phd research training

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PhD Program

Program overview.

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Rigorous, discipline-based research is the hallmark of the MIT Sloan PhD Program. The program is committed to educating scholars who will lead in their fields of research—those with outstanding intellectual skills who will carry forward productive research on the complex organizational, financial, and technological issues that characterize an increasingly competitive and challenging business world.

Start here.

Learn more about the program, how to apply, and find answers to common questions.

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Visit this section to find important admissions deadlines, along with a link to our application.

Click here for answers to many of the most frequently asked questions.

PhD studies at MIT Sloan are intense and individual in nature, demanding a great deal of time, initiative, and discipline from every candidate. But the rewards of such rigor are tremendous:  MIT Sloan PhD graduates go on to teach and conduct research at the world's most prestigious universities.

PhD Program curriculum at MIT Sloan is organized under the following three academic areas: Behavior & Policy Sciences; Economics, Finance & Accounting; and Management Science. Our nine research groups correspond with one of the academic areas, as noted below.

MIT Sloan PhD Research Groups

Behavioral & policy sciences.

Economic Sociology

Institute for Work & Employment Research

Organization Studies

Technological Innovation, Entrepreneurship & Strategic Management

Economics, Finance & Accounting

Accounting  

Management Science

Information Technology

System Dynamics  

Those interested in a PhD in Operations Research should visit the Operations Research Center .  

PhD Program Structure

Additional information including coursework and thesis requirements.

MIT Sloan Predoctoral Opportunities

MIT Sloan is eager to provide a diverse group of talented students with early-career exposure to research techniques as well as support in considering research career paths.

Rising Scholars Conference

The fourth annual Rising Scholars Conference on October 25 and 26 gathers diverse PhD students from across the country to present their research.

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The goal of the MIT Sloan PhD Program's admissions process is to select a small number of people who are most likely to successfully complete our rigorous and demanding program and then thrive in academic research careers. The admission selection process is highly competitive; we aim for a class size of nineteen students, admitted from a pool of hundreds of applicants.

What We Seek

• Outstanding intellectual ability
• Excellent academic records
• Previous work in disciplines related to the intended area of concentration
• Strong commitment to a career in research

MIT Sloan PhD Program Admissions Requirements Common Questions

Dates and Deadlines

Admissions for 2024 is closed. The next opportunity to apply will be for 2025 admission. The 2025 application will open in September 2024. 

More information on program requirements and application components

Students in good academic standing in our program receive a funding package that includes tuition, medical insurance, and a fellowship stipend and/or TA/RA salary. We also provide a new laptop computer and a conference travel/research budget.

Funding Information

Throughout the year, we organize events that give you a chance to learn more about the program and determine if a PhD in Management is right for you.

PhD Program Events

May phd program overview.

During this webinar, you will hear from the PhD Program team and have the chance to ask questions about the application and admissions process.

June PhD Program Overview

July phd program overview, august phd program overview.

Complete PhD Admissions Event Calendar

Unlike formulaic approaches to training scholars, the PhD Program at MIT Sloan allows students to choose their own adventure and develop a unique scholarly identity. This can be daunting, but students are given a wide range of support along the way - most notably having access to world class faculty and coursework both at MIT and in the broader academic community around Boston.

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Profiles of our current students

MIT Sloan produces top-notch PhDs in management. Immersed in MIT Sloan's distinctive culture, upcoming graduates are poised to innovate in management research and education. Here are the academic placements for our PhDs graduating in May and September 2024. Our 2024-2025 job market candidates will be posted in early June 2024.

Academic Job Market

Doctoral candidates on the current academic market

Academic Placements

Graduates of the MIT Sloan PhD Program are researching and teaching at top schools around the world.

view recent placements 

MIT Sloan Experience

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The PhD Program is integral to the research of MIT Sloan's world-class faculty. With a reputation as risk-takers who are unafraid to embrace the unconventional, they are engaged in exciting disciplinary and interdisciplinary research that often includes PhD students as key team members.

Research centers across MIT Sloan and MIT provide a rich setting for collaboration and exploration. In addition to exposure to the faculty, PhD students also learn from one another in a creative, supportive research community.

Throughout MIT Sloan's history, our professors have devised theories and fields of study that have had a profound impact on management theory and practice.

From Douglas McGregor's Theory X/Theory Y distinction to Nobel-recognized breakthroughs in finance by Franco Modigliani and in option pricing by Robert Merton and Myron Scholes, MIT Sloan's faculty have been unmatched innovators.

This legacy of innovative thinking and dedication to research impacts every faculty member and filters down to the students who work beside them.

Faculty Links

• Accounting Faculty
• Economic Sociology Faculty
• Finance Faculty
• Information Technology Faculty
• Institute for Work and Employment Research (IWER) Faculty
• Marketing Faculty
• Organization Studies Faculty
• System Dynamics Faculty
• Technological Innovation, Entrepreneurship, and Strategic Management (TIES) Faculty

Student Research

“MIT Sloan PhD training is a transformative experience. The heart of the process is the student’s transition from being a consumer of knowledge to being a producer of knowledge. This involves learning to ask precise, tractable questions and addressing them with creativity and rigor. Hard work is required, but the reward is the incomparable exhilaration one feels from having solved a puzzle that had bedeviled the sharpest minds in the world!” -Ezra Zuckerman Sivan Alvin J. Siteman (1948) Professor of Entrepreneurship

Sample Dissertation Abstracts - These sample Dissertation Abstracts provide examples of the work that our students have chosen to study while in the MIT Sloan PhD Program.

We believe that our doctoral program is the heart of MIT Sloan's research community and that it develops some of the best management researchers in the world. At our annual Doctoral Research Forum, we celebrate the great research that our doctoral students do, and the research community that supports that development process.

The videos of their presentations below showcase the work of our students and will give you insight into the topics they choose to research in the program.

Attention To Retention: The Informativeness of Insiders’ Decision to Retain Shares

2024 PhD Doctoral Research Forum Winner - Gabriel Voelcker

Watch more MIT Sloan PhD Program  Doctoral Forum Videos

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Ph.D. Training Plan

The individually designed Ph.D. Training Plan is a coherent set of four graded courses that develop advanced methodological skills (broadly defined) or knowledge necessary to complete the dissertation. Training plans can include four courses that demonstrate methodological specialization (e.g., four courses in advanced quantitative methods) or a set of courses that provide you with skills or knowledge necessary for your proposed research. You will develop your training plan in consultation with your advisor and it may include already completed courses. Courses in your plan are frequently outside of the sociology department. Some examples include courses in:

• field work and/or qualitative methods
• Area studies, including language courses
• public health epidemiology
• geography and spatial analysis.

When you are ready, you an complete the  Ph.D. Training Plan form , The training plan should be submitted before your general exam, and completed before your final exam (dissertation defense).  Two courses in your training plan can overlap with your required 4 SOC electives.

Minimum Grades

You should earn a minimum grade of 3.0 in all courses included in their Training Plan and maintain a 3.5 cumulative GPA in these courses.

CSSS Concentration

Students who complete a Ph.D. Training plan that consists of coherent set of four CSSS courses and who have enrolled in at least one quarter of CSSS 590 (Weekly Seminar) may request a letter of completion from CSSS.

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Doctor of Philosophy in Education

Additional Information

• Download the Doctoral Viewbook
• Admissions & Aid

The Harvard Ph.D. in Education trains cutting-edge researchers who work across disciplines to generate knowledge and translate discoveries into transformative policy and practice.

Offered jointly by the Harvard Graduate School of Education and the Harvard Kenneth C. Griffin Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, the Ph.D. in Education provides you with full access to the extraordinary resources of Harvard University and prepares you to assume meaningful roles as university faculty, researchers, senior-level education leaders, and policymakers.

As a Ph.D. candidate, you will collaborate with scholars across all Harvard graduate schools on original interdisciplinary research. In the process, you will help forge new fields of inquiry that will impact the way we teach and learn. The program’s required coursework will develop your knowledge of education and your expertise in a range of quantitative and qualitative methods needed to conduct high-quality research. Guided by the goal of making a transformative impact on education research, policy, and practice, you will focus on independent research in various domains, including human development, learning and teaching, policy analysis and evaluation, institutions and society, and instructional practice.   

Curriculum Information

The Ph.D. in Education requires five years of full-time study to complete. You will choose your individual coursework and design your original research in close consultation with your HGSE faculty adviser and dissertation committee. The requirements listed below include the three Ph.D. concentrations: Culture, Institutions, and Society; Education Policy and Program Evaluation; and Human Development, Learning and Teaching . 

We invite you to review an example course list, which is provided in two formats — one as the full list by course number and one by broad course category . These lists are subject to modification. 

Ph.D. Concentrations and Examples

Summary of Ph.D. Program

Doctoral Colloquia  In year one and two you are required to attend. The colloquia convenes weekly and features presentations of work-in-progress and completed work by Harvard faculty, faculty and researchers from outside Harvard, and Harvard doctoral students. Ph.D. students present once in the colloquia over the course of their career.

Research Apprenticeship The Research Apprenticeship is designed to provide ongoing training and mentoring to develop your research skills throughout the entire program.

Teaching Fellowships The Teaching Fellowship is an opportunity to enhance students' teaching skills, promote learning consolidation, and provide opportunities to collaborate with faculty on pedagogical development.

Comprehensive Exams  The Written Exam (year 2, spring) tests you on both general and concentration-specific knowledge. The Oral Exam (year 3, fall/winter) tests your command of your chosen field of study and your ability to design, develop, and implement an original research project.

Dissertation  Based on your original research, the dissertation process consists of three parts: the Dissertation Proposal, the writing, and an oral defense before the members of your dissertation committee.

Culture, Institutions, and Society (CIS) Concentration

In CIS, you will examine the broader cultural, institutional, organizational, and social contexts relevant to education across the lifespan. What is the value and purpose of education? How do cultural, institutional, and social factors shape educational processes and outcomes? How effective are social movements and community action in education reform? How do we measure stratification and institutional inequality? In CIS, your work will be informed by theories and methods from sociology, history, political science, organizational behavior and management, philosophy, and anthropology. You can examine contexts as diverse as classrooms, families, neighborhoods, schools, colleges and universities, religious institutions, nonprofits, government agencies, and more.

Education Policy and Program Evaluation (EPPE) Concentration

In EPPE, you will research the design, implementation, and evaluation of education policy affecting early childhood, K–12, and postsecondary education in the U.S. and internationally. You will evaluate and assess individual programs and policies related to critical issues like access to education, teacher effectiveness, school finance, testing and accountability systems, school choice, financial aid, college enrollment and persistence, and more. Your work will be informed by theories and methods from economics, political science, public policy, and sociology, history, philosophy, and statistics. This concentration shares some themes with CIS, but your work with EPPE will focus on public policy and large-scale reforms.

Human Development, Learning and Teaching (HDLT) Concentration

In HDLT, you will work to advance the role of scientific research in education policy, reform, and practice. New discoveries in the science of learning and development — the integration of biological, cognitive, and social processes; the relationships between technology and learning; or the factors that influence individual variations in learning — are transforming the practice of teaching and learning in both formal and informal settings. Whether studying behavioral, cognitive, or social-emotional development in children or the design of learning technologies to maximize understanding, you will gain a strong background in human development, the science of learning, and sociocultural factors that explain variation in learning and developmental pathways. Your research will be informed by theories and methods from psychology, cognitive science, sociology and linguistics, philosophy, the biological sciences and mathematics, and organizational behavior.

Program Faculty

The most remarkable thing about the Ph.D. in Education is open access to faculty from all Harvard graduate and professional schools, including the Harvard Graduate School of Education, the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, the Harvard Kennedy School, the Harvard Law School, Harvard Medical School, and the Harvard School of Public Health. Learn about the full Ph.D. Faculty.

Jarvis R. Givens

Jarvis Givens studies the history of American education, African American history, and the relationship between race and power in schools.

Paul L. Harris

Paul Harris is interested in the early development of cognition, emotion, and imagination in children.

Meira Levinson

Meira Levinson is a normative political philosopher who works at the intersection of civic education, youth empowerment, racial justice, and educational ethics. 

Luke W. Miratrix

Luke Miratrix is a statistician who explores how to best use modern statistical methods in applied social science contexts.

Eric Taylor

Eric Taylor studies the economics of education, with a particular interest in employer-employee interactions between schools and teachers — hiring and firing decisions, job design, training, and performance evaluation.

Paola Uccelli

Paola Ucelli studies socio-cultural and individual differences in the language development of multilingual and monolingual students.

View Ph.D. Faculty

Dissertations.

The following is a complete listing of successful Ph.D. in Education dissertations to-date. Dissertations from November 2014 onward are publicly available in the Digital Access to Scholarship at Harvard (DASH) , the online repository for Harvard scholarship.

• 2022 Graduate Dissertations (265 KB pdf)
• 2021 Graduate Dissertations (177 KB pdf)
• 2020 Graduate Dissertations (121 KB pdf)
• 2019 Graduate Dissertations (68.3 KB pdf)

Student Directory

An opt-in listing of current Ph.D. students with information about their interests, research, personal web pages, and contact information:

Doctor of Philosophy in Education Student Directory

Introduce Yourself

Tell us about yourself so that we can tailor our communication to best fit your interests and provide you with relevant information about our programs, events, and other opportunities to connect with us.

Program Highlights

Explore examples of the Doctor of Philosophy in Education experience and the impact its community is making on the field:

Reshaping Teacher Licensure: Lessons from the Pandemic

Olivia Chi, Ed.M.'17, Ph.D.'20, discusses the ongoing efforts to ensure the quality and stability of the teaching workforce

Lost in Translation

New comparative study from Ph.D. candidate Maya Alkateb-Chami finds strong correlation between low literacy outcomes for children and schools teaching in different language from home

Research Training, Clinical Psychology PhD

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Research Training

In the Clinical Psychology Program at AU, research training is based on a mentorship model. Students are admitted to a specific core faculty member's lab, and that faculty member then serves as the student's advisor for the duration of his or her graduate training. Students often develop working relationships with the other student members of their lab — collaborating on projects, receiving advice from older students, and sharing experience and advice with younger students. Format of research supervision varies from advisor to advisor, but all mentors meet regularly with their students.

Per program requirements, all clinical students must complete coursework in psychological research and statistics as well as a master's thesis project and a doctoral dissertation, which must be defended orally to the projects' committees. Students present their master's thesis proposals to core faculty and the other clinical students at a "celebration of research" event at the end of their first year. Many students exceed program research requirements by publishing in peer-reviewed journals and becoming active in professional organizations (such as the Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies, the Association for Psychological Science, the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, the American Evaluation Association, the Anxiety Disorders Association of America, etc.). They routinely attend and present their research findings at conferences.

Recent Student Publications

List of Publications of Core Faculty in the Clinical Psychology Doctoral Program

(in alphabetical order)

Anagnostopoulos, V. & Carter, M.M . (2019). Self-report versus informant responses: Exploring the relationship between excessive reassurance seeking and depression. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 38, 1-27.

Carlson, E. J., Malloy, E. J., Brauer, L., Golomb, R. G., Grant, J. E., Mansueto, C. S., & Haaga, D. A. F . (2021). Comprehensive behavioral (ComB) treatment of trichotillomania: A randomized clinical trial. Behavior Therapy, 52, 1543-1557 .

Carnahan, N., Carter, M.,   Herr, N. R.  (2020). Perpetuating factors of social anxiety: a serial mediation model,  Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapy, 48 , 304-314.

Carnahan, N.D., Carter, M.M ., and Sbrocco, T. (2021). Intolerance of uncertainty, looming cognitive style, and avoidant coping as predictors of anxiety and depression during COVID-19: A longitudinal study. International Journal of Cognitive Therapy. https://doi.org/10.1007/s41811-021-00123-9

Carter, M.M ., Sbrocco, T., Alexander, T., Tang, D., & Carter, C.G. (2019). Implicit Association Task and perception of Homosexuality: Differences Between African American and Non-Hispanic Caucasian Homosexual Males. Journal of Homosexuality, 1-23. Doi.org 10.1080/00918369.2019.1585728.

De Simone Irace, C.,  Caporino, N.E. , & McQuarrie, S. (2020).  Confirmatory factor analysis of the Caregiver Responses to Youth Media Exposure (CRYME).   Psychology of Violence, 10 (6), 648–656. 

Farrow, V., Ahrens, A ., Gunthert, K. , & Schulkin, J. (2019). Women’s healthcare providers: Work factors, personality, and stress. Social Behavior and Personality, 47, 1-11.

Flannery, M. K., Coyne, A. F., Carlson, E. J., & Haaga, D. A. F . (in press). Extended follow-up of a comprehensive behavioral (ComB) treatment sample during the COVID-19 pandemic. Journal of Obsessive-Compulsive and Related Disorders.

Friedman-Wheeler, D. Litovsky, A., Prince, K., Webbert, J., Werkeiser, A. Carlson, E. Hoffman, C. Levy, K., Scherer, A., & Gunthert, K. (2019). Do mood-regulation expectancies for coping strategies predict their use? A daily diary study. International Journal of Stress Management , 26, 287.

Haaga, D. A. F ., & Kaufmann, A. (2021). Desirable difficulty and attitudes toward research among psychology undergraduates. College Teaching, 69, 9-11 . http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/87567555.2020.1791037

Haaga, D. A. F., Kaufmann, A., & Malloy, E. J. (2020). Looming vulnerability and smoking cessation attempts. Nicotine & Tobacco Research, 22, 1439-1445 .

Jones, K.M., Carter, M.M ., Bianchi, A.L., Zeglin, R.J., & Schulkin, J. (2020). Obstetrician-Gynecologist and Patient Factors Associated with Intimate Partner Violence Screening in a Clinical Setting. Women and Health. doi: 10.1080/03630242.2020.1784368

Kacmarek, C. N., Yates, B. T ., Nich, C., & Kiluk, B. D. (2021). A pilot economic evaluation of computerized cognitive behavioral therapy for alcohol use disorder as an addition and alternative to traditional therapy. Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research, 45(5), 1109-1121. doi.org/10.1111/acer.14601

Kaufmann, A., Malloy, E. J., & Haaga, D. A. F . (2020). Examining outcome expectancies for smoking vs. abstinence among adult daily smokers. Addictive Behaviors, 102, article 106140, 1-8 .

McCutchan, P., Yates, B. T ., Jobes, D. A., Kerbrat, A. H., & Comtois, K. A. (in press). Costs, benefits, and cost-benefit of collaborative assessment and management of suicidality versus enhanced treatment as usual. PLOS ONE . PONE-D-21-12016R1

Raglan, G.B., Schulkin, J., Juliano, L.M ., Micks, E.A. (2020). Obstetrician-gynecologists’ screening and management of depression during perimenopause.  Menopause, 27 (4) 393-397.

Rothschild, L. B., Ratto, A. B., Kenworthy, L., Hardy, K. K., Verbalis, A., Pugliese, C., Strang, J. F., Safer-Lichtenstein, J., Anthony, B. J., Anthony, L. G., Guter, M. M., & Haaga, D. A. F. (in press). Parents matter: Parent acceptance of school-based executive functions interventions relates to improved child outcomes. Journal of Clinical Psychology.

Rubin, L., Haaga, D ., Pearson, J., & Gunthert, K. (2020). Depression as a moderator of the prospective relationship between mood and smoking. Health Psychology, 39 , 99-106.

Taouk, L., Gunthert, K ., & Schulkin. (2021). The moderating effect of stress mindsets on associations between stress during pregnancy and symptoms of depression and anxiety. Anxiety, Stress, and Coping .

Wasil, A. R., Kacmarek, C. N., Osborne, T. L., Palermo, E., DeRubies, R. J., Weiss, J. R., & Yates, B. T . (2021). Economic evaluation of an online single-session intervention for depression in Kenyan adolescents. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 89(9), 657-667. 97.

Carlin, E., & Ahrens, A. H. (2014). The effects of mindfulness and fear-inducing stimuli on avoidance behavior. Mindfulness , 5 , 276-281. dx.doi.org/10.1007/s12671-012-0177-3

Stoeckel, M., Weissbrod, C., & Ahrens, A. H. (2015). The adolescent response to parental illness: The influence of dispositional gratitude. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 24, 1501-1509.

Skalina, L. M., Gunthert, K. C., Ahrens, A. H., & Wenze, S. J. (2015). Neuroticism and momentary differentiation of positive and negative affect. Personality and Individual Differences , 75 , 165-169.

Chue, A. E., Gunthert, K. C., Ahrens, A. H., & Skalina, L. M. (in press). How does social anger expression predict later depression symptoms? It depends on how often one is angry. Emotion .

Parker, S. C., Majid H., Stewart, K. L., & Ahrens, A. H. (in press). No thanks! Autonomous personal style is associated with less experience and valuing of gratitude. Cognition and Emotion.

Stewart, K. L., Ahrens, A. H., & Gunthert, K. C. (under revision). Relating to self and other: Mindfulness predicts compassionate and self-image relationship goals.

Bianchi, K. & Carter, M.M. (2012).An Experimental Analysis of Disgust Sensitivity and Fear of Contagion in Spider and Blood Injection Injury Phobia. Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 26, 753-761 .

Kohlstedt, S.S., Weissbrod, C.S., Colangelo, A.M., & Carter, M.M. (2013). Psychological factors influencing exercise adherence among females. Psychology, 4, 917-923. http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/psych.2013.412132.

Jones, K. M., Carter, M. M. , & Schulkin, J. (2015). Racial and ethnic disparities in cardiovascular disease: An assessment of obstetrician/gynecologists' knowledge, attitudes, and practice patterns. Journal of Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities. 2:256-266; DOI 10.1007/s40615-015-0088-9

Bruns, G.L., &. Carter, M.M. (2015). Ethnic Differences in the Effects of Media on Body Image: The Effects of Priming with Ethnically Different or Similar Models. Eating Behaviors, 17, 33-36 .

Condit, C.S., Carter, M., Tang, D., & Rothstein, L.A. (2015). Cultural validity and the measurement of social anxiety: Asian American groups are not psychometrically equivalent. Journal of Depression and Anxiety, 4, 174-182.

Anagnostopoulos, V., Carter, M.M. , & Weissbrod, C. (2015). Pre-Competition Anxiety and Self-Confidence in Collegiate Track and Field Athletes: A Comparison between African American and non-Hispanic Caucasian Men and Women. The Sport Journal. http://thesportjournal.org

Rothstein, L.A., Covington, A.M., & Carter, M.M. (2015). Implicit Associations in Blood-Injection-Injury Phobia: Changes after Exposure to a Disgust-Eliciting Stimulus. Clinical and Experimental Psychology, 1, 1-5 . http://dx.doi.org/10.4172/cep.1000005.

Duran, E.H., Sbrocco, T., &. Carter, M.M. (2016). Ethnic identity and Implicit Anti-fat bias: Similarities and Difference between African American and Caucasian Women. Ethnicity and Disease, 26, 69-76.

Rothstein, L.A., Sbrocco, T., & Carter, M.M. (2017 in press). Factor Analysis of EDI-3 Eating Disorder Risk Subscales among African American Women. Journal of Black Psychology ,

Parker, S., * Moore, J., * Bahraini, S., Gunthert, K., & Zellner, D. (2012). Effects of Expectations on Loudness and Loudness Difference. Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics.

Hutchison, J. & Gunthert, K. (2013). Development and validation of a measure of Beliefs in Automatic Mood Regulation. Cognitive Therapy and Research , 37, 1243-1256.

Greenfield, M., Gunthert, K., & * Forand, N. (2014). Sex Differences in the Effect of Neuroticism on Interpersonal Interaction Quality. Individual Differences Research, 12.

Skalina, L., Gunthert, K., Ahrens, A., & * Wenze, S. (2015). The influence of neuroticism on covariation of negative and positive emotion. Personality and Individual Differences, 75, 165-169.

Meyers, N., Weissbrod, C., & Gunthert, K. (2016). The effect of masculinity on community reintegration following traumatic brain injury in military veterans. Military Psychology, 28, 14-24 .

Chue, A., Gunthert, K., Ahrens, A., & Skalina, L. (in press). Does expressing anger socially facilitate lower distress? It depends how often one is angry. Emotion .

Bauman, E. M., Haaga, D. A. F., Kaltman, S., & Dutton, M. A. (2012). Measuring social support in battered women: Factor structure of the Interpersonal Support Evaluation List (ISEL). Violence Against Women, 18, 30-43 .

Kapson, H. S., Leddy, M. A., & Haaga, D. A. F. (2012). Specificity of effects of cognitive behavior therapy on coping, acceptance, and distress tolerance in a randomized controlled trial for smoking cessation. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 68, 1231-1240 .

Tanner, M. A., Gray, J. J., & Haaga, D. A. F. (2012). Association of co-therapy supervision with client outcomes, attrition, and trainee effectiveness in a psychotherapy training clinic. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 68, 1241-1252 .

Kapson, H. S., McDonald, D. O., & Haaga, D. A. F. (2012). The effect of unanimous first session attendance on psychoeducational smoking cessation groups. Group Dynamics: Theory, Research, and Practice, 16, 148-158 .

Falkenstein, M. J., & Haaga, D. A. F. (2013). Measuring and characterizing unconditional self-acceptance. In M. E. Bernard (Ed.), The strength of self-acceptance: 18 Theory, practice and research (pp. 139-151) . New York: Springer.

Rogers, K., Banis, M., Falkenstein, M. J., Malloy, E. J., McDonough, L., Nelson, S. O., Rusch, N., & Haaga, D. A. F. (2014). Stepped care in the treatment of trichotillomania. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 82, 361-367 .

Falkenstein, M. J., Rogers, K., Malloy, E. J., & Haaga, D. A. F. (2014). Predictors of relapse following treatment of trichotillomania. Journal of Obsessive-Compulsive & Related Disorders, 3, 345-353 .

Falkenstein, M. J., Rogers, K., Malloy, E. J., & Haaga, D. A. F. (2015). Race/ethnicity and treatment outcome in trichotillomania (hair pulling disorder). Journal of Clinical Psychology, 71, 641-652 .

Neale-Lorello, D. & Haaga, D. A. F. (2015). The "observing" facet of mindfulness moderates stress/symptom relations only among meditators. Mindfulness, 6, 1286-1291 .

O'Brien, J. L., & Haaga, D. A. F. (2015). Empathic accuracy and compassion fatigue among therapist trainees. Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, 46, 414-420 .

Falkenstein, M. J., Mouton-Odum, S., Mansueto, C. S., Golomb, R. G., & Haaga, D. A. F. (2016). Comprehensive behavioral (ComB) treatment of trichotillomania: A treatment development study. Behavior Modification, 40, 414-438 .

Falkenstein, M. J., & Haaga, D. A. F. (2016). Symptom accommodation, trichotillomania-by-proxy, and interpersonal functioning in trichotillomania (hair-pulling disorder). Comprehensive Psychiatry, 65, 88-97 .

Huntley, E.D. & Juliano, L.M. (2012). Caffeine expectancy questionnaire (CaffEQ): Construction, psychometric properties, and associations with caffeine use, caffeine dependence, and other related variables. Psychological Assessment, 24, 592-607.

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• 18 January 2023

PhD training is no longer fit for purpose — it needs reform now

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Graduation day for PhD scholars at the University of Bologna, Italy. Doctoral assessment in most countries is largely unchanged since the nineteenth century. Credit: Roberto Serra/Iguana Press/Getty

These days, there’s barely a world leader who doesn’t talk up science. Prime Minister Narendra Modi was the star turn at the annual Indian Science Congress, held this month in Nagpur, where he exhorted the nation’s researchers to do the science needed to make India self-reliant. At last October’s landmark Communist Party congress, Chinese Premier Xi Jinping set out his vision of how science and innovation could drive growth . And last August, US President Joe Biden signed the CHIPS and Science Act, which unlocks US$13.2 billion for semiconductor research and workforce development, in a bid to maintain the country’s technological primacy .

In each case, the message to researchers is crystal clear: leaders see science as essential to national prosperity, well-being and, of course, competitiveness. So, is research fit for the challenge of advancing, refining or critiquing these goals? Not exactly. And it won’t be until there is fundamental reform to the gateway to a research career: PhD training.

Training in trouble

As Nature and other publications have reported persistently, PhD training worldwide has been in trouble for some time. Surging inflation has eroded the already-meagre value of students’ stipends in most countries, creating a cost-of-living crisis. Early-career researchers constantly report concerns about a chronic lack of support and poor-quality supervision, with senior researchers rarely trained in mentorship. Racism and discrimination are systemic in academic culture in many places.

Collection: Career resources for PhD students

Furthermore, PhD candidates are inadequately prepared for the cross-disciplinary working and large teams that characterize cutting-edge science today. This is especially true for careers outside academic research , where the overwhelming majority of PhD candidates will be heading .

It is not all bad. Universities in a small number of high-income countries have reformed, or are reforming, PhD assessment. But in most places, and especially in low- and middle-income countries, a candidate’s work is still evaluated using a single-authored dissertation. This is ‘defended’ before a scholarly panel in what is still sometimes called a viva voce (‘with living voice’ in Latin), a nod to its nineteenth-century origins. And in many countries, candidates must publish in a journal before they get a PhD, something that critics say could fuel predatory publishing.

The system’s strains have become more obvious because the number of people doing PhD training has been rising sharply. According to the 2022 book Towards a Global Core Value System in Doctoral Education — available as an open-access PDF; see go.nature.com/3zihyuk — the number of PhDs awarded in China more than doubled from 23,400 in 2004 to 55,011 in 2016 (and reached around 60,000 in 2019). India’s numbers increased from 17,850 in 2004 to 25,095 in 2016; US figures climbed from 48,500 to 69,525 over the same period (see ‘The rise of the PhD’).

The rise of the PhD

The number of students awarded PhDs each year is expanding in a number of countries. In emerging economies, this follows growth in universal access to education.

*2011; †2017. Source: M. Nerad et al . (eds) Towards a Global Core Value System in Doctoral Education (UCL Press, 2022). https://doi.org/10.14324/111.9781800080188

The doctorate updated

Too often, PhD training is still, at least conceptually, organized as it was after its development in and subsequent export from mid-nineteenth-century Germany. At that time, young scholars were attached to individual professors in a master–apprentice relationship, with the objective of safeguarding and advancing knowledge in individual disciplines.

That cannot continue if the next generation of scholars is to meet society’s demands. There needs to be a revolution in the organization and funding of PhD training. And it must be on a similar scale to the shake-up that took place when school and university education stopped being a privilege enjoyed by relatively small numbers of people — those with wealth, or those training for occupations such as politics, religion or teaching. As education expanded to be open to everyone (at least in theory), it was no longer feasible to offer tuition in small groups where one person did most of the teaching, with little or no training. Countries introduced subject specialists as teachers; they limited class sizes, experimented with new educational technologies, collaborated on quality-assurance measures and drew on educational research to understand how students learn in different ways.

The editors and contributors of Towards a Global Core Value System in Doctoral Education , who are all experts in higher-education research, policy or practice, provide snapshots of the state of play in various countries, including all-important examples of innovation in PhD training. Some candidates are instructed in cohorts with more than one supervisor, so that students are less isolated and better protected if a relationship with a single supervisor goes bad. Some take additional courses of study, or have their research progress assessed periodically — the kind of guided approach that happens in education more broadly.

Reforming PhD training will be like turning a tanker. It will be slow. It will require planning and resources. But the end result must be a transformation on a massive scale, just as happened when primary, secondary and university education was reformed. If our leaders want scientists to work harder for society, they, in turn, need to work with research to ensure that PhD training finally exits the nineteenth century and joins the twenty-first.

Nature 613 , 414 (2023)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-023-00084-3

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Understand the Human Experience from a Biblical Worldview with an Online PhD in Psychology

Do you want to deepen your knowledge in psychology and use your research to contribute to the field of understanding human behavior? Liberty University’s PhD in Psychology can provide rigorous research training that can better prepare you for a career in academia and research. An online PhD in Psychology is ideal for students who want to bring new knowledge of human behavior to the field and find new ways to help people heal, grow, and thrive.

Liberty’s PhD in Psychology is designed to prepare you to evaluate research and to understand the truth about human behavior from a biblical worldview. Our mission is to  Train Champions for Christ , and we fulfill this mission by training professionals to use science and biblical values to understand the full breadth of the human experience. Our unique, biblically-based approach to this field can help prepare you to make a positive impact on those you work with.

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Through this program, you will be encouraged to become a thought leader on a variety of topics related to the human experience. Our goal is to help you venture into the world of psychiatric research and practice and offer insights based on biblical foundations of truth that can help people heal and thrive.

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Throughout this program, Liberty incorporates a biblical worldview into your instruction. This perspective in your research and practical training in psychology can help you develop professional and academic excellence without compromising an ethical appreciation for human life. Additionally, our caring faculty are devoted to helping you grow personally and academically.

With our online PhD in Psychology, you can learn effective clinical techniques, essential behavioral theory, and develop your research and writing expertise. You can be equipped with a thorough understanding of human thought and behavior while developing your own research to further the field.

Earning a PhD in Psychology online with Liberty means that you will be trained to engage with research and psychiatric practice critically and biblically. If you are interested in becoming a thoughtful, articulate, and research-focused professional, then this is the program for you.

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In the online  PhD in Psychology – Theology  track, you can learn how to study the Bible and integrate that study of the Bible with research in psychology to further your understanding of psychological concepts.

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Molecular Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics

Molecular pharmacology and experimental therapeutics track.

average number of publications by each program graduate

High faculty-to-student ratio

Guaranteed 5-year internal fellowship.

including full tuition, stipend, and benefits

Imagine a career that melds the unparalleled thrill of discovering basic biological mechanisms with the excitement of translating those findings into novel therapies for human diseases.

In other words, "basic science on steroids" ... an environment in which you not only perform cutting-edge basic research that leads to new insights in biology, but you also see how your discoveries can make a difference and you often help to make that possible.

The Molecular Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics (MPET) Track of the Ph.D. Program at Mayo Clinic Graduate School of Biomedical Science is a unique and innovative Ph.D. training opportunity for graduate students looking to contribute to the frontiers of 21st-century discovery and medicine.

Our success in training students is demonstrated by the:

• Tremendous productivity during student training, including publications in high-impact journals
• Excellent postdoctoral opportunities
• Fulfilling careers, as leaders in both academia and industry, that former students have pursued
• Extra funding provided by a competitive, peer-reviewed NIH predoctoral pharmacology training grant

Extraordinary mentors

MPET faculty members actively mentor you by guiding your research project, fostering your intellectual development as a scientist, developing your communication skills, and providing you with career advice, all with the goal of helping you to become an independent investigator in academia or industry. They also are world-class scientists whose multidisciplinary research programs integrate across the fields of pharmacology, biochemistry, molecular biology, cell biology, systems biology, organic chemistry, structural biology, genetics, and computational disciplines of artificial intelligence and machine learning.

Most importantly, your independent graduate student research project will be a key component of these research programs, which include the areas of:

• Cancer biology and therapeutics. Discover the molecular underpinnings that drive cancer and new approaches to curing cancer.
• Regenerative medicine. Investigate how to program, or reprogram, human cells to regenerate organs and treat disease.
• Pharmacogenetics and pharmacogenomics. Use cutting-edge genetic technologies to discover, at the molecular and cellular levels, why humans have vastly different responses to drugs.
• Drug discovery. Use supercomputing and chemistry to discover and develop mechanism-based drugs.
• Biology and genetics of addiction. Have you ever wondered how genetics affect addictive behavior, or whether gene therapy can be used to combat addiction? Mayo has several innovative studies underway.
• Cardiovascular biology and therapeutics. Identify the molecular mechanisms and genetic defects that contribute to heart disease and develop improved therapies.
• Therapy for neurodegenerative diseases.  Explore pathways that are disrupted in neurodegenerative conditions such as Alzheimer's disease, and strategies to intercede.
• Systems pharmacology.  Apply artificial intelligence, machine learning, and other computational tools to the study of biological systems and their response to various therapeutics.
• Computational pharmacology.  Our faculty have embraced the most advanced computational approaches including machine learning and artificial intelligence as applied biomedical science.

This visionary didactic program can be tailored specifically to your needs and is designed to train you to:

• Integrate across scientific disciplines
• Perform cutting-edge, discovery-oriented research and to apply modern computation to help perform that research
• Further your understanding of human biology
• Enhance patient care through the development of novel disease therapies

The first- and second-year core curriculum courses provide the broad foundation of knowledge needed to interpret cutting-edge research findings and successfully perform laboratory research. Additional classes focus on the basic principles of drug action and metabolism and the rapidly evolving concepts of receptor and signal transduction mechanisms relevant to pharmacology and to all of biology.

As a student, you’ll also select from a menu of small-group tutorials that provide in-depth learning experiences covering:

• Systems and computational pharmacology
• Pharmacogenomics and pharmacogenetics
• Drug discovery
• Cell signaling
• DNA damage signaling and repair
• Cardiovascular biology
• Neurodegeneration
• Psychiatric pharmacology

In your first year, you’ll have the opportunity to rotate with three research mentors. By the end of the first year, you’ll select a mentor who best matches your scientific interests and goals.

You have the option of taking the written qualifying exam, followed by the oral qualifying exam, at the end of your first year or second year.

The third, fourth and fifth years of the MPET program focus on thesis research. After completing class work and passing the written and oral qualifying exams, you’ll work full-time on your thesis project.

Presentation opportunities

Throughout graduate training, you’ll gain effective communication skills by participating in weekly student seminars, lab meetings, journal clubs, and class tutorials. In addition, virtually all MPET students present their work at national scientific meetings.

Additional learning opportunities

MPET students have excellent opportunities to learn from national and international experts inside and outside of Mayo Clinic. Active seminar programs in each department bring many distinguished scientists to the Mayo Clinic campus. MPET investigators host seminar speakers who are engaged in therapy development in a variety of settings, including academia, the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries, and government laboratories.

As a student, you’ll have ample opportunity to interact with these distinguished visitors in formal and informal settings and are encouraged to attend seminars sponsored by any of the graduate school departments and programs.

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Measurement and analysis of change in research scholars’ knowledge and attitudes toward statistics after PhD coursework

• Mariyamma Philip 1  

BMC Medical Education volume  24 , Article number:  512 ( 2024 ) Cite this article

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Knowledge of statistics is highly important for research scholars, as they are expected to submit a thesis based on original research as part of a PhD program. As statistics play a major role in the analysis and interpretation of scientific data, intensive training at the beginning of a PhD programme is essential. PhD coursework is mandatory in universities and higher education institutes in India. This study aimed to compare the scores of knowledge in statistics and attitudes towards statistics among the research scholars of an institute of medical higher education in South India at different time points of their PhD (i.e., before, soon after and 2–3 years after the coursework) to determine whether intensive training programs such as PhD coursework can change their knowledge or attitudes toward statistics.

One hundred and thirty research scholars who had completed PhD coursework in the last three years were invited by e-mail to be part of the study. Knowledge and attitudes toward statistics before and soon after the coursework were already assessed as part of the coursework module. Knowledge and attitudes towards statistics 2–3 years after the coursework were assessed using Google forms. Participation was voluntary, and informed consent was also sought.

Knowledge and attitude scores improved significantly subsequent to the coursework (i.e., soon after, percentage of change: 77%, 43% respectively). However, there was significant reduction in knowledge and attitude scores 2–3 years after coursework compared to the scores soon after coursework; knowledge and attitude scores have decreased by 10%, 37% respectively.

The study concluded that the coursework program was beneficial for improving research scholars’ knowledge and attitudes toward statistics. A refresher program 2–3 years after the coursework would greatly benefit the research scholars. Statistics educators must be empathetic to understanding scholars’ anxiety and attitudes toward statistics and its influence on learning outcomes.

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A PhD degree is a research degree, and research scholars submit a thesis based on original research in their chosen field. Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) degrees are awarded in a wide range of academic disciplines, and the PhD students are usually referred as research scholars. A comprehensive understanding of statistics allows research scholars to add rigour to their research. This approach helps them evaluate the current practices and draw informed conclusions from studies that were undertaken to generate their own hypotheses and to design, analyse and interpret complex clinical decisions. Therefore, intensive training at the beginning of the PhD journey is essential, as intensive training in research methodology and statistics in the early stages of research helps scholars design and plan their studies efficiently.

The University Grants Commission of India has taken various initiatives to introduce academic reforms to higher education institutions in India and mandated in 2009 that coursework be treated as a prerequisite for PhD preparation and that a minimum of four credits be assigned to one or more courses on research methodology, which could cover areas such as quantitative methods, computer applications, and research ethics. UGC also clearly states that all candidates admitted to PhD programmes shall be required to complete the prescribed coursework during the initial two semesters [ 1 ]. National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (NIMHANS) at Bangalore, a tertiary care hospital and medical higher education institute in South India, that trains students in higher education in clinical fields, also introduced coursework in the PhD program for research scholars from various backgrounds, such as basic, behavioral and neurosciences, as per the UGC mandate. Research scholars undertake coursework programs soon after admission, which consist of several modules that include research methodology and statistical software training, among others.

Most scholars approach a course in statistics with the prejudice that statistics is uninteresting, demanding, complex or involve much mathematics and, most importantly, it is not relevant to their career goals. They approach statistics with considerable apprehension and negative attitudes, probably because of their inability to grasp the relevance of the application of the methods in their fields of study. This could be resolved by providing sufficient and relevant examples of the application of statistical techniques from various fields of medical research and by providing hands-on experience to learn how these techniques are applied and interpreted on real data. Hence, research methodology and statistical methods and the application of statistical methods using software have been given much importance and are taught as two modules, named Research Methodology and Statistics and Statistical Software Training, at this institute of medical higher education that trains research scholars in fields as diverse as basic, behavioural and neurosciences. Approximately 50% of the coursework curriculum focused on these two modules. Research scholars were thus given an opportunity to understand the theoretical aspects of the research methodology and statistical methods. They were also given hands-on training on statistical software to analyse the data using these methods and to interpret the findings. The coursework program was designed in this specific manner, as this intensive training would enable the research scholars to design their research studies more effectively and analyse their data in a better manner.

It is important to study attitudes toward statistics because attitudes are known to impact the learning process. Also, most importantly, these scholars are expected to utilize the skills in statistics and research methods to design research projects or guide postgraduate students and research scholars in the near future. Several authors have assessed attitudes toward statistics among various students and examined how attitudes affect academic achievement, how attitudes are correlated with knowledge in statistics and how attitudes change after a training program. There are studies on attitudes toward statistics among graduate [ 2 , 3 , 4 ] and postgraduate [ 5 ] medical students, politics, sociology, ( 6 – 7 ) psychology [ 8 , 9 , 10 ], social work [ 11 ], and management students [ 12 ]. However, there is a dearth of related literature on research scholars, and there are only two studies on the attitudes of research scholars. In their study of doctoral students in education-related fields, Cook & Catanzaro (2022) investigated the factors that contribute to statistics anxiety and attitudes toward statistics and how anxiety, attitudes and plans for future research use are connected among doctoral students [ 13 ]. Another study by Sohrabi et al. (2018) on research scholars assessed the change in knowledge and attitude towards teaching and educational design of basic science PhD students at a Medical University after a two-day workshop on empowerment and familiarity with the teaching and learning principles [ 14 ]. There were no studies that assessed changes in the attitudes or knowledge of research scholars across the PhD training period or after intensive training programmes such as PhD coursework. Even though PhD coursework has been established in institutes of higher education in India for more than a decade, there are no published research on the effectiveness of coursework from Indian universities or institutes of higher education.

This study aimed to determine the effectiveness of PhD coursework and whether intensive training programs such as PhD coursework can influence the knowledge and attitudes toward statistics of research scholars. Additionally, it would be interesting to know if the acquired knowledge could be retained longer, especially 2–3 years after the coursework, the crucial time of PhD data analysis. Hence, this study compares the scores of knowledge in statistics and attitude toward statistics of the research scholars at different time points of their PhD training, i.e., before, soon after and 2–3 years after the coursework.

Participants

This is an observational study of single group with repeated assessments. The institute offers a three-month coursework program consisting of seven modules, the first module is ethics; the fifth is research methodology and statistics; and the last is neurosciences. The study was conducted in January 2020. All research scholars of the institute who had completed PhD coursework in the last three years were considered for this study ( n  = 130). Knowledge and attitudes toward statistics before and soon after the coursework module were assessed as part of the coursework program. They were collected on the first and last day of the program respectively. The author who was also the coordinator of the research methodology and statistics module of the coursework have obtained the necessary permission to use the data for this study. The scholars invited to be part of the study by e-mail. Knowledge and attitude towards statistics 2–3 years after the coursework were assessed online using Google forms. They were also administered a semi structured questionnaire to elicit details about the usefulness of coursework. Participation was voluntary, and consent was also sought online. The confidentiality of the data was assured. Data were not collected from research scholars of Biostatistics or from research scholars who had more than a decade of experience or who had been working in the institute as faculty, assuming that their scores could be higher and could bias the findings. This non funded study was reviewed and approved by the Institute Ethics Committee.

Instruments

Knowledge in Statistics was assessed by a questionnaire prepared by the author and was used as part of the coursework evaluation. The survey included 25 questions that assessed the knowledge of statistics on areas such as descriptive statistics, sampling methods, study design, parametric and nonparametric tests and multivariate analyses. Right answers were assigned a score of 1, and wrong answers were assigned a score of 0. Total scores ranged from 0 to 25. Statistics attitudes were assessed by the Survey of Attitudes toward Statistics (SATS) scale. The SATS is a 36-item scale that measures 6 domains of attitudes towards statistics. The possible range of scores for each item is between 1 and 7. The total score was calculated by dividing the summed score by the number of items. Higher scores indicate more positive attitudes. The SAT-36 is a copyrighted scale, and researchers are allowed to use it only with prior permission. ( 15 – 16 ) The author obtained permission for use in the coursework evaluation and this study. A semi structured questionnaire was also used to elicit details about the usefulness of coursework.

Statistical analysis

Descriptive statistics such as mean, standard deviation, number and percentages were used to describe the socio-demographic data. General Linear Model Repeated Measures of Analysis of variance was used to compare knowledge and attitude scores across assessments. Categorical data from the semi structured questionnaire are presented as percentages. All the statistical tests were two-tailed, and a p value < 0.05 was set a priori as the threshold for statistical significance. IBM SPSS (28.0) was used to analyse the data.

One hundred and thirty research scholars who had completed coursework (CW) in the last 2–3 years were considered for the study. These scholars were sent Google forms to assess their knowledge and attitudes 2–3 years after coursework. 81 scholars responded (62%), and 4 scholars did not consent to participate in the study. The data of 77 scholars were merged with the data obtained during the coursework program (before and soon after CW). Socio-demographic characteristics of the scholars are presented in Table  1 .

The age of the respondents ranged from 23 to 36 years, with an average of 28.7 years (3.01), and the majority of the respondents were females (65%). Years of experience (i.e., after masters) before joining a PhD programme ranged from 0.5 to 9 years, and half of them had less than three years of experience before joining the PhD programme (median-3). More than half of those who responded were research scholars from the behavioural sciences (55%), while approximately 30% were from the basic sciences (29%).

General Linear Model Repeated Measures of Analysis of variance was used to compare the knowledge and attitude scores of scholars before, soon after and 2–3 after the coursework (will now be referred as “later the CW”), and the results are presented below (Table  2 ; Fig.  1 ).

Comparison of knowledge and attitude scores across the assessments. Later the CW – 2–3 years after the coursework

The scores for knowledge and attitude differed significantly across time. Scores of knowledge and attitude increased soon after the coursework; the percentage of change was 77% and 43% respectively. However, significant reductions in knowledge and attitude scores were observed 2–3 years after the coursework compared to scores soon after the coursework. The reduction was higher for attitude scores; knowledge and attitude scores have decreased by 10% and 37% respectively. The change in scores across assessments is evident from the graph, and clearly the effect size is higher for attitude than knowledge.

The scores of knowledge or attitude before the coursework did not significantly differ with respect to gender or age or were not correlated with years of experience. Hence, they were not considered as covariates in the above analysis.

A semi structured questionnaire with open ended questions was also administered to elicit in-depth information about the usefulness of the coursework programme, in which they were also asked to self- rate their knowledge. The data were mostly categorical or narratives. Research scholars’ self-rated knowledge scores (on a scale of 0–10) also showed similar changes; knowledge improved significantly and was retained even after the training (Fig.  2 ).

Self-rated knowledge scores of research scholars over time. Later the CW – 2–3 years after the coursework

The response to the question “ How has coursework changed your attitude toward statistics?”, is presented in Fig.  3 . The responses were Yes, positively, Yes - Negatively, No change – still apprehensive, No change – still appreciate, No change – still hate statistics. The majority of the scholars (70%) reported a positive change in their attitude toward statistics. Moreover, none of the scholars reported negative changes. Approximately 9% of the scholars reported that they were still apprehensive about statistics or hate statistics after the coursework.

How has coursework changed your attitude toward statistics?

Those scholars who reported that they were apprehensive about statistics or hate statistics noted the complexity of the subject, lack of clarity, improper instructions and fear of mathematics as major reasons for their attitude. Some responses are listed below.

“The statistical concepts were not taught in an understandable manner from the UG level” , “I am weak in mathematical concepts. The equations and formulae in statistics scare me”. “Lack of knowledge about the importance of statistics and fear of mathematical equations”. “The preconceived notion that Statistics is difficult to learn” . “In most of the places, it is not taught properly and conceptual clarity is not focused on, and because of this an avoidance builds up, which might be a reason for the negative attitude”.

Majority of the scholars (92%) felt that coursework has helped them in their PhD, and they were happy to recommend it for other research scholars (97%). The responses of the scholars to the question “ How was coursework helpful in your PhD journey ?”, are listed below.

“Course work gave a fair idea on various things related to research as well as statistics” . “Creating the best design while planning methodology, which is learnt form course work, will increase efficiency in completing the thesis, thereby making it faster”. “Course work give better idea of how to proceed in many areas like literature search, referencing, choosing statistical methods, and learning about research procedures”. “Course work gave a good idea of research methodology, biostatistics and ethics. This would help in writing a better protocol and a better thesis”. “It helps us to plan our research well and to formulate, collect and plan for analysis”. “It makes people to plan their statistical analysis well in advance” .

This study evaluated the effectiveness of the existing coursework programme in an institution of higher medical education, and investigated whether the coursework programme benefits research scholars by improving their knowledge of statistics and attitudes towards statistics. The study concluded that the coursework program was beneficial for improving scholars’ knowledge about statistics and attitudes toward statistics.

Unlike other studies that have assessed attitudes toward statistics, the study participants in this study were research scholars. Research scholars need extensive training in statistics, as they need to apply statistical tests and use statistical reasoning in their research thesis, and in their profession to design research projects or their future student dissertations. Notably, no studies have assessed the attitudes or knowledge of research scholars in statistics either across the PhD training period or after intensive statistics training programs. However, the findings of this study are consistent with the findings of a study that compared the knowledge and attitudes toward teaching and education design of PhD students after a two-day educational course and instructional design workshop [ 14 ].

Statistics educators need not only impart knowledge but they should also motivate the learners to appreciate the role of statistics and to continue to learn the quantitative skills that is needed in their professional lives. Therefore, the role of learners’ attitudes toward statistics requires special attention. Since PhD coursework is possibly a major contributor to creating a statistically literate research community, scholars’ attitudes toward statistics need to be considered important and given special attention. Passionate and engaging statistics educators who have adequate experience in illustrating relatable examples could help scholars feel less anxious and build competence and better attitudes toward statistics. Statistics educators should be aware of scholars’ anxiety, fears and attitudes toward statistics and about its influence on learning outcomes and further interest in the subject.

Strengths and limitations

Analysis of changes in knowledge and attitudes scores across various time points of PhD training is the major strength of the study. Additionally, this study evaluates the effectiveness of intensive statistical courses for research scholars in terms of changes in knowledge and attitudes. This study has its own limitations: the data were collected through online platforms, and the nonresponse rate was about 38%. Ability in mathematics or prior learning experience in statistics, interest in the subject, statistics anxiety or performance in coursework were not assessed; hence, their influence could not be studied. The reliability and validity of the knowledge questionnaire have not been established at the time of this study. However, author who had prepared the questionnaire had ensured questions from different areas of statistics that were covered during the coursework, it has also been used as part of the coursework evaluation. Despite these limitations, this study highlights the changes in attitudes and knowledge following an intensive training program. Future research could investigate the roles of age, sex, mathematical ability, achievement or performance outcomes and statistics anxiety.

The study concluded that a rigorous and intensive training program such as PhD coursework was beneficial for improving knowledge about statistics and attitudes toward statistics. However, the significant reduction in attitude and knowledge scores after 2–3 years of coursework indicates that a refresher program might be helpful for research scholars as they approach the analysis stage of their thesis. Statistics educators must develop innovative methods to teach research scholars from nonstatistical backgrounds. They also must be empathetic to understanding scholars’ anxiety, fears and attitudes toward statistics and to understand its influence on learning outcomes and further interest in the subject.

Data availability

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon request.

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Acknowledgements

The author would like to thank the participants of the study and peers and experts who examined the content of the questionnaire for their time and effort.

This research did not receive any grants from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.

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This study used data already collected data (before and soon after coursework). The data pertaining to knowledge and attitude towards statistics 2–3 years after coursework were collected from research scholars through the online survey platform Google forms. The participants were invited to participate in the survey through e-mail. The study was explained in detail, and participation in the study was completely voluntary. Informed consent was obtained online in the form of a statement of consent. The confidentiality of the data was assured, even though identifiable personal information was not collected. This non-funded study was reviewed and approved by NIMHANS Institute Ethics Committee (No. NIMHANS/21st IEC (BS&NS Div.)

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Philip, M. Measurement and analysis of change in research scholars’ knowledge and attitudes toward statistics after PhD coursework. BMC Med Educ 24 , 512 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12909-024-05487-y

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Participating Organizations

National Eye Institute ( NEI ) National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute ( NHLBI ) National Human Genome Research Institute ( NHGRI )  *  National Institute on Aging ( NIA ) National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism ( NIAAA ) National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases ( NIAID ) National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases ( NIAMS )  * National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering ( NIBIB )  *  Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development ( NICHD ) National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders ( NIDCD ) National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research ( NIDCR ) National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases ( NIDDK ) National Institute on Drug Abuse ( NIDA ) National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences ( NIEHS ) National Institute of General Medical Sciences ( NIGMS )  *  National Institute of Mental Health ( NIMH ) National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke ( NINDS )  *  National Institute of Nursing Research ( NINR ) National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities ( NIMHD ) National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health ( NCCIH ) National Cancer Institute ( NCI )

*  This institute is not included in the Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) for students at institutions  with  NIH-funded institutional predoctoral dual-degree training programs. See links to current NOFOs at the bottom of this listing.

Eligibility:

• Applicants must be US citizens, non-citizen nationals or lawfully admitted to the United States for permanent residence.
• The F30 program is specifically designed to support combined,   dual-degree training leading to award of both a health professional doctoral degree (e.g., MD, DO, DDS, AuD, DVM, PharmD) and a research doctoral degree (e.g., PhD, DrPH) from an accredited program.
• The applicant must have a baccalaureate degree, show evidence of high academic performance in the sciences, and commitment to a career as an independent physician-scientist or other clinician-scientist.
• For all DDS/PhD, DMD/PhD, and AuD/PhD degree candidates: To be eligible, an applicant 1) must have matriculated into a dual-degree program; and 2) must have identified a dissertation research project and sponsor(s). In addition, over the total duration of F30 support, at least 50% of the award period must be devoted to full-time graduate research training leading to the doctoral research degree.
• For all applicants other than DDS/PhD, DMD/PhD, and AuD/PhD degree candidates: To be eligible, an applicant 1) must have matriculated into a dual-degree program  no more than  48 months prior to the due date of the initial application; and 2) must have identified a dissertation research project and sponsor(s). Exceptions to the first eligibility criterion will be considered when the applicant has taken an official leave of absence from the dual-degree program. In addition, over the total duration of F30 support, at least 50% of the award period must be devoted to full-time graduate research training leading to the doctoral research degree.

Award amount:

• $27,144 annual stipend.
• Up to $16,000 for tuition.
• Institutional allowance is available for fellowship expenses (health insurance, research supplies, equipment, books, and travel to scientific meetings). See  guidelines .

If this information is out of date, please email [email protected] to let us know.

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Individual fellowships provide research training for graduate students and MD/PhD students in many fields. Consider preparing an application to support your research and training goals. F30 F31

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• UNC Chapel Hill

Melissa Haendel, PhD, FACMI

Sarah Graham Kenan Distinguished Professor Director of Precision Health & Translational Informatics Deputy Director of Computational Science – NC TraCS

Research Interests

Key words: Rare Disease, Real World Data, Ontologies, Semantics, Precision Medicine

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Translational science breaks down traditional silos between scientific disciplines, empowering research innovation and implementation in biomedicine. The Translational and Integrative Sciences Laboratory (TISLab) applies semantic engineering technologies to these varied disciplines to understand the relationship between phenotypes, genetic endowment, and the environment. We aim to accelerate progress and amplify discovery in areas such as rare diseases, long-Covid, Down Syndrome, cancer, and for societal and public health issues such as pandemic response and climate change. TISLab builds global standards to aid communities in advancing their own analytics and is an invested partner in open and team science with diverse contributors.

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Publications, melissa haendel in unc genetics news.

May 3, 2024

Haendel Lab Publishes Postpartum Depression Paper

A new paper from the laboratory of Dr. Melissa Haendel was published in JMIR MHealth UHealth. 

April 11, 2024

Haendel to join UNC Genetics, Pediatrics, Data Science & Society to Advance Precision Medicine in NC

Melissa Haendel, PhD, and her lab of 25-plus members will join UNC-Chapel Hill to focus on early diagnosis of childhood diseases and significantly improve quality of life outcomes.

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(503) 407-5970 (Office Phone)

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RIT graduate pursues Ph.D. across time zones

Nastaran Nagshineh, center, defended her Ph.D. thesis at RIT in April. Faculty from RIT’s Rochester and Dubai campuses served on her thesis committee and include, from left to right, Kathleen Lamkin-Kennard, Steven Weinstein, Nathaniel Barlow, and David Kofke (a professor at the University at Buffalo). Mohamed Samaha participated remotely and appears on the video screen behind the group and alongside Nagshineh’s picture.

Nastaran Nagshineh is one of the first Ph.D. candidates to bridge RIT’s Rochester and Dubai campuses. Her accomplishment creates a path for future students at the university’s international campuses.

Nagshineh completed her Ph.D. in mathematical modeling while working full time as a mathematics lecturer at RIT Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, teaching as many as five classes a semester. She described her Ph.D. journey as “an exercise in perseverance” due to competing demands and long days. Rochester is eight hours behind Dubai, and the time difference meant many late-night classes and meetings.

“I saw this collaboration as an opportunity, rather than as a challenge, because my primary adviser, Dr. Steven Weinstein (RIT professor of chemical engineering), and my co-adviser, Dr. Mohamed Samaha (RIT Dubai associate professor of mechanical engineering), both have the same area of research interest,” she said. “They both worked toward my success.”

Nagshineh is one of 67 RIT Ph.D. students who defended their thesis this academic year and who will earn their doctorate. RIT awarded 63 Ph.D. degrees in 2023.

In 2020-2021, RIT’s Graduate School met and surpassed the university’s goal of conferring 50 Ph.D. degrees during an academic year. That number will continue to grow as students cycle through the seven new Ph.D. programs that RIT has added since 2017, said Diane Slusarski , dean of RIT’s Graduate School.

Meeting these goals puts RIT on a path toward achieving an “R1,” or research-intensive designation, from the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Learning. RIT is currently ranked as an R2 institution . Many factors go into changing a university’s status, including research investment and maintaining a three-year average of 70 Ph.D. degrees awarded per year, according to Slusarski.

“We have met the goals of the strategic plan, and now we look forward to contributing to the research innovation in the future,” Slusarski said. “We want to help the new programs thrive and win national research awards.”

RIT’s emphasis on high-level research is seen in Nagshineh’s Ph.D. work. She applies mathematical modeling to the field of fluid dynamics. Her research has been published in top-tier journals and has gained notice, said Weinstein, her thesis adviser.

Weinstein describes Nagshineh’s accomplishments as “a testament to a fantastic work ethic and commitment” and is inspirational to younger students at Rochester and Dubai.

“The collaboration between RIT Dubai/Rochester has continued,” he said. “Another paper was submitted a few weeks ago with Mohamed Samaha and Nate Barlow (RIT associate professor in the School of Mathematics and Statistics) as co-authors, as well as Cade Reinberger, a younger Ph.D. student in my research group.”

Mathematical modeling is one of RIT’s newer Ph.D. degree programs, and Nagshineh is among its earliest graduates. The program has doubled in size since it began accepting students in 2017, Slusarski said. This past fall, the mathematical modeling program had 35 students, with two graduating this year.

Altogether, RIT has 13 Ph.D. degree programs currently enrolling 438 students, with computing and information sciences accounting for the largest with 117 students. RIT’s other Ph.D. programs include astrophysical sciences and technology , biomedical and chemical engineering , business administration , color science , electrical and computer engineering, imaging science , mechanical and industrial engineering , microsystems engineering , and sustainability .

New programs in cognitive science and physics will launch in the fall.

The growth in RIT graduate education—with more than 3,000 master’s and doctoral students—reflects a demographic change in the student population, Slusarski said. “We have a higher percentage of women in the graduate programs than we have for RIT undergraduate programs.”

RIT’s graduate programs enroll 42 percent women, according to Christie Leone , assistant dean for the Graduate School.

Nagshineh, who also holds an MS in electrical engineering from RIT Dubai, welcomes her role as a mentor to other women students on both campuses.

“As a young woman in an Arabic country, the power of women is often underestimated and undervalued, and I hope to serve as a role model to female students, especially those that question their path,” Nagshineh said.

She plans to continue in her career as a professor and a researcher. “I would like to pursue a research program where I can advise my own students and teach them more deeply.”

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