Degree Options and Requirements in Master's Degree Programs

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During a panel about administering graduate programs at the 1993 AEJMC convention, John Soloski observed, What became clear as the discussion progressed was that the directors knew little about graduate programs at other universities but were eager to know more about them. reason for their eagerness is probably because so little has been published about graduate education in miscommunications. seems ironic that most of the people doing in the field -- graduate faculty members, future graduate faculty members, and master's students - just aren't looking at their own educational (Ryan, 1980). Within the last 20 years, only four published articles have directly addressed master's degree programs in and mass communications. Degree requirements, particularly a comparison of thesis, non-thesis, and project options, were a common area of investigation in all of these studies. This study identifies changes and trends in mass communications education by comparing data from 158 universities offering master's degrees. It compares findings from earlier studies with current information about thesis, non-thesis, and project options, as well as course requirements. Literature review Ryan's monograph, Journalism Education at the Master's Level, is the most comprehensive and oldest study. He examined admissions criteria, structure, and course and degree requirements at 77 schools. Among other findings, he noted, The problems with tracks are numerous. These problems included determining what kind of project is equivalent to a thesis and maintaining distinctive course work and qualified faculty for track students. In a 1986 survey, Singletary and Crook found that more graduate programs in and mass communication were permitting students to complete projects instead of theses. Fewer were requiring formal theses. Their survey found that 40 of 43 schools (of 58 surveyed) either required or permitted thesis credit, but only 11 required the thesis of all students, while 31 schools accepted a project in lieu of a thesis. They concluded that, journalism master's degree programs are in a period of transition from the traditional scholarly model to a model, but the rhetoric of the fields has not yet caught up with the change. summer 1994 issue of Journalism and Mass Communication Educator was devoted to graduate education in mass communication. Two articles focused on common issues and degree requirements across mass communication disciplines. Briggs and Fleming reported on specializations offered and admissions, course, and graduation requirements in 102 graduate programs. For students in 23 percent of those programs, a thesis was required and 61 percent permitted either a project or a thesis. Senat and Grusin examined similar topics in 135 programs. They divided the 135 programs they studied into professional, dual-focus, and teaching/research. They made distinctions among the programs, however, on the basis of the statement of purpose in promotional literature sent to prospective students. Among the dual-focus programs, they never asked respondents whether they required different courses for the track and, if so, which ones. A more accurate measure of the focus of the program would be to analyze course titles and descriptions to determine whether the majority are professional or research oriented. Comparisons of the common areas of inquiry among three of these studies thesis and project requirements - are shown in Table 1. Three of the studies reported on core courses required in master's degree programs. Table 2 reports these results, which lead to the questions: 1. Are tracks and project options becoming more or less common in master's programs? 2. Do programs with tracks and project options have different course requirements than those without such options? …