1. Relationship between life goals and region of origin of new PhD economists
Faculty Sponsor: Marta Murray-Close
Undergraduate Research Assistants: Ritika Kumar and Bobby Snow
University of Massachusetts Amherst, Department of Economics
Introduction
The purpose of this project was to gain insight on
the life goals of international PhD students. The
interest in this phenomenon stems from the
increase over time of the proportion of PhD
students from foreign countries enrolled in US
programs.
We were interested in the life goals of
international PhD students compared to those of
American students, including the importance of
having a good marriage or partnership, attaining
high personal income, and having enough time to
spend with family. We placed additional focus on
students from Asia and students of economics or
other social sciences.
Previous research shows that international
students perceive Americans as overly focused on
achieving high income and devote too little time
for family and relationships (Alberts & Hazen
2005).
Research Question
Does the importance of personal versus
professional life goals differ between new PhD
economists from the United States, Asia, and
other parts of the world?
Role of the Research Assistant
As a research assistant, Ritika conducted
exploratory data analysis and created new
variables for analysis using the statistical
software STATA.
Bobby’s role focused on locating, recording, and
reviewing online literature and using it to gather
data and draw conclusions. The digital tools he
used were Google Scholar, JabRef, and MS Word.
Results Data and Methods
We used data from a survey of recent graduates
of PhD programs in Economics. PhDs ranked the
importance of life goals on a scale of “not
Important” to “extremely Important.” We
organized PhDs into categories based on the
location of their undergraduate institution,
which is a good proxy for citizenship.
We used chi-square tests of independence
because both variables (region of origin and
importance of life goal) are categorical. We used
the chi-square tests of independence to test null
hypothesis that region of origin and importance
of life goals are independent.
Discussion
Figure 1.1 shows that respondents from the
United States valued marriage as extremely
important, more so than respondents from Asia
and elsewhere. Figure 1.2 respondents from the
United States placed moderate to little value on
a high personal income, whereas respondents
from Asia and elsewhere valued the life goal as
very or extremely important. Figure 1.3
The data in these figures contradict the findings
in previous research that Americans value
income more than do foreigners, as well as the
perception that Americans value family time
less.
References
Alberts, Heike C., and Helen D. Hazen. "There
are always two voices: International Students'
Intentions to Stay in the United States or Return
to their Home Countries." INTERNATIONAL
MIGRATION-GENEVA THEN OXFORD- 43, no. 3
(2005): 131.
Figure1.1:Importanceofhavingahighpersonalincome
Χ²(8,N=657)=44.08,p=0.00
Location of undergraduate institution
US Asia Other All
Not important 6.01 1.54 1.90 3.81
A little
important
15.82 6.92 11.37 12.63
Moderately
important
57.59 43.85 48.34 51.90
Very important 16.46 36.92 29.86 24.81
Extremely
important
4.11 10.77 8.53 6.85
Observations 316 130 211 657
Location of undergraduate institution
US Asia Other All
Not important 1.58 0.78 2.37 1.68
A little
important
5.38 4.69 6.16 5.50
Moderately
important
19.94 31.25 32.23 26.11
Very important 42.41 42.97 41.71 42.29
Extremely
important
30.70 20.31 17.54 24.43
Observations 316 128 211 655
Figure 1.3: Importance of having plenty of time for family
Χ ²(8,N=655)=20.59, p=0.00
Location of undergraduate institution
US Asia Other All
Not important 0.95 2.33 0.95 1.22
A little
important
0.95 2.33 0.95 1.22
Moderately
important
3.80 5.43 8.57 5.65
Very important 25.63 39.53 30.00 29.77
Extremely
important
68.67 50.39 59.52 62.14
Observations 316 129 210 655
Figure 1.1: Importance of having a good marriage or partnership
Χ ²(8,N=655)=19.53, p=0.01
Figure 1.2: Importance of having a high personal income
Χ ²(8,N=657)=44.08, p=0.00