Hearing their voices: Factors doctoral candidates attribute to their persistence

Introduction Doctoral persistence is "the continuance of a student's progress toward the completion of a doctoral degree" (Bair, 1999, p. 8). Studies over the last four decades show that 40% to 60% of doctoral candidates at some stage in the process fail to demonstrate doctoral persistence; that is, they do not achieve their goal of earning a terminal degree (Berelson, 1960; Bowen & Rudenstine, 1992; Council of Graduate Schools Ph.D. Completion Project, 2008). This phenomenon of doctoral persistence and its converse, attrition, is most puzzling given that "Paradoxically, the most academically capable, most academically successful, most stringently evaluated, and most carefully selected students in the entire higher education system--doctoral students--are the least likely to complete their chosen academic goals" (Golde, 2000, p. 199). In education graduate programs, the attrition rate is estimated to be 50% (Ivankova & Stick, 2007), and some reports indicate it may be as high as 70% (Nettles & Millet, 2006). Between 1983 and 2008 time-to-degree completion for graduate students in education programs increased from 11.7 years to 12.7 years, while decreasing from 8.2 years to 7.7 years in all other fields (National Science Foundation [NSF], 2009; Wao & Onwuegbuzie, 2011). Nettles and Millet (2006) found that across disciplines, education ranked lowest in doctoral student publications (15% compared to 30%) and presentations (30% compared to 37%). The nature and responsibility of doctoral students enrolled in education programs may contribute to these statistics. The typical doctoral education student works full time (e.g., principal, administrator, teacher), with academic responsibilities serving to intensify demands on their energy, commitment, and time (Dorn, Papalewis, & Brown, 1996; Jimenez, 2011; Smith, Maroney, Nelson, Abel, & Abel, 2006). Full time employment constricts students to studying part time, and research suggests that part-time doctoral students experience longer time-to-degree rates than those who are engaged full-time (Wao & Onwuegbuzie, 2011). Attrition and prolonged time-to-degree can be costly to institutions, but devastating and demoralizing for students as a result of the financial, personal, and professional consequences (Lovitts, 2001; Terrell, Snyder, & Dringus, 2009; Wao, 2010). With education students experiencing the longest time-to-degree rates (NSF, 2009) and consistently high attrition rates (50%-%) (Ivankova & Stick, 2007; Nettles & Millet, 2006), research examining factors associated with persistence is timely and pertinent. The purpose of this study was to learn from individuals with earned educational doctorates the personal, social, and institutional factors they attributed to their doctoral persistence and degree completion. The theory of resilience and Tinto's (1975, 1993) student integration theory served as the conceptual framework for this study. Conceptual Framework At its simplest, resilience is defined as success despite adversity (Cefai, 2004; Luthar, Cicchetti, & Becker, 2000). While resilience research traditionally focused on generating lists of risk and protective factors (see Garmezy, 1971; Werner, Bierman, & French, 1971), resilience is now viewed as the interaction between the individual and resources and stressors in the larger sociocultural context (Clauss-Ehlers, 2008; Luthar et al., 2000). Thus, resilience research is nested within an ecological model that emphasizes contextual factors and interactions between individuals and their environment. Given attrition statistics, beginning a doctoral degree involves risk. Brailsford (2010) observed, "There is a body of quantitative and qualitative research proving that deciding to do a Ph.D. is a high-risk strategy" (p. 15). Moreover, candidates beginning doctoral degrees in education are particularly at high risk given statistics suggesting that the likelihood that they will earn their doctorate hovers between 50% and 30% (Ivankova & Stick, 2007; Nettles & Millet, 2006). …