Does family matter? A phenomenological inquiry exploring the lived experiences of women persisting in distance education, professional doctoral programs

The qualitative study aims to examine the lived experiences of women persisting in the distance; professional doctoral degrees as they seek to integrate and balance their family of origin and current family system with their development as scholars.

This qualitative study employed Moustakas’ (1994) transcendental phenomeno-logical approach through a purposive sampling of eleven women who are en-rolled in distance education, professional doctoral programs at two universities in the southern United States.

This study furthers the existing research by demonstrating that family is inti-mately tied to the scholarly identity development and persistence of women enrolled in distance education, professional doctorate programs. While previous research has shown that family support is a factor promoting doctoral persistence, previous studies have not examined how women integrate and balance their family of origin and current family system with their development as scholars while persisting in a doctoral degree.