No. 245: Students’ Experience of Doctoral Education: A Psychometric Survey Integrating Cognitive, Social, and Affective Dimensions

This paper suggests a comprehensive model of doctoral students’ experience of doctoral education in their respective contexts such as different disciplines and graduate programs. The experience of doctoral education comprises a cognitive, a social, and an affective dimension. There is a growing body of empirical research on doctoral students’ experiences as well as their determinants and effects. Still, there is no study, developing a comprehensive model of the experience of doctoral education and testing its psychometric properties. Adding to the existing research discourse, we propose a comprehensive yet concise model of doctoral students’ experience of doctoral education. Based on an international sample of 350 international doctoral students, our doctoral experience inventory (DEXI) allows researchers to investigate the effects of formalized doctoral programs and compare the developments of different groups of doctoral students in different disciplines as well as over time. Testing for the nomological validity of the DEXI, we found that negative experiences of research (affective dimension) correlate with students’ thoughts of quitting their doctoral studies. In addition, feeling socially connected to one’s research community (social dimension) correlates with a positive experience of research (affective dimension) and is associated with an achievement-oriented conception of research (cognitive dimension). Our research implies that the experience of doctoral education plays a huge part in whether doctoral studies can be successfully completed. Our findings highlight the importance of the research community welcoming and supporting emerging researchers, providing insights on how to prevent dropouts and opportunities for doctoral students’ development.