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Student Loan Debt

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Graduate Student Loan Debt for Psychology Students
Ian McClure
South Dakota State University

In their article, J. M. Doran, L. R. Marks, E. J. Ameen & N. H. El-Ghoroury (2016) the researchers wanted to get a more in depth look at the impact and possible negative consequences for the increasing cost and the debt resulting from having to take on more student loans in pursuit of obtaining either a Ph. D. in psychology or a Master’s degree in counseling. The researchers contacted the American Psychological Association (APA) about using their extensive database to survey individuals who were either in a post-secondary graduate program or in the early stages of their career as a psychologist (10 years after graduation). After being permitted …show more content…

The 10 categories and their results included privileged circumstances (good situations/not having any debt) 10.78%, the impact of debt (negative/stress and distress) 31.19%, neutral or balanced (managing as expected) 8.22%, income to debt ratio (school/salary) 19.90%, delaying life milestones 11.42%, hidden/additional cost 6.03%, need for education/informed consent 10.14%, federal loan issues 2.10%, second thoughts about career choice 6.30%, and systemic barriers/structural solutions 41.08%. The researchers were able to differentiate each full response into different components so that they would receive separate codes with no response receiving the same code more than one time for same issue/concern brought up within their answers. This would eliminate any distortion of the overall results of the study. Also the researchers throughout any responses that did not answer at least one of the questions in the study as they were either not applicable or individuals responded with the answer “I don’t know”, basically if the answer was too short to gather any qualitative data it was thrown out as it would not be useable for this study. For question one, dealing with feelings and thoughts, there were a total of 825 responses with the rate of response at 64.30%. For question two, dealing with the need for more information, there were a total of 709 responses with the rate of at 63.83%. As a result of how the researchers were able to put in place restrictions and/or conditions for what was deemed an acceptable answer that would provide accurate data, it seems that the results are accurate. Not to mention that this particular study has been referenced in at least 6 other scholarly peer reviewed journals which helps its legitimacy and validity within the field of psychological research. Because of the qualitative component of the answers given

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