Studies of skill development often describe a process of cumulative advantage, in which small differences in initial skill compound over time, leading to increasing skill gaps between those with an initial advantage and those without. We offer evidence of a similar phenomenon accounting for differential patterns of research skill development in graduate students over an academic year and explore differences in socialization that accompany diverging developmental trajectories. As predicted, quantitative analysis indicated large effect sizes for skill gains after controlling for initial performance levels. Qualitative analyses indicated that students with initial advantages were more likely to report greater demands of independence by their advisors and see more extensive value in research tasks comparable to those assigned their less skilled peers.
AdelmanC. (2006). The toolbox revisited: Paths to degree completion from high school through college. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education.
2.
American College Testing Program. (2005). CAAP technical handbook. Iowa City, IA: Author.
3.
AshforthB. E.SlussD. M.HarrisonS. H. (2007). Socialization in organizational contexts. International Review of Industrial and Organizational Psychology, 22, 1–70.
4.
AtkinsonP.DelamontP.ParryO. (2000). The doctoral experience. London: Falmer.
5.
AustinA. E. (2010). Reform efforts in STEM doctoral education: Strengthening preparation for scholarly careers. In SmartJ. C. (Ed.), Higher education: Handbook of theory and research (pp. 91–128). New York, NY: Springer.
6.
AustinA. E. (2011). The socialization of future faculty in a changing context: Traditions, challenges, and possibilities. In HermanowiczJ. C. (Ed.), The American academic profession: Transformation in contemporary higher education (pp. 145–167). Baltimore, MD: The Johns Hopkins University Press.
7.
AustinA. E.McDanielsM. (2006). Preparing the professoriate of the future: Graduate student socialization for faculty roles. Higher Education: Handbook of Theory and Research, 21, 397–456.
8.
BairdL. L. (1995). Helping graduate students: A graduate advisor’s view. In Pruitt-LoganA. S.IsaacP.D. (Eds.), Student services for the changing graduate student population (pp. 25–32). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
9.
BangeraG.BrownellS. E. (2014). Course-based undergraduate research experiences can make scientific research more inclusive. CBE—Life Sciences Education, 13, 602–606.
10.
BarnesB. J.AustinA. E. (2009). The role of doctoral advisors: A look at advising from the advisor’s perspective. Innovative Higher Education, 33, 297–315.
11.
BarnettE. A.BorkR. H.MayerA. KPretlowJ.WathingtonH. D.WeissM. J, with WeissmanE.TeresJ.ZeidenbergM. (2012). Bridging the gap: An impact study of eight developmental summer bridge programs in Texas. New York, NY: National Center for Postsecondary Research.
12.
BaumertJ.NagyG.LehmannR. (2012). Cumulative advantages and the emergence of social and ethnic inequality: Matthew effects in reading and mathematics development within elementary schools?. Child Development, 83, 1347–1367.
13.
BowenW. G.BokD. (1998). The shape of the river: Long-term consequences of considering race in college and university admissions. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
14.
BronfenbrennerU. (1976). The experimental ecology of education. Educational Researcher, 5, 5–15.
15.
CampbellR. A. (2003). Preparing the next generation of scientists: The social process of managing students. Social Studies of Science, 33, 897–927. doi:10.1177/0306312703336004
16.
CohenJ. (1988). Statistical power analysis for the behavioral sciences (2nd ed.). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
17.
CreswellJ. W. (2013). Research design: Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approaches (4th ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications.
18.
DelamontS.AtkinsonP. (2001). Doctoring uncertainty: Mastering craft knowledge. Social Studies of Science, 31, 87–107. doi:10.1177/030631201031001005
19.
DweckC. S. (1999). Self-theories: Their role in motivation, personality, and development. New York, NY: Psychology Press.
20.
DweckC. S. (2006). Mindset: The new psychology of success. New York, NY: Random House.
21.
EndersC. K. (2010). Applied missing data analysis. Methodology in the social sciences. New York, NY: Guildford Press.
22.
FeldonD. F.MaherM.TimmermanB. (2010). Performance-based data in the study of STEM graduate education. Science, 329, 282–283.
23.
FeldonD. F.PeughJ.TimmermanB. E.MaherM. A.HurstM.StricklandD.. . . StiegelmeyerC. (2011). Graduate students’ teaching experiences improve their methodological research skills. Science, 333(6045), 1037–1039.
24.
GardnerS. K. (2008). Fitting the mold of graduate school: A qualitative study of socialization in doctoral education. Innovative Higher Education, 33, 125–138.
25.
GardnerS. K. (2009). The development of doctoral students: Phases of challenge and support. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
26.
GardnerS. K. (2010). Contrasting the socialization experiences of doctoral students in high- and low-completing departments: A qualitative analysis of disciplinary contexts at one institution. The Journal of Higher Education, 81, 61–81.
27.
GilbertR.BalattiJ.TurnerP.WhitehouseH. (2004). The generic skills debate in research higher degrees. Higher Education Research & Development, 23, 375–388.
28.
GilmoreJ. A.VieyraM.TimmermanB. E.FeldonD. F.MaherM. A. (2015). The relationship between undergraduate research participation and subsequent research performance of early career STEM graduate students. The Journal of Higher Education, 86, 834–863.
29.
GlaserB. G. (1965). The constant comparative method of qualitative analysis. Social Problems, 12, 436–445.
30.
GoldeC. M. (2005). The role of department and discipline in doctoral student attrition: Lessons from four departments. The Journal of Higher Education, 76, 669–700.
31.
GoldeC. M. (2010). Entering different worlds: Socialization into disciplinary communities. In GardnerS. K.MendozaP. (Eds.), On becoming a scholar: Socialization and development in doctoral education, (pp. 79–95). Sterling, VA: Stylus.
32.
GoldeC. M.WalkerG. (Eds.). (2006). Envisioning the future of doctoral education: Preparing stewards of the discipline. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
33.
GopaulB. (2011). Distinction in doctoral education: Using Bourdieu’s tools to assess the socialization of doctoral students. Equity & Excellence in Education, 44, 10–21.
34.
GreenB. (2005). Unfinished business: Subjectivity and supervision. Higher Education Research and Development, 24, 151–163.
35.
GreenS.BauerT. (1995). Supervisory mentoring by advisers: Relationships with doctoral student potential, productivity, and commitment. Personnel Psychology, 48, 537–562.
36.
GumportP. J. (1993a). Graduate education and organized research in the United States. In ClarkB. R. (Ed.), The research foundation of graduate education: Germany, Britain, France, United States, Japan (pp. 225–260). Los Angeles, CA: University of California Press.
37.
GumportP. J. (1993b). Graduate education and research imperatives in: Views from American campuses. In ClarkB. R. (Ed.), The research foundation of graduate education: Germany, Britain, France, United States, Japan (pp. 261–293). Los Angeles, CA: University of California Press.
38.
HolleyK. (2009). Animal research practices and doctoral student identity development in a scientific community. Studies in Higher Education, 34, 577–591.
39.
InkelasK. K.SoldnerM. (2011). Undergraduate living-learning programs and student outcomes. Higher Education: Handbook of Theory & Research, 26, 1–55.
40.
IntemannK. (2009). Why diversity matters: Understanding and applying the diversity component of the National Science Foundation broader impacts criterion. Social Epistemology, 23, 249–266.
41.
KileyM.WiskerG. (2009). Threshold concepts in research education and evidence of threshold crossing. Higher Education Research & Development, 28, 431–441.
42.
KimY. K.SaxL. J. (2009). Student-faculty interaction in research universities: Differences by student gender, race, social class, and first-generation status. Research in Higher Education, 50, 437–459.
43.
LawsonA. E.ClarkB.Cramer-MeldrumE.FalconerK. A.SequistJ. M.KwonY.-J. (2000). Development of scientific reasoning in college biology: Do two levels of general hypothesis-testing skills exist?Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 37, 81–101.
44.
LittleR. J. (1988). A test of missing completely at random for multivariate data with missing values. Journal of the American Statistical Association, 83, 1198–1202.
45.
LovittsB. (2001). Leaving the ivory tower: The causes and consequences of departure from doctoral study. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield.
46.
LyonsW.ScrogginsD.Bonham RuleP. (1990). The mentor in graduate education. Studies in Higher Education, 15, 277–285.
47.
MaherM. A.GilmoreJ. A.FeldonD. F.DavisT. E. (2013). Cognitive apprenticeship and the supervision of science and engineering research assistants. Journal of Research Practice, 9, Article M5.
48.
NettlesM. T.MillettC. M. (2006). Three magic letters: Getting to Ph.D. Baltimore, MD: John Hopkins University Press.
49.
NeumannR. (2007). Policy and practice in doctoral education. Studies in Higher Education, 32, 459–473.
50.
NoeS.RayR. (2012). Graduate students’ perceptions of their advisors: Is there systematic disadvantage in mentorship?The Journal of Higher Education, 83, 876–914.
51.
NyquistJ. (2002). The PhD: Tapestry of change for the 21st century. Change, 34, 13–20.
52.
PaglisL.GreenS. G.BauerT. (2006). Does adviser mentoring add value? A longitudinal study of mentoring and doctoral student outcomes. Research in Higher Education, 47, 451–476.
53.
ParryS. (2007). Disciplines and the doctorate
. Dordrecht, The Netherlands: Springer.
54.
RigneyD. (2010). The Matthew effect: How advantage begets further advantage. New York, NY: Columbia University Press.
55.
SalleeM. W. (2011). Performing masculinity: Considering gender in doctoral student socialization. The Journal of Higher Education, 82, 187–216.
56.
TaylorE.AntonyJ. S. (2000). Stereotype threat reduction and wise schooling: Toward the successful socialization of African American doctoral students in education. The Journal of Negro Education, 69, 184–198.
57.
TimmermanB.FeldonD. F.MaherM.StricklandD.GilmoreJ. A. (2013). Performance-based assessment of graduate student research skills: Timing, trajectory, and potential thresholds. Studies in Higher Education, 38, 693–710.
58.
TimmermanB. E.StricklandD. C.JohnsonR. L.PayneJ. (2011). Development of a rubric for assessing undergraduates’ science inquiry and reasoning skills using scientific writing across multiple courses. Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 38, 509–547.
59.
U.S. Department of Labor. (2007). The STEM workforce challenge: The role of the public workforce system in a national solution for a competitive science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) workforce. Washington, DC: Author.
60.
WalkerG. E.GoldeC.JonesL.Conklin BueschelA.HutchingsP. (2008). The formation of scholars: Rethinking doctoral education for the twenty-first century. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
61.
WeidmanJ. C. (2010). Doctoral student socialization for research. In GardnerS. K.MendozaP. (Eds.), On becoming a scholar: Socialization and development in doctoral education (pp. 29–44). Sterling, VA: Stylus Publishing Inc.
62.
WeidmanJ. C.TwaleD. J.SteinE. L. (2001). Socialization of graduate and professional students: A perilous passage? (ASHE-ERIC Higher Education Report 28, No. 3). Washington, DC: Association of the Study of Higher Education.
63.
WendlerC.BridgemanB.ClineF.MillettC.RockJ.BellN.McAllisterP. (2010). The path forward: The future of graduate education in the United States. Princeton, NJ: Educational Testing Service.
64.
WiskerG. (2005). The good supervisor: Supervising postgraduate and undergraduate research for doctoral theses and dissertations. Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave Macmillan.
