Impeding Factors in Completing a Doctoral Degree: Analysis of a Survey

Abstract

This study aimed to investigate factors associated to success in completing a doctoral program, based on surveying staff members in one public university in Thailand. Initial data were obtained from the university database to select the targeted subjects of a survey. Questionnaires were provided to 700 subjects, focusing on relations with the supervisor and on difficulties experienced during the studies. Logistic regression was used to model the effects of multiple determinants on doctoral achievement, and to assess difficulties in doctoral studies. Linear regression was employed to model the association between such determinants and score assigned to the supervisor. Content analysis was employed to cluster reported types of problems. The results showed that country or region of doctoral study was the only factor significant to doctoral achievement. The difficulties in doctoral studies were classified into 8 groups; time, language, materials, research design, money and scholarship, data, supervisor availability, and academic efficiency of the supervisor. These findings provide insights for improving success rates in studies for the doctoral degree.

Keywords: doctoral study, impede completion, logistic regression, linear regression