THE EDUCATIONAL PURSUIT: A PHENOMENOLOGICAL STUDY OF ATTRITION IN THE FINAL STAGE OF AN EDUCATIONAL DOCTORAL PROGRAM WITHIN A COHORT MODEL

Abstract

Attrition at any level of post-secondary education is costly to the institution and the students. At the doctoral level, students are often funding their education through personal finances while balancing the demands of their careers and families. The time to complete the doctoral degree is growing steadily and 40-60% of students are making the decision to discontinue working toward the doctoral degree. This study examines seven students who made the decision to discontinue working on their educational doctorate after they had completed all the coursework. Through a phenomenological study, the participants were interviewed three times each to gain a better understanding of the student and institutional factors that impact attrition. Self-Determination Theory is a broad framework for the study of motivation. Self Determination Theory cites three needs that must be met for a student to be successful in an endeavor such as a doctoral program. Autonomy, Competence, and Relatedness foster the highest quality of motivation and lead to enhanced performance, persistence and creativity (Deci & Ryan, 2000). Through the lens of Self Determination Theory, the study explains the reasons students leave a doctoral program during the final stage. The three themes emerged from the participants were passion for learning led participants to pursue the degree, motivation was built during the first stage of the program, and changes in feelings of autonomy and relatedness led participants to rethink priorities and personal goals. Students who made the decision to pursue a doctoral degree were passionate about advancing their education. Participants were motivated to continue working toward the degree, during the coursework stage of the program, because they felt they did not have the autonomy to put the work on the bottom of the priority list and they were related to the curriculum and their cohort peers. Once students moved to the dissertation stage of the doctoral program, they experienced changes in their feelings of autonomy and relatedness. Ultimately, students experienced career and life expectations that caused them to put the dissertation on the back burner until it was no longer possible to complete. Detailed profiles of the participants are presented and themes that emerged from the data analysis are explored. The study concludes with a summary of the answers to the research question, implications for further study, implications for practice, and reflection. Upon review of the data, the researcher has concluded that the change students experience in levels of autonomy and relatedness make it difficult for student to persist through the dissertation stage of the program. When changes in autonomy and relatedness are coupled with changes in advisors, students reprioritize their goals and the dissertation is not completed.