Presented By: Matthew Gold, University of Florida
Co-Authors: Lauri Baker, University of Florida
Carla Jagger, University of Florida
Caitlin Lunzmann, University of Florida

Graduate programs typically allocate credit hours to complete academic research. However, the hours required vary and how faculty and students define and use those hours may not be consistent. The purpose of this Delphi study was to identify how faculty and students use research credit in both master's and PhD programs in an agricultural social science graduate program. Round one of the Delphi (Fall 2023) began with an open-ended question survey sent to all faculty (N = 33) and students (n = 109): to gather data on how they define, use, and place value in research hours. Thirty-four students and 16 faculty responded to the first round. The qualitative analysis revealed major themes from students and faculty in defining research hours as time spent conducting thesis/dissertation work, individualized application of research for skill development, and time devoted to high-impact research. Similar themes emerged regarding research expectations including the use of hours for conducting various parts of research projects, weekly meetings between students and advisors, and that the student and advisor should set goals for the hours at the beginning of the semester. Participants described research outputs broadly as progress on thesis/dissertation projects or other research deliverables, and publishable submissions. Other major themes from open-ended comments revealed students and faculty thought research hours need more rules/structure/options, research hours are critical in degree programs, and faculty and student expectations were disconnected. The required number of hours participants thought should be included in an M.S. ranged from 0-18 with the most common response 9-12. For a PhD, required hours ranged from 0-60 with no collective agreement. Results from round one indicates a need for continued consensus building around research hours within social science agricultural programs with a strong need for improved expectations for these hours.