Bridging Disciplinary Boundaries (January 11 - 14, 2007)

Many have concluded that there is a crisis in doctoral education in social work. Concerns have been expressed both about having graduates qualified and available to fill current and anticipated faculty openings (Author, 2006; Zastrow & Bremner, 2004) and about the current and future research and knowledge-development needs of the profession, which is termed the stewardship function of doctoral education (Fortune, 2006; GADE, 2003). However, we do not know nearly enough about doctoral education. This presentation will describe selected findings from the National Opinion Research Center's data on social work doctoral graduates, comparing them to CSWE-generated statistics. A review of the limited social work education literature over time suggests that there have been fluctuations over time (Authors, 2006). However, review of the literature shows that there have been some common concerns over time: the demographic characteristics of those seeking the doctoral degree, especially the proportion of women, people from historically under-represented groups, and international students enrolled and graduating; the age and life responsibilities of doctoral students in our field; the sources and levels of financial support for doctoral students, including their debt burden; and the nature of the post-graduate employment and later careers of doctoral graduates in social work. This study utilized a secondary descriptive analysis of available data from the National Science Foundation's annual Survey of Earned Doctorates. Data on all survey respondents listed as having received doctoral degrees in social work for two years, 1994 and 2004, were purchased from the National Opinion Research Center. These data were compared to those from the CSWE annual report (Lennon, 2005). The slightly lower number in the NORC data (272 versus 285) seemed to derive from smaller numbers of graduates completing and submitting NORC survey returns from CSWE member schools, and the NORC data included some respondents from non-CSWE member programs. Using the NORC 2004 data, generally the findings confirmed what the CSWE statistics on enrolled students have been showing: that social work doctoral graduates are predominantly white (65%); female (72%); they are generally in mid-life and mid-career (median age = 43.3); that 41% have dependents; and the proportion of international graduates has been rising and was about 11% in 2004. The majority of graduates (87%) also held master's degrees in social work. The data also show that time to degree is long (about 11 years) but perhaps declining. About 9% of 2004 graduates in the NORC survey were planning on a post-doctoral fellowship (which has increased); of those graduates with definite employment plans at the time of survey, in 2004, 59% were going into academic employment. Despite some indications that school-based aid to doctoral students may be increasing, some graduates (28%) reported $30,000 or more in educational debt at graduation. Comparison of these data on graduates has been made to CSWE data on enrolled students, which will be explicated in the presentation. The implication of these findings for social work education, organizations seeking to improve the research capacity of the professions, and for social policy will be discussed.