A review of a variety of methods used to evaluate a doctoral degree in nursing in Iran

Ph.D. is the highest degree in higher education that results in awarding a degree. In order to promote the quality and dynamics of higher education programs, quantitative and qualitative surveys should be carried out continuously. Considering the necessity of a codified evaluation program for assessing the degree of nursing in Iran, this article has tried to introduce researchers and compare the articles that have been devoted to this topic over the past 10 years to help researchers choose the appropriate program to evaluate this course.
Material & In this review, a review of the type of literature review, articles published between 2007 and 2017 was reviewed. In order to access related scientific documentation, electronic search in two languages: Farsi and English using Ph.D. keywords, nursing, evaluation, Iran, educational program in databases: SID, PubMed and Google Scholar.
Two studies were published in English and the rest were published in Persian. Four cases (57%) were descriptive, 2 cases (28%) were qualitative and a cross sectional study. In the studies, two studies of Nursing Ph.D. Quality Assessment Questionnaire (QNDE), two studies of the Bredy model, and three other studies were from Patrick model, CIPP model and semi-structured interviews. The characteristics of the reviewed studies are summarized in Table.
The review of the research shows that various methods have been used to evaluate the nursing Ph.D. in Iran. There are many patterns for evaluation. Despite the key role of evaluation in promoting the more nursing Ph.D. course, unfortunately, our country has not paid much attention to this issue. So far, no studies have looked at the comprehensive review of the quality of the doctoral program in nursing education in Iran, and researchers have focused on only a few aspects of this issue.