cpsylist: FW: cost of a dissertation

[Ellen McWhirter]

CPSY community,
See below some findings from a survey of costs of completing a dissertation.
Note: CCPTP=Council of Counseling Psych Training Programs.
Best,
Ellen

*******************************************
Ellen Hawley McWhirter, Ph.D.

From: Division 17 Discussion list [mailto:DIV17DISCUSS at LISTS.APA.ORG] On Behalf Of Lichtenberg, James Wilcox
Sent: Wednesday, January 10, 2018 8:16 AM
To: DIV17DISCUSS at LISTS.APA.ORG
Subject: [DIV17DISCUSS] cost of a dissertation

A couple of months ago, I'd sent out an informal survey to CCTPT training directors and to SCP Student Affiliates asking about the cost ($) of doing a dissertation.  The question had come up when a donor to dissertation support fund asked me whether the among that was currently being donated annually to support a student's dissertation was "in the ball park."

I'd indicated that I would get back to folks with the results of the survey.  This is me "getting back."

The number of responses was very limited (n=22)--and responses were provided only by students (none were from training directors).   (I'd hoped to get responses from training directors to so as to get a sense for their awareness of dissertation costs for their students and the extent to which their sense of the cost of doing a dissertation was congruent with students' experiences.)

The basic question was, "How much did/will it cost you to complete your dissertation (not including tuition, fees, cost of submitting dissertation or cost of living)? Please include the cost of: -Instrumentation-Data analysis (e.g. SPSS, R)/Consultation-Participant Compensation."


a.     For instrumentation, the range was $0-$450, with a mean of $130.

b.     For data analysis/consultation, the range was $0-$400, with a mean of $129.

c.      For participant compensation, the range was $100-$1208, with a mean of $396.

Students were asked if they are/were happy with the resources they had access to for their dissertation; 73% said Yes or Probably Yes.

Of the students completing the survey, 57% were currently working on their dissertation, 43% had already completed it.

Students were asked what forms of support/resources (not including advising) were available to them through their institution.  The following are the response that were provided:



*         outside data analysis assistance, software


*         Internal statistics consultant


*         None


*         Data analytic consultation


*         access to statistical software, access to data analysis consultation through statistical faculty members, assistance with research through library services, assistance with selecting and applying for grants/awards through Sponsored Programs Office


*         Some access to statistical software


*         software, research pool, instrumentation,


*         stats packages, psych subject pool, survey host account


*         access to statistical software (SPSS, PROCESS), funding/grants


*         Statistics consulting/assistance


*         access to statistical software, access to survey building website (Qualtrics)


*         Some of the statistical software


*         access to statistical software, editing help, statistical consultation


*         Statistical software


*         Advising, some analytic consultation.


*         institutional Qualtrics account, encouragement to use R (free and open-source) instead of SPSS


*         All stats software and analytic guidance. And I was given a scholarship to cover the costs of my dissertation


*         Access to data, statistical software, and consultation


*         Access to some software, haven't used data analytic consultation but I believe it is available, I applied for and received some grants


*         free statistical software through my chair, consultation with a statistics professor


*         Some software


*         Access to statistical software, audio recorders, data consultation, scholarships


These data are extremely limited, but I hope they may give some sense of the cost(s) associated with completing the dissertation.

Thanks to Sam Colbert, one of our SCP Student Affiliate (SAS) co-chairs for his assistance in  distributing the survey questions to our SAS membership.

Jim

James W. Lichtenberg, PhD, ABPP
Emeritus Professor of Counseling Psychology
University of Kansas
jlicht at ku.edu<mailto:jlicht at ku.edu>
phone: 561-469-2620
(cell):  785-979-3354


********************* Division 17 information can be found at http://www.div17.org/ To leave the the LISTSERV please send mail to div17discuss-unsubscribe-request at lists.apa.org?subject=unsubscribe<mailto:div17discuss-unsubscribe-request at lists.apa.org?subject=unsubscribe> and do not include your signature Information on LISTSERVs may be found at http://www.div17.org/about_listserv.html ********************
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists-prod.uoregon.edu/pipermail/cpsylist/attachments/20180110/082dee23/attachment-0001.html>