Physics education research to date has predominantly focused on the undergraduate level. This has left critical avenues of research in graduate education relatively understudied and has motivated much of my research. Numerous studies across the education research landscape have analyzed undergraduate admissions practices, but few have critically…

Besides traditional admissions criteria, research-intensive social work PhD programs may rely on personal interviews and curriculum vitae or resumes to gauge prior research experience to determine applicants' fit for the research-related productivity expected in their programs. Case record review of social work PhD candidates (n=56) entering the…

In 2007 and 2010, the National Research Council reported that the United States was not producing enough graduates in the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) fields to meet the demands of an increasingly competitive global economy. Despite recent challenges to these findings, one thing remains clear: Underrepresented…

The purpose of this study was to determine the impact of the continuous improvement of the leadership program on the outcome of graduate students. The study compared the SLLA Praxis scores obtained prior to the redesign of the 31 leadership competencies of the leadership program to the data retrieved after the program design. The practices of the…

The purpose of this study was to investigate the ways in which universities use the "GRE"® General Test scores to award merit-based fellowships to first-year graduate students in doctoral programs. While GRE use in fellowship award decisions is a common practice, there is very little validity evidence to support its use in this context.…

The goal of an educational system or degree program is to "educate" students. This immediately raises the question of what does it mean to "educate" students. All academic institutions, degree programs and content areas are typically expected to answer this question and establish appropriate academic expectations both within…

Accurately predicting the success of graduate students is an important aspect of determining which students should be admitted into graduate programs. The GRE is a pivotal factor to examine since it is one of the most widely used criteria for graduate school admission. Even though the GRE is advertised as an accurate tool for predicting first year…

The project described was an outgrowth of a recently completed study on the establishment of a data base of Graduate Record Examinations (GRE) for studying talent flow. Both examinee-level and matrix data files created and analyzed under the original project were rearranged to make them more accessible to researchers. These multiyear files…

The Quantitative Attitudes Questionnaire measuring graduate students' attitudes toward quantitative research methodology was developed and administered to 90 graduate students. These results and those from cross-validation with three similar samples correlated positively with quantitative examination and Graduate Record Examination mathematics…

Reports on a statistical analysis of the determinants of success among more than 300 graduate students who applied for admission to a particular "top five" university economics department. Explains that the job placements of the students after nine years were used to measure the graduate students' success. (CMK)

This study sought to determine whether GRE subscores (or GMAT) could predict graduation rates in related areas (math-oriented majors for GRE quantitative, etc.) in a sample of over 9,000 graduate students at a major public research university. Because few low quantitative scores were present in math-oriented majors, an attempt was made to…

Examination of 63 graduate students' trait and state anxiety scores and their Graduate Record Examination (GRE) scores reveals that students with higher GRE scores or lower A-trait anxiety scores are more likely to achieve higher first semester grade point averages. (RL)

In an attempt to provide some indication as to whether the recent employment trends among scientists is resulting in a drop of the ability of students entering scientific fields, GRE files were used to construct a history of aptitude test statistics for 1966-67, 1967-68, 1970-71, and 1971-72. For the latter three years, students were classified by…