Interview with Susie Orbach,Ph.D., C.S.W.

An interview with Susie Orbach highlights the trajectory of her career and current thinking on body image issues and eating disorders. Dr. Orbach’s work in this area as a clinical social worker, psychoanalyst, best-selling author and social activist has spanned three decades. In this interview she reflects on her earlier books, Fat is a Feminist Issue and Hunger Strike: An Anorectic’s Struggle as a Metaphor for Our Age, and discusses her current work and perspectives within the context of contemporary culture.     

John Money,Ph.D

It was hypothesized that knowledge of venereal disease is correlated with attitudes toward seeking treatment and willingness to prevent the spread of infection. A questionnaire containing knowledge, attitude, and demographic items was distributed to a random sample of 700 college students in four New York City colleges. Results from the 547 completed questionnaires suggested that the majority of the students lacked adequate knowledge of venereal disease. Significant but low positive correlations between knowledge and attitude were obtained for some sub‐groups of the sample. A consistent negative relationship between perceived knowledge and actual knowledge was found. Implications related to sexual behavior and venereal disease education are discussed.     

Intercultural qualitative research and Ph.D. students

The educational environment for postgraduate health professionals from developing countries in contemporary western universities is an intermediate zone between home and host culture. In this zone, knowledge is shaped through the development of concepts within the limitations of (often) pre‐fluent language capacity. It is characterized by the mutual exchange of knowledge between western teachers and their developing‐country students, who will return home to leadership roles working with marginalized individuals, communities and populations. This qualitative research aims to improve health education for global health professionals from developing countries, and in so doing it illustrates many of the difficulties and benefits involved in intercultural qualitative research for Ph.D. students.     

Evaluating Ph.D. sociology programs: Theoretical,methodological and policy implications

Reputational surveys frequently are used in evaluating doctoral programs. A sample of faculty-rated graduate programs and the resulting data are used to rank the programs in the academic discipline being considered. As an alternative, we present a new and auspicious assessment methodology by analyzing sixty doctoral programs in sociology for 1975/80 on six measures of research productivity and graduate education. We calculate two proximity matrices and reduce each with ALSCAL. Two solutions are generated: (1) per capita and (2) gross productivity of departments. These analyses show that conventional ranks contain a number of deficiencies and more comprehensive measures of departmental performance add important dimensions. We empirically document a tendency for conflict between faculty productivity and graduate education. Finally, our analyses suggest that omission of several assessment variables may have penalized departments emphasizing qualitative research. Recommendations for improving the next national assessment are advanced. Address correspondence to Department of Sociology, Anthropology and Social Work, Illinois State University, Normal, IL, 61761-6901.     

The Experiences of DSWs and Ph.D.s.

To ascertain the similarities and differences between the two social work degrees, the DSW and the Ph.D., a national survey of social work graduates was conducted that examined their academic and employment experiences. The findings show that Ph.D. graduates were more oriented toward research, while DSW graduates were more disposed toward practice. There were more similarities than differences between the groups, however, and neither was at a disadvantage because of their degree.     

How I demystified academe and got a Ph.D.

Graduate education is more than simply taking courses, taking comprehensive exams, and writing theses and dissertations. It is also a process of personal intellectual growth that results in a redefinition of identity. This transformation of self is tantamount to a demystification process such that students must debunk the “Ph.D. mystique” to identify with sociologists and become members of the sociological community. Faculty can aid this process by sharing their own transformative experiences, but the structured inequality of the faculty-student relationship is a harrier against such personal disclosures. Yet transcending those structural barriers may be necessary to enhance the quality of graduate education in sociology. She is specializing in political economy and is writing a dissertation on economic change and work-time reduction.     

The publishing of recent economics Ph.D. recipients

We present publication data for recent graduates of 50 economics Ph.D. programs. The data show that publishing output is highly concentrated among graduates of the top programs; the top three programs, for example, generate more than 25% of aggregate publishing output in our sample. We use the data to construct a set of program rankings based on both per capita and aggregate graduate publication and a comparison of faculty performance to graduate performance. The graduate/faculty comparison reveals that programs may be identical in the output of their faculties but starkly different in the output of their graduates.