MASTER'S STUDENTS' DECISIONS ON PURSUING A DOCTORAL DEGREE: INFLUENCING FACTORS
MASTER'S STUDENTS' DECISIONS ON PURSUING A DOCTORAL DEGREE: INFLUENCING FACTORS

Summary/Abstract: This research aimed to reveal the decisions of master's students about whether to pursue their doctoral degree or not and the factors affecting these decisions. The participants of this research, in which the basic qualitative research design was used, consisted of 28 students (19 female and 9 male) in different parts of the educational sciences departments. To gather the data from the participants, a semi-structured interview form, which was prepared by the researchers, was used. The participants' answers were analyzed via the content analysis method and categorized under the main themes of personal, professional, and academic factors. The research findings are explained in light of the details given in the theoretical framework section, namely postgraduate education, reasons to pursue postgraduate education, and reasons for not completing postgraduate education. The findings demonstrated that the majority of the participants were willing to pursue a doctoral degree. According to the results, it was seen that the participants' master's degree experiences affected their decision to be willing or unwilling to pursue their education and enroll in doctoral studies. However, the participants also stated that they didn't have much knowledge about doctoral degree during their master's degree and could only get information with their own efforts. This finding showed that master's degree students needed to be informed more about doctoral degree at the master's degree level.

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