Academic Self-Efficacy Beliefs of Turkish and American Ph.D Students: A Comparative Study

Abstract

The aim of the research is to comparatively investigate the opinions of students in doctoral education in the USA and Turkey about academic self-efficacy. The research used the basic qualitative research pattern from among qualitative research designs. The study group in the research comprised a total of 32 doctoral students with 16 from Turkey and 16 from the USA. Of these students, 25 were male (78%) and 7 were female (22%). With the aim of determining the participant group, criterion sampling was used from the targeted sampling methods. A semi-structured interview form was used to gather data in the research. For analysis of data, the content analysis technique was used. It has been determined by the results obtained from the study that Turkish and American students have similar goals to attend a Ph.D program in some respect and they have a high level of academic self-efficacy belief (ASEB) in using the relevant terminology and reaching the literature. In addition, it has been determined that Turkish students have a weaker academic self- efficacy belief than American students in respect of using scientific research methods and qualitative and quantitative data analysis techniques.