The Beginning of More Worries: Doctoral Candidates’ Untold Stories After Submission of Dissertation

Abstract

The present study focused on this particular situation in which doctoral candidates become anxious, impatient, and disappointed while experiencing a prolonged delay in processing their dissertation during and after the submission. The researchers tend to explore doctoral candidates’ storied experiences they had while confronting such procedural barriers and delays. We undertook a narrative mode of inquiry to explore the events and storied experiences through interviewing doctoral candidates from public universities in the province of Punjab, Pakistan. Nine doctoral candidates were selected through snowball sampling with the criterion of including those participants who were waiting for their external reviews at least for more than 1 year. From the narratives, the emergent themes include supervisors’ mutual relationships, the pressure of paper publication, lack of administrative support, external evaluation and follow-up and stress of delayed evaluation. The study has implications for relaxing procedural formalities during and after submission of a doctoral dissertation to facilitate students in the timely attainment of their doctoral degrees.

A Thesis Requirement of the Integrated Learning Experience: Time-to-Graduation and Student Satisfaction in an Online Master of Public Health Program

“…A motivator theme that was repeated for both 2012–2014 and 2015–2017 cohorts were thesis committee support and self-fulfillment due to their thesis learning experience. These thesis motivator and detractor themes are similar to those from other studies (Skeith et al, 2018; Viđak et al, 2017; Waheed et al, 2020). While these themes are not unique to online programs, they may be exacerbated by the delivery of online and largely asynchronous curricular content.…”

“…There are many implications to these findings. First, the investment in the 2015 Program curricular changes, supported by several studies (Coruth et al, 2019;Heide et al, 2019;Skeith et al, 2018;Viđak et al, 2017;Waheed et al, 2020), seemed to be associated with a reduced time-to-graduation for an increased percentage of students in 2015 and later cohorts, compared to prior cohorts. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, MPH programs worldwide may be evaluating whether to add or strengthen their online trainings and may seek strategies to increase the likelihood of an on-time graduation for online students.…”

“…A second reason may be that, since 2015, the added Program communication and trainings (Table 1) may have clarified expectations and provided resources that increased the likelihood of on-time graduation. Program support has been cited by many authors as important in helping students complete theses or publications derived from theses (Bruce et al, 2008;Heide et al, 2019;Viđak et al, 2017;Waheed et al, 2020). Further, many students in the 2015-2017 cohorts reported feeling supported by specific thesis support elements including: a helpful Thesis class, available tools, resources and formal guidance, and the ILE Advisors, who were helpful with the thesis process.…”

“…This delivery may increase the feelings of social isolation of students and decrease academic and social check-ins with faculty and peers that motivate accountability in meeting thesis milestones. As suggested by the Program’s curricular change and in other studies (Skeith et al, 2018; Viđak et al, 2017; Waheed et al, 2020), motivators for student accountability in meeting thesis milestone can be intentionally introduced in online programs through dedicated faculty and staff-led advising support. This support, in turn, may be hypothesized to reverse feelings of student isolation and improve academic and social check-ins.…”