Comparing the NRC and the Faculty Hiring Network Methods of Ranking Doctoral Programs in Communication

The current analysis examines the relationship between measures (R-scores, S-scores, faculty productivity) utilized in the recently published National Research Council NRC report and communication doctoral programs’ centrality in the faculty-hiring network. Correlations among the network indicators and the NRC ratings were generally moderate and network measures for individual programs were better at predicting the objective ratings compared to subjective ratings of doctoral programs. Thus, placement of graduates is a legitimate measure of program quality. The findings indicate department and university reputation help students in their faculty job search, as does faculty modeling of the research process. It is argued placements of graduate students into research-intensive positions should be considered the standard in evaluating doctoral education in communication.