II-29e: Median Years Taking Courses or Preparing for Exams for the Doctorate, by Primary Type of Financial Support and Humanities Discipline,* for PhDs Graduating 2011–2013
* The median estimated time in coursework and exams cannot be directly compared to the total median time in program used in Indicators II-29a and II-29b because the questions about time in particular stages of doctoral study are worded differently. (See “About the Data” for details.) “Letters” encompasses English and American languages and literatures, as well as creative writing and comparative literature.
** Differs from the “other humanities” category used in standard Survey of Earned Doctorates publications in that it excludes philosophy, religion/religious studies, and Bible/biblical studies.
Source: National Science Foundation, National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics, Survey of Earned Doctorates (SED; a custom tabulation of SED data was prepared for the Humanities Indicators by NORC at the University of Chicago).
The median estimated time in coursework and exams cannot be directly compared to the total median time in program used in indicators II-29a and 29b because the questions about time in particular stages of doctoral study are worded differently. The question on coursework and exams reads “How many years were you taking courses or preparing for exams for this doctoral degree (including master’s degree if that was a part of your doctoral program)?” and asks respondents to round to whole years.
