Program evaluation of the research curricula offered to doctorate students

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the research curriculum offered at doctorate level in a university in the Central Black Sea region. In this research which adopts one of the mixed research methods named the simultaneous nested pattern, participants with different roles are involved.These participants are doctoral students who attend research courses, faculty members who teach research courses, faculty members who supervise doctoral students and the doctoral students who are at the thesis writing stage of their PhD. The quantitative data of the study were collected through the Attitudes towards Research Scale (Papanastasiou, 2005; Yapalak and Ilgaz, 2012), the Survey of Attitudes towards Statistics (Schau, 2003; Emmioğlu et al. 2018) and the Academic Dishonesty Tendency Scale (Eminoğlu and Nartgün, 2009). The qualitative data of the research were collected through semi-structured interview forms and observation forms. The data collection process of the research was carried out in the Fall semester of the 2017-2018 academic year. Qualitative data of the research was analyzed by using descriptive qualitative data analysis method by using MaxQda program. SPSS 22 package program was used in the analysis of quantitative data and dependent sample t-test was used. In the study, the investigation of the research curriculum was carried out in five steps: context evaluation, input evaluation, process evaluation, product evaluation and meta evaluation. The results revealed that the main purpose of the research courses was considered as to gain the knowledge and skills required to conduct a research. Examining the course syllabuses, the views of the lecturers and the observation reports showed that discussions and hands on practices were used during the courses as instructional methods. It was observed that the courses were held in the lecturers' offices or in small classrooms. Examination of the exam documents and interviews with faculty members and doctoral students showed that the written exams and final projects are included in the evaluation of the research methods courses. Faculty members stated that they achieved the goals they stated in the course syllabus they prepared, and similarly doctorate students stated that their expectations for the course were met. Regarding the research qualifications, faculty members and doctoral students stated that these qualifications were included in research methods courses up to a level of approximately 85%. As a result of the interview and observation results conducted with the faculty members, the weaknesses of the research courses were derived from different sources"student, lecturer, infrastructure, advisor, course content, and community", and the strengths were "usage of real data sets/contexts, the inclusion of application and emerging products". The views of doctoral students about the weaknesses of research education are classified under the headings of lack of time allocated to research courses and lack of communication with faculty members, and their views on the strengths were classified as having the opportunity to work and collaborate with qualified faculty members. It appears that faculty members and doctoral students have a common view that academicians who provide research courses should be academically experienced, have qualified publications, and like to do research and teaching. In the measurements conducted at the beginning and end of the research courses, there is no statistically significant difference in the attitudes towards research, attitudes towards statistics and academic fraud tendencies. This study, which examines the research curriculum, complies with curriculum evaluation standards (usefulness, execution, suitability, accuracy, openness to audit).