Factors Correlated with Graduation Period of the Graduates in Exercise and Sport Science Program, Khon Kaen University

Abstract

This research investigated duration of study and analyzed the correlated factors with the graduation period of the graduates from Exercise and Sport Science Program, Khon Kaen University. The participants were 14 master’s graduates and 39 doctoral graduates of Exercise and Sport Science program, Khon Kaen University. The participants’ study duration since starting the program until graduation was collected. Moreover, their opinion towards the correlated factors were also gathered through a self response questionaire. The data was analyzed for the factors correlating to the duration of study using Pearson Product Moment Correlation.  It was found that master’s graduates spend 3.7 ± 1.0 years averagely to finish the program; whereas, doctoral graduates spend 5.5 ± 1.0 years. In addition, there were five correlated factors: 1) administration and management of the program 2) thesis advisor 3) working on the thesis 4) students and 5) academic resource service. The averages scores of all factors were found to be high for both groups of master’s and doctoral graduates, as the scores were 3.89 to4.44 and 3.95 to 4.64 from the total of 5. The highest score was the factor regarding to thesis advisor, followed by administration and management of the program, regarding working on their thesis and academic resource service respectively. The factor regarding to management of the student themselves was found to be the lowest score. From the correlation analysis, none correlation was found between these factors and the study duration of master’s graduates. However, working on their thesis was negatively correlated to the study duration of doctoral graduates (coeff. = -0.33, p =0.04). In conclusions, most master’s and doctoral graduates spend more time to finish the study than the regulated duration. Therefore, some related issues with working on a thesis, especially, research equipment support and research financial support advice should be further improved.