Graduate Student Mothers and Issues of Justice: Steps, Challenges, and Benefits of a Systematic Review for Examining Master’s Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

Abstract

Graduate student mothers are a historically marginalized population in higher education. As such, their voices and experiences have often been overlooked and underrepresented. In this study, we examine graduate student mothers through a systematic review of master’s theses and doctoral dissertations. Using the PRISMA process for literature reviews, we centered our study on ProQuest Dissertations and Theses Global, moving from an initially identified 736,504 potential texts down to 44 for final inclusion. Analyses of the dissertations and theses were conducted through Saldaña’s (2015) first cycle, after first cycle, and second cycle coding. Our article details the stages of the PRISMA process and multiple cycles of coding, leading to the development of three procedural themes highlighting continued justice issues for graduate student mothers in academic organizations. We also discuss the methodological benefits of this process for early career researchers as well as the challenges of the approach.