Critical Review Of Gardner's Study Qualitative

Introduction According to Gardner’s (2008) study, socialization played a vital role in a student’s successful completion of a doctoral program. Gardner (2008) defines socialization as, “the process through which an individual learns to adopt the values, skills, attitudes, norms, and knowledge needed for membership in a given society, group, or organization” (p. 126). The topic of socialization is of personal interest for two reasons. First, I am a new doctoral student who is just beginning the socialization process. Research about the socialization process, such as that presented in Gardner’s (2008) article, highlights common problems encountered by doctoral students, which can better prepare me to avoid certain pitfalls. Second, Gardner

This led female participants to harbor anxiety in regards to future career possibilities, to question their position in the doctoral program and the field, and caused departments to lose a number of female doctoral students. While there were only four students of color participating in the study, Gardner found a generally shared feeling of dissatisfaction, and a struggle to fully integrate for this group of students. She discovered that older students were extremely aware of the their ages, and also struggled to build connections with their peers. Participants with children reported experiencing difficulty with balancing their time between doctoral work and quality time with their children. They described their experiences as isolating and had trouble building relationships with their peers due to conflicting schedules. The last group identified by Gardner was part-time students. She revealed that part-time participants also felt isolated and as though they were missing out on part of the socialization experience due to a lack of time to spend with their peers (Gardner,

This is particularly discouraging data for someone who is just beginning the doctoral process. Yet, Gardner echoes previous literature about the significance of the role socialization plays in the successful completion of a doctoral program. For example, Weidman and Stein’s (2003) research showed that social interaction and a supportive climate lend to doctoral students’ success. Understanding the significance of socialization gives doctoral students a method for increasing the probability of successfully completing a doctoral program. However, it is equally important to comprehend the impact of personal characteristics in the socialization process, as well as the lack of consideration the process gives those characteristics. By acknowledging the processes shortcomings ahead of time, students from underrepresented groups can actively work to overcome those