Examination of the Turkish Doctoral Programs in Social Sciences and Humanities Through a Process Evaluation Model

This study aims to investigate Turkish doctoral programs in social sciences and humanities using a process evaluation model within a mixed methods research design. A convergent mixed methods approach was employed to gather both quantitative and qualitative data. Initially, the quantitative statistical results are presented, followed by a discussion of the qualitative findings, utilizing a side-by-side comparison approach. The survey, developed by the researchers, was administered to 310 academics to gather their assessments of doctoral programs, considering variables such as graduation year from the Ph.D. program, academic title, field of study, and university type. The t-test and ANOVA results revealed no significant differentiation among academics with respect to these variables. Conversely, content analysis was applied to examine qualitative data obtained from 10 academics through the MAXQDA qualitative data analysis program. Six themes identified through content analysis indicated that nearly all participants perceived structural issues in doctoral programs, explaining the lack of significant differentiation in the quantitative findings. Based on these findings, implications are suggested for researchers, academics, and decision-makers to address this issue.