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Socialization And Retention Of Part-Time Doctoral Students: A Review Of Ten Years Of Literature, Mildred Cunningham, Christy L. Spurlock

Faculty/Staff Personal Papers

The growing population of part-time doctoral students has created a need for research into the determining factors for part-time doctoral student success, especially related to retention and program completion. In order to gain a better understanding of the current literature and its importance, the researchers used purposive sampling and thematic analysis to compile emerging factors from over 20 recent articles. Three themes materialized: the growing part-time student population; the differing needs of part-time versus full-time students; and the need for specialized student support resources for part-timers. This article explains the analysis and present findings that indicate that the socialization process …