Anderson This longitudinal study of the doctoral experience links that experience to the nature of academic work and institutions. The fundamental question addressed in the study is: How do the experiences of doctoral students and early-career faculty reflect the nature of academic work, institutions, values and normative assumptions? This question is derived from the assumption that analysis of the doctoral experience and the transition into faculty life will contribute significantly to our understanding of academic work, the social environment of research and instruction, and the complex system of expectations, attitudes, beliefs, preferences, and norms that underlie the academic enterprise. The graduate experience provides a unique window into the normative bases of academic life as doctoral students experience it, and as they make decisions about the extent to which they will participate in an academic enterprise with those values. The project explores the assumptions, priorities, and preferences that shape the nature of academic work, by tracing their origins back to the experiences of doctoral students. The specific objectives of the proposed project are: 1) continuation of three years' previous data collection on the doctoral experience through a longitudinal series of interviews with approximately 100 of the 1994 cohort of doctoral students in 12 academic fields at a major research university; 2) extension of the interview series to a set of approximately 100 of the 1998 cohort of doctoral students in a variety of fields at the same university; 3) completion of an exploratory study of the outcomes of doctoral education and the transition from doctoral to postdoctoral life, through 30-40 telephone interviews with recent doctoral graduates; and 4) preparation of conference papers and publications based on the project.
