In the fall '72 issue of PS, Walfred H. Peterson, Stephen Blank, and William C. Yoels have drawn some interesting data and interpretations from APSA's annual listing of completed political science dissertations. Their focus on data related to Ph.D. output, interest distribution within sub-fields, and “the fate of the Ph.D.” clearly reflect the concern of the advanced scholar who is interested in the general development of the discipline.
However, it may not be astonishing that one type of data, that may be of particular interest to the beginning student of political science or the Ph.D. candidate has been neglected. This is the question of how long it actually takes to earn the desired degree.
Departmental Ph.D. programs indicate generally that an approximate term of four years is suggested as being necessary but also sufficient for the successful completion of the entire Ph.D. program. A tabulation of data derived from our annual listings, however, easily reveal that — at least in practice — such an approximation is far from reality. As indicated in table I, more than twice that time lies actually on an average between graduation and the successful completion of the dissertation.