among doctoral students that may eventually lead them to withdraw or drop-out from the program. 4- Following that, the discussion shifts to methods of dealing with isolation feelings. …