{"id":{"repo_id":"vt","oai_identifier":"oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/40336"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/vt/oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/40336","repository":{"repo_id":"vt","name":"Virginia Tech","base_url":"https://vtechworks.lib.vt.edu/oai/request"},"display":{"title":"Experiences of African-American women enrolled in doctoral programs","abstract":"This study examined the demographic characteristics, reasons for enrolling, and factors affecting the continued participation of African-American women in doctoral programs. The major focus for this study was to identify and examine the factors that African-American women believed influenced their continued participation in doctoral programs. The population for the study included 241 African-American women who were enrolled in doctoral programs in colleges and universities in the Commonwealth of Virginia between 1992 and 1994. Surveys were mailed to these potential participants, however 59 were undeliverable and 40 did not respond to the survey, resulting in a total of 142 respondents. The findings in the study reveal that African-American women in doctoral programs in the Commonwealth of Virginia were 21 to 63 years of age, were more often married than not, and some had more than one child upon enrolling. The results of the surveys revealed that several significant relationships were associated with the selected demographic characteristics of marital status, age, number of children, financial resources, and the factors that influenced the participation of African-American women in doctoral programs. These factors included: marital status; balancing work, home, and school; support groups; family responsibilities; academic preparation; financial assistance; and commuting distance. The data obtained will be useful to educational institutions in making decisions relative to developing innovative programs, improving services, and designing policies and practices that will improve recruitment, retention, and completion of African-American women in doctoral programs. This study will add to the body of knowledge regarding the experiences of African-American women, since there is a very limited amount of information available on this population of women and their experiences in doctoral programs. The exploration into the experiences of these women allowed the researcher to obtain information directly from the respondents as they perceived it to be. The researcher hopes that this study will assist universities in improving their programs and services to African-American women thereby improving its recruitment and retention strategies that will encourage African-American women to remain in their programs and to complete their degrees. The researcher also suggests that African-American women, especially those who remain in ABO status, read this study and contemplate completion. Perhaps these women will become role-models in higher education for younger African-American women attending college. Further study is needed from this population of women to ascertain whether there are additional factors influencing the continued participation of African-American women. A replication of the study may reveal additional information that will further support the findings of this research.","abstract_html":"This study examined the demographic characteristics, reasons for enrolling, and factors affecting the continued participation of African-American women in doctoral programs. The major focus for this study was to identify and examine the factors that African-American women believed influenced their continued participation in doctoral programs. The population for the study included 241 African-American women who were enrolled in doctoral programs in colleges and universities in the Commonwealth of Virginia between 1992 and 1994. Surveys were mailed to these potential participants, however 59 were undeliverable and 40 did not respond to the survey, resulting in a total of 142 respondents. The findings in the study reveal that African-American women in doctoral programs in the Commonwealth of Virginia were 21 to 63 years of age, were more often married than not, and some had more than one child upon enrolling. The results of the surveys revealed that several significant relationships were associated with the selected demographic characteristics of marital status, age, number of children, financial resources, and the factors that influenced the participation of African-American women in doctoral programs. These factors included: marital status; balancing work, home, and school; support groups; family responsibilities; academic preparation; financial assistance; and commuting distance. The data obtained will be useful to educational institutions in making decisions relative to developing innovative programs, improving services, and designing policies and practices that will improve recruitment, retention, and completion of African-American women in doctoral programs. This study will add to the body of knowledge regarding the experiences of African-American women, since there is a very limited amount of information available on this population of women and their experiences in doctoral programs. The exploration into the experiences of these women allowed the researcher to obtain information directly from the respondents as they perceived it to be. The researcher hopes that this study will assist universities in improving their programs and services to African-American women thereby improving its recruitment and retention strategies that will encourage African-American women to remain in their programs and to complete their degrees. The researcher also suggests that African-American women, especially those who remain in ABO status, read this study and contemplate completion. Perhaps these women will become role-models in higher education for younger African-American women attending college. Further study is needed from this population of women to ascertain whether there are additional factors influencing the continued participation of African-American women. A replication of the study may reveal additional information that will further support the findings of this research.","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Thweatt-McCoy, Valerie"],"institution":"Virginia Tech","degree_name":"Doctor of Education","degree_level":"doctoral","degree_discipline":"Vocational and Technical Education","degree_department":"Vocational and Technical Education","school":null,"contributors":[],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":["Asselin, Susan B.","Stewart, Daisy L."],"committee_members":["Brown, Henry O.","Fortune, Jimmie C.","Williams-Green, Joyce"],"year":1998,"date_issued":"1998","date_published":"1998","updated_at":"2026-07-22T22:20:32Z","subjects":[],"languages":["en"],"rights":["In Copyright"],"rights_urls":["http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/"],"identifier_entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier.other","label":"Dc Identifier Other","values":["etd-11102005-141142"],"render_values":[{"text":"etd-11102005-141142","href":null,"code":true}]}]},"links":{"outbound_url":"http://hdl.handle.net/10919/40336","outbound_label":"Handle","outbound_source":"dc:identifier.uri"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor.committeechair","label":"Committee Chair","values":["Asselin, Susan B.","Stewart, Daisy L."]},{"key":"dc:contributor.committeemember","label":"Committee Member","values":["Brown, Henry O.","Fortune, Jimmie C.","Williams-Green, Joyce"]},{"key":"dc:contributor.department","label":"Department","values":["Vocational and Technical Education"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Thweatt-McCoy, Valerie"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.accessioned","label":"Dc Date Accessioned","values":["2014-03-14T21:23:08Z"]},{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2014-03-14T21:23:08Z","2005-11-10"]},{"key":"dc:date.issued","label":"Date","values":["1998"]},{"key":"dc:publisher","label":"Institution","values":["Virginia Tech"]},{"key":"dc:type","label":"Dc Type","values":["Dissertation"]},{"key":"dc:type.dcmitype","label":"Dc Type Dcmitype","values":["Text"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Vocational and Technical Education"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["doctoral"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Doctor of Education"]},{"key":"thesis:institution_name","label":"Thesis Institution Name","values":["Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University"]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:language.iso","label":"Language (ISO)","values":["en"]},{"key":"dc:rights","label":"Dc Rights","values":["In Copyright"]},{"key":"dc:rights.uri","label":"Rights URI","values":["http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier.other","label":"Dc Identifier Other","values":["etd-11102005-141142"]},{"key":"dc:identifier.uri","label":"Identifier URI","values":["http://hdl.handle.net/10919/40336"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["This study examined the demographic characteristics, reasons for enrolling, and factors affecting the continued participation of African-American women in doctoral programs. The major focus for this study was to identify and examine the factors that African-American women believed influenced their continued participation in doctoral programs. The population for the study included 241 African-American women who were enrolled in doctoral programs in colleges and universities in the Commonwealth of Virginia between 1992 and 1994. Surveys were mailed to these potential participants, however 59 were undeliverable and 40 did not respond to the survey, resulting in a total of 142 respondents. The findings in the study reveal that African-American women in doctoral programs in the Commonwealth of Virginia were 21 to 63 years of age, were more often married than not, and some had more than one child upon enrolling. The results of the surveys revealed that several significant relationships were associated with the selected demographic characteristics of marital status, age, number of children, financial resources, and the factors that influenced the participation of African-American women in doctoral programs. These factors included: marital status; balancing work, home, and school; support groups; family responsibilities; academic preparation; financial assistance; and commuting distance. The data obtained will be useful to educational institutions in making decisions relative to developing innovative programs, improving services, and designing policies and practices that will improve recruitment, retention, and completion of African-American women in doctoral programs. This study will add to the body of knowledge regarding the experiences of African-American women, since there is a very limited amount of information available on this population of women and their experiences in doctoral programs. The exploration into the experiences of these women allowed the researcher to obtain information directly from the respondents as they perceived it to be. The researcher hopes that this study will assist universities in improving their programs and services to African-American women thereby improving its recruitment and retention strategies that will encourage African-American women to remain in their programs and to complete their degrees. The researcher also suggests that African-American women, especially those who remain in ABO status, read this study and contemplate completion. Perhaps these women will become role-models in higher education for younger African-American women attending college. Further study is needed from this population of women to ascertain whether there are additional factors influencing the continued participation of African-American women. A replication of the study may reveal additional information that will further support the findings of this research."]},{"key":"dc:description.degree","label":"Dc Description Degree","values":["Ed. 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The major focus for this study was to identify and examine the factors that African-American women believed influenced their continued participation in doctoral programs. The population for the study included 241 African-American women who were enrolled in doctoral programs in colleges and universities in the Commonwealth of Virginia between 1992 and 1994. Surveys were mailed to these potential participants, however 59 were undeliverable and 40 did not respond to the survey, resulting in a total of 142 respondents. The findings in the study reveal that African-American women in doctoral programs in the Commonwealth of Virginia were 21 to 63 years of age, were more often married than not, and some had more than one child upon enrolling. The results of the surveys revealed that several significant relationships were associated with the selected demographic characteristics of marital status, age, number of children, financial resources, and the factors that influenced the participation of African-American women in doctoral programs. These factors included: marital status; balancing work, home, and school; support groups; family responsibilities; academic preparation; financial assistance; and commuting distance. The data obtained will be useful to educational institutions in making decisions relative to developing innovative programs, improving services, and designing policies and practices that will improve recruitment, retention, and completion of African-American women in doctoral programs. This study will add to the body of knowledge regarding the experiences of African-American women, since there is a very limited amount of information available on this population of women and their experiences in doctoral programs. The exploration into the experiences of these women allowed the researcher to obtain information directly from the respondents as they perceived it to be. The researcher hopes that this study will assist universities in improving their programs and services to African-American women thereby improving its recruitment and retention strategies that will encourage African-American women to remain in their programs and to complete their degrees. The researcher also suggests that African-American women, especially those who remain in ABO status, read this study and contemplate completion. Perhaps these women will become role-models in higher education for younger African-American women attending college. Further study is needed from this population of women to ascertain whether there are additional factors influencing the continued participation of African-American women. A replication of the study may reveal additional information that will further support the findings of this research."],"dc:description.degree":["Ed. D."],"dc:format.medium":["BTD"],"dc:format.mimetype":["application/pdf"],"dc:identifier.other":["etd-11102005-141142"],"dc:identifier.uri":["http://hdl.handle.net/10919/40336"],"dc:language.iso":["en"],"dc:publisher":["Virginia Tech"],"dc:rights":["In Copyright"],"dc:rights.uri":["http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/"],"dc:title":["Experiences of African-American women enrolled in doctoral programs"],"dc:type":["Dissertation"],"dc:type.dcmitype":["Text"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["Vocational and Technical Education"],"thesis:degree_level":["doctoral"],"thesis:degree_name":["Doctor of Education"],"thesis:institution_name":["Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-22T22:20:32Z"}