A comparative assessment of selected approaches in modeling completion dynamics of graduate programs
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Date
2012
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
African Statistical Journal Journal statistique africain
Abstract
As the higher education landscape changes, factors related to student persistence
in graduate programs are being examined by a growing number of researchers.
Their investigations, however, can be problematic when: i) a considerable
number of students have not completed the program at the time of data collection;
ii) enrolment and completion figures are low; iii) a normal distribution of
completion time is assumed; and iv) a detailed assessment of non-completion is
required. A time-to-event approach in a Cox model, which uses enrolment time
as censored for students who have not completed by the time of the study and
makes no assumption about the distribution of completion time, solves the first
three problems. A multinomial logistic, allowing for at least three outcomes of
doctoral candidature, solves the fourth problem. This is illustrated by an analysis
of administrative data for the 295 PhD students at Makerere University in the
2000 to 2005 enrolment cohorts. The total elapsed time from first enrolment to
submission of final thesis copy was adopted as a measure of completion time. The
findings underscore the suitability of these approaches for the analysis of education
data with low enrolment and completion figures, a situation characteristic
of doctoral studies in many African universities.
Description
Keywords
Student success in graduate programs, Completion and non-completion of doctoral studies, Makerere University
Citation
Wamala, R., Oonyu, J. C., & Ocaya, B. (2012). 4. A comparative assessment of selected approaches in modeling completion dynamics of graduate programs. African Statistical Journal Journal statistique africain, 58, 57.