| Purpose: Many graduate programs in speech-language pathology provide students with the option of completing a thesis as a means of fulfilling a graduation requirement. There had been no study to date that examines the effect of thesis completion on students’ satisfaction with their graduate education. We expected that there would be a direct positive relationship between the program satisfactionamong graduate studentsand their decision to complete a thesis, compared to those who completed an alternative project. Method: A survey was distributed by email to speech-language pathologists who graduated from the Speech-Language Pathology Master’s Program at Idaho State University in the past 7 years. Questions were presented in a variety of formats, including multiple choice questions, Likert scales, and open responses. The content of the survey relatedto the participants’ experiences with their graduate education, whether or not they completed a thesis, and other influential factors related to satisfaction. Pearson’s Chi-Square, Fisher’sexact test, Cramer’s V, and Phi φare reported. Results: There were no statistically significant differences between groups of those who completed a thesis and those who did not with respect to satisfaction with graduate education, social support, self-leadership skills, study habits. The only statistically significant finding was that SLPs who completed a thesis were as a group younger at graduation than those who did not complete a thesis.
Conclusions: Results are informative and suggest faculty do not need to strive to encourage or provide opportunities for all students to complete a thesis. Instead, students can continue to be encouraged to pursue their interests and complete a thesis or a capstone project to fulfill program requirements, with the knowledge that students are equally satisfied with and supported in their graduate education regardless of either decision.Key words: graduate program, speech-language pathology, Master’s thesis, capstone project, satisfaction, mentorship, graduate advisor |