Lisa Bircher, Doctoral Candidate in EHHS, Kent State University

PART-TIME DOCTORAL STUDENT SOCIALIZATION THROUGH PEER MENTORSHIP A dissertation submitted to the Kent State University College and Graduate School of Education, Health and Human Services in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy by Lisa S. Bircher December 2012 © Copyright, 2012 by Lisa S. Bircher All Rights Reserved ii A dissertation written by Lisa S. Bircher B.S., Youngstown State University, 1993 M.S., The Ohio State University, 2002 Ph.D., Kent State University, 2012 Approved by __________________________________, Director, Doctoral Dissertation Committee William P. Bintz __________________________________, Member, Doctoral Dissertation Committee Lisa Donnelly __________________________________, Member, Doctoral Dissertation Committee Susan V. Iverson __________________________________, Member, Doctoral Dissertation Committee Catherine E. Hackney Accepted by __________________________________, Director, School of Teaching, Learning Alexa Sandmann Curriculum Studies __________________________________, Dean, College and Graduate School of Daniel F. Mahony Education, Health, and Human Services iii BIRCHER, LISA S., Ph.D., December 2012 CURRICULUM AND INSTRUCTION PART-TIME DOCTORAL STUDENT SOCIALIZATION THROUGH PEER MENTORSHIP (345 pp.) Director of Dissertation: William P. Bintz, Ph.D. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to understand the socialization (Weidman, Twale, & Stein, 2001) experiences of part-time doctoral students as a result of peer mentorship in one college. Part-time doctoral students are identified as students who are maintaining full-time employment or obligations outside of the university. The research questions for this study include: How do part-time doctoral students experience socialization through peer mentorship? How do part-time doctoral students experience spontaneous peer mentorship? How do part-time doctoral students experience peer mentorship as a result of their involvement in formal socialization experiences? How can the experiences of these part-time doctoral students be used to create implications for practice in the socialization by peer mentorship? The 21 participants in this study were all enrolled in a large university at the time of the study. A composite description including themes of collegiality and isolation in the participants’ experiences with peer mentorship was developed. Participants experienced collegiality through nurturing mentoring, educative mentoring, dyadic co-mentoring with peers, workplace colleagues and personal friends who provided efficacious experiences as they negotiated their scholarly identity. Isolation includes feelings of being second-tier doctoral students and life getting in the way combined with feelings of negative self-efficacy as they negotiated their scholarly identity. Interrelationships between the themes and subthemes are delineated. Implications for practice to encourage peer mentorship for part-time doctoral students were created. Suggestions are provided for both part-time doctoral students and their faculty in order to facilitate the process of socialization to the academy through peer mentorship. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to first and foremost thank my husband, Harry Bircher, for the emotional, financial, and physical support he has provided over the past six years; he has lived this dissertation with me and even created the graphic design of Figures 5, 6 and 7. I could not have done this without his continual encouragement and words of assurance. I would also like to thank my parents, Donald and Phyllis Manning, for their continued support as I started, persisted, and completed my doctoral studies. Their continued interest in my progress throughout my coursework as well as my research has been considerable and has kept me working in earnest. I could not have completed this study without the time, interest, and commitment of my participants. The participants in this study were all extremely busy people who had little time for themselves and I appreciate the time they gave to me before, during, and after the interviews. I would especially like to thank my dissertation committee: Dr. William Bintz, Dr. Lisa Donnelly, and Dr. Susan Iverson for providing me with guidance throughout the process of formulating my study to writing the proposal to completing the project. I appreciate their honest review and thorough reading of my work. I especially appreciate Dr. William Bintz’s support of my work that is clearly not a “science education” dissertation and Dr. Susan Iverson’s timely responses to any and all inquiries and continued support as I created studies that transcend this dissertation. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ................................................................................................. iv LIST OF FIGURES ........................................................................................................... ix LIST OF TABLES ...............................................................................................................x CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION ......................................................................................................... 1 Purpose of the Study ............................................................................................... 2 Research Questions ................................................................................................. 3 Theoretical Framework of Doctoral Student Socialization .................................... 3 Peer Mentorship and Doctoral Students ................................................................. 5 Significance............................................................................................................. 5 Conceptual and Operational Definitions ................................................................. 7 Socialization of Doctoral Students .................................................................. 7 Peer Mentorship ............................................................................................... 8 Formal Peer Mentorship in Graduate School .................................................. 9 Informal or Spontaneous Peer Mentorship in Graduate School ...................... 9 Social Networks Theory .................................................................................. 9 Part-Time Doctoral Students ......................................................................... 10 Professional Identity ...................................................................................... 10 Doctoral Student Identity ............................................................................... 11 Self-Efficacy .................................................................................................. 11 Situating Self ......................................................................................................... 12 My Story ............................................................................................................... 12 My Experience With Peer Mentorship ................................................................. 14 Summary ............................................................................................................... 18 II. LITERATURE REVIEW ............................................................................................ 19 Introduction ........................................................................................................... 19 Socialization .......................................................................................................... 19 Introduction to the Concept of Academic Socialization ................................ 19 Theoretical Frameworks of Socialization of Doctoral Students .................... 20 Weidman, Twale, and Stein Theoretical Framework of Doctoral Student Socialization .................................................................................................. 29 Studies Conducted on Doctoral Student Socialization .................................. 32 Doctoral Student Professional Identity .......................................................... 43 Peer Mentoring...................................................................................................... 45 Introduction to the Concept of Mentoring ..................................................... 45 v Peer Mentorship ............................................................................................. 48 Developmental Network Perspective ............................................................ 49 Doctoral Students and Peer Mentoring .......................................................... 51 Studies Conducted on Doctoral Student Peer Mentoring .............................. 51 Part-Time Doctoral Students................................................................................. 57 Summary and Conclusions ................................................................................... 64 III. METHODOLOGY ..................................................................................................... 66 Phenomenological Research Design ..................................................................... 66 Researcher Characteristics .................................................................................... 70 Situating Myself in the Study ............................................................................... 72 Sampling Procedure .............................................................................................

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