ABSTRACT

High dropout rates, delay, and dissatisfaction among PhD students are common problems in doctoral education. Research shows that many different factors are associated with doctoral success, but these factors have not often been studied simultaneously. Moreover, characteristics of the PhD project are mostly neglected. In this study, we investigate which supervision, psychosocial, and project characteristics are related to satisfaction, progress, and quit intentions in a sample of 839 PhD candidates at a university in the Netherlands. Results of regression analyses show that experienced workload was negatively related to satisfaction and progress and positively to quit intentions. The quality of the supervisor-PhD candidate relationship, the PhD candidate’s sense of belonging, the amount of freedom in the project, and working on a project closely related to the supervisor’s research were positively related to satisfaction and negatively to quit intentions. The high workload of PhD candidates should be a major point of attention for universities who wish to increase their rates of PhD completion and PhD candidates’ satisfaction. In addition, the ‘match’ between PhD candidate and supervisor is crucial, both personally – a good relationship – and academically, i.e. that the PhD candidate works on a topic closely related to the supervisor’s research.

摘要

博士生的高辍学率，延误和不满是博士教育中的常见问题。研究表明，许多不同的因素与博士的成功相关，但是这些因素很少经常被同时研究。此外，博士项目的特征大多被忽略。在这项研究中，我们调查了荷兰一所大学的839名博士候选人的样本中，哪些监督，社会心理和项目特征与满意度，进度和离职意愿有关。回归分析的结果表明，有经验的工作量与满意度和进步呈负相关，与放弃意愿呈正相关。主管与博士候选人关系的质量，博士候选人的归属感，项目中的自由度，在与主管的研究紧密相关的项目上工作与满意度成正比，与放弃意愿成反比。对于希望提高其博士学位完成率和博士学位候选人满意度的大学来说，博士学位候选人的高工作量应该是一个主要的关注点。此外，博士候选人与主管之间的“匹配”在个人（良好的关系）和学术上都是至关重要的，即，博士候选人从事与主管研究密切相关的主题。