11: REPORT ON A NATIONAL STUDY OF DOCTORAL NURSING FACULTY ■ 265of the impact of the DNP degree on PhD resources were prevalent, it was
surmised that in the follow- up study these projections (and whether they
actually occurred) would be based on a longer track record of direct faculty
experience.- With such tumultuous changes in doctoral nursing education, what is the cur-
rent state of the quality of life of doctoral nursing faculty? In the 2012 study,
more than half (54%) of the doctoral nursing faculty were very satisfied with
their current faculty position. When “moderately satisfied” responses were
32%, this level of satisfaction rose to 86% which is extremely high. This num-
ber was very comparable to the 70% who were mostly optimistic about the
future of doctoral nursing education (versus the 25% who were either ambiva-
lent or pessimistic).
■ CURRENT COMPARATIVE RESULTS
The survey received a total of N = 817 responses. Of these, 55 responses either did not
meet the eligibility criteria or had more than 10% of their responses missing; conse-
quently they were excluded from the final analysis for a total sample size of 762 eligible
responses. The maximum margin of error associated with the estimation of proportions
from the survey responses was 4%.
PROFESSIONAL PROFILE OF THE DOCTORAL FACULTY PARTICIPANTS
Table 11.1 represents the comparison of the professional profile of the survey respon-
dents in the current study with that of 2012. The professional profiles of the respon-
dents are similar in both surveys with some notable exceptions in the type of program
the faculty are teaching, preference for tenure and tenure track, years taught in doctoral
nursing, and timeline for retirement. As evident from the table, the number of respon-
dents teaching in a DNP program exclusively doubled from 20% in the 2012 survey to
45% in the current survey while those teaching exclusively in a PhD program halved
from 51% to 26%. Faculty teaching in both programs remained steadfast across the two
samples. Another area of difference is in the proportion of tenured faculty in the cur-
rent survey. While every three out of five respondents in the 2012 survey indicated to be
tenured, this proportion dropped to less than half in the current sample ( N = 357, 47%).
Continuing with this trend, the number of faculty currently not tenured but on tenure
track also seems to have declined in the current sample compared to the previous one.
Although more than one half ( N = 138, 52%) of the respondents in 2012 who were not
tenured indicated to be on tenure track, that number has shrunk to one in five in the
current sample ( N = 156, 20%). Differences were also noted in the number of years of
teaching full time in nursing and in a doctoral program with a higher proportion of
faculty moving from less than 3 years of experience in 2012 to 3 to 5 years of experience
in the current survey, a trend to be expected given this survey was conducted 3 years
following the first one. Finally, a higher percentage of faculty in the current survey
indicated a desire to retire within the next 3 years compared to the previous survey in
- These data support the statistically significant finding indicating the number of
full professors in the survey declined from 40% to 45%. In all other professional areas,
the two samples were similar.