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Social integration and career integration: Factors associated with degree completion and time-to-degree in doctoral programs
Abstract
The purpose of this study was to investigate factors associated with attrition and/or extended time to degree in doctoral students. The focus was on social integration components of Tinto's Model of Institutional Commitment. A new component--career integration--was introduced and tested. In past studies female gender, part-time enrollment, and full-time employment were associated with dropout or extended time-to-degree. The objective of this study was to identify integration variables that may mediate risk variables in doctoral students. Variance in time-to-degree was examined, and four hypotheses related to social and career integration were tested. A modified version of Leadabrand's instrument was used to survey 269 graduates of doctoral programs. The response rate was 76 percent (N = 205). A number of tests were used to determine the results of the study: correlation coefficients, analysis of variance, multiple regression, factor analysis, and discriminant item analysis. Analysis of variance revealed that time-to-degree varied by risk, but not by gender. A number of integration variables were significantly related to time-to-degree. Social integration varied by risk but not by gender. Clarity of career goals did not vary by gender or risk. Other aspects of career integration varied by risk, but not by gender. Clarity of career goals varied between academic programs and made a statistically significant contribution to time-to-degree, over and above that of social integration. Correlations between new and established measures of social integration suggested that all but one of the new items discriminated on social integration. Correlations among new social integration items revealed a high level of internal consistency. Factor analysis yielded seven factors, six related to the Tinto model and one related to career integration. Correlations between and among career integration variables suggested promising questions for further research regarding factors that comprise career integration.
Subject Area
Higher education
Recommended Citation
Phelps, Marcia Kay, "Social integration and career integration: Factors associated with degree completion and time-to-degree in doctoral programs" (1996). ETD collection for University of Nebraska-Lincoln. AAI9623635.
https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/dissertations/AAI9623635