Introduction
I will explore the topic of whether a graduate degree guarantees financial and career success.
In these times of economic duress, more and more people are turning to graduate school in the hopes, this will guarantee a stable job and more money when the “good times” return. However, in my preliminary readings, I have encountered research articles that claim the exact opposite. In all honesty, what motivates me to pursue a Masters’s at NYU is the hope that it will boost my salary and make me more marketable and competitive in my industry. If this is not always the case, then why spend the time, money, and effort on such an endeavour?
Just twenty years ago, a Bachelor’s Degree was sufficient and deemed a noteworthy achievement. This is no longer the case. The competitive job market is inundated with candidates holding graduate and post-graduate degrees. However, are advanced degrees really necessary, or are we all simply trying to “one-up” each other? Also, exactly what constitutes “success”? Some people define success in terms of material wealth (i.e. expensive cars, positions of power in their jobs, etc.), while others consider success to be the fulfilment of a personal goal (i.e. climbing Mt. Everest or raising a family). These are some of the questions I hope to answer in my research.
Statement of the Problem
I chose to work on this question because it directly affects the financial success of people, the financial performance, and future ambitions and targets of people. If a person has masters skills, it becomes easier for him to attain good goals in a lifetime. Masters assist people in the world today to ensure that they are able to move with the world.
There is a relationship between a person’s and financial performance as well as the ability of the person to compete in the job market after completing her studies. When a student is taking masters at he learns new things, new concepts gets challenges, encounters obstacles, learns how to solve his own problems, learns to be independent, and all these challenges will enable the competence level of a person to improve. Through these challenges, a student will be competent and learn more on his own.
Research questions
Question 1:- does a master’s degree guarantee financial and career success?
This question explains the reason why the younger generations are going for masters degrees, e.g. is financial and career success influenced a level of education.
Question 2:- What makes the master’s graduates more successive?
The question explains what factors make the master graduates more successive, e.g. The age factor:-This makes them more responsive and accepting to new ideas and suggestions to their daily life’s as they are still growing and discovering their potential
Education: – More one is educated the easily is influenced by the knowledge from academic books and journals together with the interaction of more people. This has enabled them to be more accepting and has different lifestyles in the world.
Question 4:- What are the benefits of a masters’ degree?
This question will explain who benefits from the master’s degree. It will show, for example, the employment of post-graduates in any organization is an important task. This is because this group is highly creative, adaptive to challenges and environment, and aggressive at any particular task.
Question 5:- what are the measures of success in life?
Methodology
The data that will be used in this research will be collected from –
Books
Most of the materials to be used in this report will be collected from books. Many books have been written covering issues of financial success. I will collect the relevant material from books that show the relationship between people with masters on financial success. Books will offer me good general information that will assist me in completing this project. Most books have a bibliography from the back where more information about the issue.
Internet
The internet is also a very good source of data. On the internet, different topics have been covered. Through the internet, I will collect the relevant materials that show the relationship between education and financial success. Through the internet, I will be able to get the latest journals and conference papers that cover my topic in greater depths. Through the internet, I will be able also to request more materials in the form of CDs for further reference. Through the internet, I will learn more from conference papers about the topic.
Data collection tools and methods
The relevant data to be used in this research will be collected in two ways, namely:
Questionnaires
The data that will be used in this report will be collected through questionnaires. A questionnaire involves asking various questions from the business people and employees concerning the question topic. This will be used to obtain important information about the relationship between success and education. This research will employ two categories of questionnaires. The first category of questionnaires will be structured or close-ended. Here I will offer a list of all possible alternatives from which respondent best describes the situation. They will be in the form of multiple choices. A question will be asked, and below will be a list of all possible alternatives will be provided. The advantage of using questionnaires is that most people do not want to think hard, the answers are there, and the respondent cannot be intimidated.
Unstructured or open-ended types of questionnaires will also be employed to make this research a success. These types of questions will give the respondent freedom of response and permit an individual to respond in their own words. The researcher goes with the questionnaires himself and administers the questions by himself.
Method of data analysis
The researcher will use two methods in data analysis:- Quantitative analysis; The researcher will use the quantitative technique to analyze the data obtained in the research.
- Various descriptive levels that involve central tendency will be calculated. The researcher will calculate the mode, median, and mean of the data collected.
- Variability will also be analyzed. The researcher will analyze the three most commonly used variables’ that is a range, variance, and standard deviation.
- The researcher will also use a frequency distribution to analyze data. This can be done by showing the:-Skewness, Kurtosis and Graphic representation.
In graphical representations, the researcher will analyze data by using a single frequency distribution table.
Time schedule (work plan)
This shows the period the researcher will take to finish the research.
Budget
A list of items the researcher will need to carry out research and their approximate cost.
A prediction of the outcomes of data collection
The predicted outcome of data collection and implication will be as follows:-
- Masters students are more financially successive as compared to undergraduates.
- Their people with financial success who are not even graduates.
- A Masters’s degree helps one become more independent-minded as compared to others.
- A direct relationship exists because both are meant to motivate one to work hard. It is good to give people a mind that makes people be motivated and be very much encouraging and will greatly influence the performance and future life.
- Masters are geared towards knowing the capabilities of a person, by giving people a better position of knowing what they can do and to what extent. One will know the capabilities.
- They are meant to give students challenging situations. When a student is given masters, he starts thinking outside the box. His approach to issues changes. He improves his perception of problem-solving skills. Thus, this will eventually improve his financial success.
- It encourages teamwork: when a student is exposed to master’s level, he becomes challenged thus goes for help from his fellow colleges. In the process of seeking assistance, he will learn how to start working with others. Thus he will see the essence of teamwork.
- They learn how to manage time: when students have been given masters, they will try as much as possible to manage time. In the process, they learn how to manage and keep time.
Bibliography
Alsop, R. (2002). The Top Business Schools (A Special Report)—Do M.B.A. Degrees Pay Off? Wall Street Journal, R9.
Ball, C. (2006). What do Postgraduates do? Higher Education Consortium for Special Education (HECSE).
Bradshaw, D. (2004). Why the US Faces a Challenge to Its Dominant Position. Financial Times: Special Report Business Education, 1-2.
Burton D (2000), Research Training for Social Sciences: a Handbook for Postgraduate researchers, (ed.), Sage Publication Ltd, Great Britain.
Card, D. (1999). The Causal Effect of Education on Earnings. Chapter 30 in Handbook of Labor Economics, 3(A), 801-1863.
Chevalier, A. & Lindley, J. (2007). Over-Education and the Skills of U.K. Graduates. Centre for the Economics of Education Discussion. Paper No. 79.
Creswell, J.W. (1994). Research Design: Qualitative and Quantitative Approaches. Sage Publications: Thousand Oaks, CA.
De Coulon, A., & Vignoles, A. (2007). The Value of Basic Skills in the British Labour Market. Centre for the Economics of Education Discussion Paper. Paper No. 877.
Dearden, L, S., McIntosh, M., & Vignoles A. (2002). The Returns to Academic, Vocational and Basic Skills in Britain. Bulletin of Economic Research, Vol 54, no. 3, pp. 249-274.
Del Rossi, A., & Hersch, J. (2008). Double Your Major, Double Your Return. Economics of Education Review, vol. 27, issue 4, pages 375-386.
Dolton, P. & Vignoles, A.(2002). The Return to Post-Compulsory School Mathematics Study. Economica, Vol. 69, No. 273, pp.113-142.
Kathari, C.R. (2003) –Research Methodology Methods and Techniques– WISHwa Prakashan, New DeJhi.
Mason, J. (1996). Qualitative Research. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications.
Mugenda o & mugenda A (1999)- research methods-Quantitative and Qualitative approaches African centre and technology Studies (ACTS), Nairobi.
Merritt, J. (2003). What’s an MBA Really Worth? Business Week, 90-102.
Mutai, B (2000) – How to write quality research proposal: a complete and simplified recipe. The Uey publications.
Neiuam. W. L. (2003). Social research methods: qualitative and quantitative approaches (5th ed.) Boston. Allyn & Bacon.
Ngechu, M. –Understanding the Research Process and Methods, University of Nairobi Pfeffer, J., & Fong, C. (2002). The End of Business Schools? Less Success Than Meets the Eye. Academy of Management Learning and Education, 1, 78-95.
Russell, B (1987); Qualitative and Quantitative methods.
Sloane P.J., & O’Leary N.C. (2004). The Return to a University Education in Great Britain. IZA Discussion Paper No 1199, Bonn, Germany.
Vignoles, A. (2007). The Value of a Degree. Graduate Market Trends, pp 156-158.
Walker, I. and Y. Zhu. (2005). The College Wage Premium, Over education and the Expansion of Higher Education in the UK. IZA Discussion Paper No.1627, Bonn, Germany.
Wolfe M.G (1998) Fashion South Holland, the good heart –Wilcox Company, Inc.
Woo, J.H. (1986). Graduate Degrees and Job Success: Managers in One U.S. Corporation. Economics of Education Review, Volume 5, Issue 3, Pages 227-237.