“Paradigm Shift” Needed in Social Science Doctoral Education, Study Finds |
Social Science PhDs – Five+ Years Out is a survey of 3,025 individuals who received their Ph.D.s between 1995 and 1999 in six fields, including political science, to assess the quality of doctoral education in U.S. social science programs. The survey was conducted by the Center for Innovation and Research in Graduate Education (CIRGE) at the University of Washington. Similar to a report released in January by the Carnegie Initiative on the Doctorate (see related story “Five-Year Study Calls for Change”), the CIRGE study found current doctoral education programs lacking in preparing their students for the 21st-century job market. According to the report:
Social science doctoral students need better career preparation and better support for learning to manage careers. In particular, universities need to recognize that most men and women are in relationships, many with children, and this situation influences PhD careers; universities need to pay more attention to connecting research training with teaching, writing and publishing; and universities need to bring professional development competencies such as teamwork, working in interdisciplinary contexts, grant writing, and managing people and budgets, from the margins to the center of PhD education.
Respondents represented six fields of study -- anthropology, communications, geography, history, political science, and sociology. Of the 701 political scientists who responded, 37.8% were female, and the age in median years at the time the doctorate was awarded was 31.8 years. A majority (91.9%) of political scientists surveyed were employed full time, 30.6% were tenured faculty, 32% were in tenured-track positions, 25% were employed in the business/government/non-profit sector, and 12.4% were in other academic positions. The job characteristic that the greatest percent (68.8%) of political scientists said they were “very satisfied” with was the autonomy of work, and the characteristic that the smallest percent (25.2%) said they were “very satisfied” with was salary.
When it comes to support from the dissertation chair or advisor, about one-half of all political science Ph.D.s said they were “very satisfied” with the quality of advice in developing their research topic (50.1%), the quality of guidance to complete the Ph.D. (51.4%), and support in making career decisions (52.6%). Fewer said they were “very satisfied” with the overall quality of mentoring (45.3%), support in their job search (40.2%), and help in publishing their research (25.3%).
The table below shows the percent of political science Ph.D.s who said a skill was “very important” and the percent who said the quality of training for that skill was “excellent.” (n=701)
Skill |
Percent Who Said It Is "Very Important" | Percent Who Said the Quality of Training Was "Excellent" |
| Thinking critically | 93 |
79 |
| Analyzing/synthesizing data | 73 |
60 |
| Writing/publishing | 72 |
28 |
| Designing research | 51 |
40 |
| Working with people from diverse social/educational backgrounds | 44 |
22 |
| Working in interdisciplinary context | 49 |
29 |
| Working collaboratively | 44 |
15 |
| Developing presentation skills | 83 |
32 |
| Writing proposals for funding | 37 |
10 |
| Managing people/budgets | 31 |
4 |
To read a summary of the report, click here.