The relationship doctoral students develop with their advisor is reputed to be one of the most important of their graduate education. Research shows that advisors play a critical role in many aspects of the doctoral degree process. However, the literature is sparse regarding doctoral students' perceptions of the positive and negative attributes of their advisors. We address that gap by identifying several recurring themes that emerged from a qualitative content analysis of open-ended survey responses from doctoral students regarding their advising experiences. Students spoke most positively about advisors who were accessible and helpful as well as socializing and caring. Conversely, they identified being inaccessible, unhelpful, and uninterested as negative attributes of advisors. We offer implications for advisors and advisees.

Institutions of higher education rely on student surveys for a number of purposes, including planning, assessment, and research. Web surveys are especially prevalent given their ease of use and low-cost; yet, obtaining a high response rate is a challenge. Although researchers have investigated the use of incentives in traditional mail surveys, studies investigating the impact of lottery incentives on web survey response rates are limited. In this study, four separate web survey experiments were conducted to measure the effectiveness of lottery-based incentives in a college student population in the United States. Findings reveal that the lottery incentives not only positively impacted response rates but also exerted differential effects by gender. The results have practical implications for higher education researchers who conduct web surveys of college students.

African Americans are disproportionately represented on the national waiting list for organ transplantation. Promoting organ donor registries is one way to improve the possibility that those on the waiting list can receive a life saving transplant. Driver licensing bureaus have been suggested as an efficient site for campaigns aimed at increasing state-based registry sign-ups. Previous research has suggested these campaigns work well for Caucasian populations, but there is less evidence supporting this approach in more diverse populations. To determine whether more diverse populations demonstrate similar sign-up rates when receiving a driver licensing bureau campaign, the present study used a previously successful strategy as the basis for designing and disseminating materials that would appeal to African Americans and Caucasians in two diverse counties in the state of Michigan (Wayne and Oakland Counties). Communication design and media priming served as the theoretical foundations of a three-prong campaign that used mass media, point-of-decision, and interpersonal components. Results from countywide and zip code data indicate that the campaign greatly increased sign-ups among African American residents (700% increase above baseline). Although more Caucasians still signed up than did African Americans, the inclusion of an interpersonal component resulted in similar numbers of registry sign-ups during 2 intervention months. The study provides evidence supporting the use of driver licensing bureau campaigns to promote organ donation registries to diverse audiences.

There are currently more than 100,000 individuals waiting for an organ transplant. Organ donor registries represent the easiest and most concrete way for people to declare their intent to donate, but organ donor registries are vastly underutilized. This study reports a campaign intervention designed to increase the rate of joining the Michigan Organ Donor Registry. Grounding intervention development in the theoretical principles of media priming and communication design, the intervention took place in two waves in three counties in Michigan. Each intervention consisted of a media component, point-of-decision materials, and an interpersonal component. Increases in registration rates of 200 to 300% in each intervention county, compared to stable statewide trends in registry rates, provide evidence of highly successful intervention efforts. The rate of registry increase in intervention counties was approximately 1,900% higher than statewide on a per capita basis.

The relationship a doctoral student develops with his/her advisor is a crucial aspect of doctoral training across disciplines; but research suggests that many such relationships fall short of a successful apprenticeship or mentoring ideal. Because disciplinary cultures and structures vary considerably, what makes for a successful advising experience within one discipline may not hold within another. This study explores the advising experiences of 870 US doctoral students within four disciplinary clusters at a large research university in order to identify possible differences in advising experiences across disciplines. Findings suggest that factors influencing advisor selection do differ across disciplinary clusters, but that students' assessments of advisor quality along three different role dimensions, as well as their overall satisfaction with their advising relationship, are similar across all four clusters.