Connecting Theory to Practice

Abstract

With higher education becoming more dynamic and institutions providing multiple venues for students to obtain advanced degrees, graduate programs are under increasing pressure to make explicit efforts to provide students with meaningful, practical application of research methods in order to prepare them to be successful researchers. Students must emerge from these programs with the knowledge, skills, and abilities to partake in research on their own. Yet, the current trend seems to be that students enter these programs lacking the basic skills needed to ensure success. They exhibit minimal self-efficacy and insufficient readiness to connect their coursework to application in their chosen profession. This chapter provides an overview of the skills and issues of graduate students and a discussion of how those issues affect student success in conducting independent research. The chapter concludes with recommendations for addressing those issues and an exploration of future trends.