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  • ABCs and PhDs: Recruitment

    By Dana Campbell January 28, 2009 11:09 am

    This season, the biology doctorate program in which I work had a wonderfully diverse, interesting and impressive pool of applicants (not more applicants than our batch last year, as one might expect in a year of economic downturn, but perhaps more of high quality). Our admissions committee had a hard time coming to a consensus in picking the cream of the crop to invite for our two-day recruitment event, but once they did, I, along with the graduate student who works with me, started intense planning efforts. In the two weeks between inviting these applicants and the event, we planned two days filled with: a panel discussion for the recruits interested in working with co-advisors at affiliated institutions off-campus; a special symposium of research talks by current students in the program; a panel on TA responsibilities; a trip to a natural history museum for those interested; individual meetings between faculty and recruits; discussion-style lunches, dinners, socials and a party for recruits to meet and talk with various people of interest in the program. We stuffed take-home folders full of information about the graduate student center, commuting options, housing possibilities, nearby restaurants, and maps of attractions in the local area. In short, everything we could think of to illustrate what it would be like to be a Ph.D. student in the program.

    Last week we held the event, and I worked way more than my usual time commitment. Part of the reason for my long hours was, of course, the time intensiveness required to put together this event, but also, as it turned out, my graduate student partner-in-planning went into labor and gave birth two days before all the recruits arrived. (Although she had a great birth, and now has a beautiful baby boy, she was a little disappointed about the timing, because, especially after reading their files, it is very fun to meet the candidates in person.)

    My graduate student partner was on my mind as we hosted these candidates. She was missed, since she had interacted extensively with all of them right up until a couple days before. I announced her news as an explanation for why she would not be around during their visits. As I did, I realized that 8 of the 12 perspectives were women. While none of the recruits reacted except to express the general pleasure of hearing about a happy, healthy birth, I wondered what they were thinking about this. Did hearing about a (third-year) graduate student in the program building her family make the program seem more family friendly? Did they want to ask questions, but feel intimidated to do so? Were they curious about the expectations of the advisor or the program, or the mechanics of how the graduate school works out leaves and tuition? Did they wonder what percentage of graduate students in the program had families? Had they thought about combining family and academia, or had they not gotten to that point in their lives? No one brought the topic up again.

    We worked hard to open up all aspects of the program, yet I feel like we missed a giant hole. Even with a remarkable segue to open up discussion of balancing family and graduate school, this topic was not approached. In some ways, I hope that it was simply not a pressing or current concern of the recruits. At the same time, I hope that if we can’t be the ones to answer these questions, they have support elsewhere if and when it does become pressing.

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Comments on ABCs and PhDs: Recruitment

  • Posted by Amber Westcott-Baker on January 29, 2009 at 10:25am EST

  • I'm currently a grad student and 12 weeks pregnant, and I definitely asked about family friendliness at all the institutions I visited during my PhD recruitment. But I had been married for several years and planning to have a child in grad school (rather than when on the tenure track), so perhaps that has something to do with it. Most of the rest of my cohort are either single, right out of undergrad, or both, and thus are not in a space to think about having kids yet.

    Personally, I'm not sure I would have brought it up in front of everyone, even though that was on my hit-list of things to ask about. I don't think any female potential grad wants to give the impression that she is more interested in family than her career... we battle that enough.

  • All But Dissertation (ABD)
  • Posted by Boyd , Sr. Network Administrator at DeVry on February 5, 2009 at 9:55am EST

  • ALL BUT DISSERTATION (ABD)

    Are you at the ABD destination in your program?

    There are two types of Ph.D. candidates that fall into this category:

    1) The "just arrived" and anxious to move forward.

    2) The "been there for awhile" and think they will never move forward.

    While both types may need help to move on, it is the latter that is likely to derive the most benefit from this article and become motivated to complete, perhaps, the most important event in their life.

    You are intelligent enough to have come this far, there is no reason (from an academic stand point) to linger in the "ABD Zone." The longer you are there, the more difficult it becomes to pick up the pieces and move forward.

    A qualified and experienced consultant who works with Ph.D candidates understands the special circumstances that can lead to ABD status (e.g. hectic fulltime job, family, and other personal issues). The question is, how do you find a qualified consultant?

    The best way to get started is with a phone call to a consultant and ask the question: "How can you help me move beyond the ABD level and complete my Ph.D. program"?

    For many doctoral students, the most rigorous parts of a quantitative or mixed-methods dissertation are:

    1) Methods Section

    Study Design
    Research questions and hypothesis formulation
    Development of instrumentation
    Describing the independent and dependent variables
    Writing the data analysis plan
    Performing a Power Analysis to justify the sample size and writing about it

    2) Results Section

    Performing the Data Analysis
    Understanding the analysis results
    Reporting the results.
    Many Ph.D. candidates seem to hit a brick wall and feel disarmed when called upon to work on the "methods" and "results" section of their dissertation. This is the point where many students diligently search for help calling on their mentor, peers, university assistance and even Google. This is also the time when the student may ask themselves the question "HOW MUCH HELP IS TOO MUCH"?

    Surely no one will deny that having your dissertation written for you is very wrong. On the other hand, it is not unusual for doctoral students to get help on specific aspects of their dissertation (e.g. APA formatting and editing). It is also not unusual for advisors to encourage students to seek outside help with the statistical aspects of their dissertation.

    As a distance learning student it is almost essential you seek outside assistance for the methods and results section of your dissertation. The very nature of distance learning suggests the need for not only outside help but help from someone gifted in explaining highly technical concepts in understandable language by telephone and e-mail.

    The ideal time to begin working with a statistical consultant is once you have a topic and you have done some preliminary literature review. Otherwise, you run the risk of unnecessarily complicating your study. This could result in the consultant being unable to help you, unless you are willing to start over with the problem statement, purpose of the study, research questions, instrumentation and data analysis plan.

    As stated above, many students hit their dissertation "brick wall" when they encounter the statistical considerations. Frequently, a student will struggle for months before they seek a consultant to help them. This often leads to additional tuition costs and missed graduation dates. (The number of Ph.D candidates not completing their program is staggering)

    If I were to name a single reason why a Ph.D candidate, doing a quantitative or mixed-methods study gets off track in their program, it is the statistics and their fear of statistics. So, the question is whether or not it is ethical to get help at all. If so, how much help is too much?

    I don't know if there has ever been a survey of dissertation committee members who were asked this question, however, I know many advisors take the following position when they suggest or approve outside help:

    To a large extent the process is self controlling. If the student relies too much on a consultant, the product may look good, however, the student will be unable to defend his/her dissertation.

    It takes a committed effort on the part of the student and the consultant (resulting in a collaborative/teaching exchange) to have the student responsible for the data and thoroughly understand the statistics. This is not accomplished in just one or two emails or a single telephone conversation. It is a dynamic process; one that calls for unending patience on the consultants part and perseverance on the students part.

    The day the student walks in front of the committee to defend, there should be no question as to his/her understanding of statistics. It is the consultant’s job to see to it this occurs.

    When their defense is successful, the question "was the help too much" is answered.

    If you are a Ph.D candidate and would like additional information, you may wish to review the referenced sites below:

    Boyd

    Reference sites:

    http://www.statisticallysignificantconsulting.com:80/Statistically-Significant-Ethics.htm

    http://www.usdla.org/

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