PhD Completion Delay Survey Data from Utrecht University

Survey data from 333 PhD recipients on the time taken to complete their PhDs, with an average completion time of 59.8 months. The dataset, created by Rens van de Schoot of Utrecht University, focuses on the relationship between age and project delay, with a mean age of 31.7 years. It is used for online statistics training on the author's tutorial website.

Use Cases

• Modeling the non-linear relationship between age and project delay based on the age and age-squared predictors mentioned.
• Analyzing the difference between planned and actual PhD completion time based on the B3_difference_extra variable.
• Conducting statistical training exercises on survey data analysis as referenced for the online tutorial site.

Strengths

• Includes data from 333 PhD recipients, providing a substantive sample size.
• Provides specific summary statistics, such as a mean project time difference (B3_difference_extra) of 9.97 months with a standard deviation of 14.43.
• Based on published academic research (Van de Schoot et al., 2013), lending methodological credibility.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Last update date is unknown; freshness unverified.

Provenance

Source

Utrecht University, based on research by Van de Schoot, Yerkes, Mouw and Sonneveld (2013).

Collection Method

Survey of PhD recipients.