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DOCTORAL CANDIDATE PERSISTENCE IN COMMUNITY AND HUMAN RESOURCES: A REPLICATION OF THE PASCARELLA AND TERENZINI STUDIES BASED ON TINTO'S CONCEPT
Abstract
The purpose of the study was to investigate the attrition and retention of the Community and Human Resources (CHR) doctoral candidates and graduates at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. The investigation attempted to demonstrate the interrelationships between the candidate or graduate, the adviser, and the educational institution. A modification of the Pascarella and Terenzini instrument was used to survey 260 graduates, candidates, and nonpersisters within the specialization of CHR. The response rate was 92.0 percent. Data analyses involved three procedures: descriptive statistics, reliability and factor analyses, and multiple regression. The findings of this study basically supported the conclusions of Pascarella and Terenzini. Factor analyses revealed the five independent variables utilized by Pascarella and Terenzini accounted for 47.4 percent of the total variance within this study. Of the null hypotheses dealing with the five factors of academic and intellectual development, peer group relations, faculty concern for teaching and development, institutional/goal commitment, and informal relations with faculty, only the latter was found to be nonsignificant at the p < .05 level. A second study, in which the background variables were changed while retaining the same independent variables, produced the same findings. The third study used the Pascarella and Terenzini background variables and a new set of independent variables: financial pressures, individuals who were a positive factor in doctoral studies, critical problem areas during the study, purpose of enrollment in the doctoral program, and interactions with faculty and family. All were found significant at the p < .05 level. A standardized canonical discriminant function coefficients procedure was used to test for unique variance. The independent variable of institutional/goal commitment demonstrated magnitudes of 0.43, -0.50, and -0.34, respectively, in the three studies. A new variable, importance of attaining a degree at the end of the program displayed magnitudes of -0.58, 0.42, and 0.44, respectively, in the three studies, which points the way toward further research.
Subject Area
Adult education|Continuing education
Recommended Citation
LEADABRAND, JERRY ANDREW, "DOCTORAL CANDIDATE PERSISTENCE IN COMMUNITY AND HUMAN RESOURCES: A REPLICATION OF THE PASCARELLA AND TERENZINI STUDIES BASED ON TINTO'S CONCEPT" (1985). ETD collection for University of Nebraska-Lincoln. AAI8521459.
https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/dissertations/AAI8521459