Home About Michigan Doctoral Experience Study (MDES) Information for Participants Information for Participants The Michigan Doctoral Experience Study is administered by a study team in the Rackham Institutional Research Office and with the oversight of the University of Michigan Institutional Review Board [study HUM00133992]. Frequently Asked Questions When is the survey period? The 2025 survey period will open on September 15 and close on September 26. Who is invited to participate in the survey? All students who began a Rackham Ph.D. program in Fall 2018 and beyond will receive an invitation to participate in the 2025 MDES survey. Will I receive an incentive for participating? Only invited students who complete the survey will receive an incentive. The incentive payment will be sent within 10 to 15 business days of completing the survey. Are answers to the survey confidential? Yes, all survey data is held confidential. Only MDES team members will be able to view identifiable data. Your survey responses will NOT be accessible to graduate departments/programs or Rackham leadership. When team members analyze and report data, survey responses will be aggregated across respondents such that no individual can be identified. What will the survey data be used for? The purpose of the Michigan Doctoral Experience Study (MDES) is to advance research on how Ph.D. students develop over the entire trajectory of graduate study. The survey data will be used in studies of various aspects of the PhD student experience. You can see results from previous studies and you can examine the interactive data. Contact Us Hours: Institutional Research is open Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. The office is closed Saturdays and Sundays and on university holidays. Location 0120 Rackham Building 915 E. Washington St. Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1070 Contact Phone: 734.764.8221 Fax: 734.615.3832 Email: [email protected]
