Experiences of African-American women enrolled in doctoral programs

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.

Name thesis:degree_name

Doctor of Education

Level thesis:degree_level

doctoral

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Vocational and Technical Education

Department dc:contributor.department

Vocational and Technical Education

Grantor dc:publisher

Virginia Tech

Year dc:date.issued

1998

Author dc:creator

• Thweatt-McCoy, Valerie

Chairs dc:contributor.committeechair

• Asselin, Susan B.
• Stewart, Daisy L.

Committee members dc:contributor.committeemember

• Brown, Henry O.
• Fortune, Jimmie C.
• Williams-Green, Joyce

Statement dc:rights

• In Copyright

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

Language dc:language.iso

en

Dc Identifier Other

etd-11102005-141142

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/40336