Dissertation Committee Degree Requirement

The dissertation committee members normally oversee the dissertations of prospective doctoral students. Does it make any difference for these dissertation committee members to have only Ph.D. or a combination of Ph.Ds and other degrees, i.e., Ed.D, DM, DPA, etc.?

I remember that my dissertation committee members at Texas (Longhorn, forever) all have Ph.Ds. A co-worker of mine has his committee chair holding an Ed.D degree and the rest two have Ph.Ds. He was concerned about this situation. Personally, I told him that it does not matter in as much as the committee chair is an expert in his specilaized field and is willing to properly guide him.

Your comments will be appreciated. I have also told him to register on this forum. Thank you.


***My many apologies - This topic should have been posted in the "off topic" section. Thank you.

 

It is apparently possible for persons holding no dissertation doctorate whatever to serve on J.S.D. committees.

It seems very weird to me.

 

I would think it acceptable for holders of non-dissertation doctorates (or even non-doctorate-holders) to sit on a committee. Their subject-matter expertise could be very valuable to the committee. But the dissertation advisor should certainly be someone who has done one him/herself, IMHO.

 

Your friend need not be concerned at all. There is no quantifiable difference between a Ph.D. and Ed.D. They are both research degrees. As you and Rich rightly point out, expertise is the primary qualification--especially for the dissertation chair.

It is customary for doctoral dissertation committees to include persons who possess research doctorates (Ph.D., Ed.D., Th.D., J.S.D., etc.). However, I have known of instances where those with first professional degrees (J.D., M.D.) have been members of a dissertation committee.

Tony Pina
Administrator, Northeastern Illinois University

 

Rich: "But the dissertation advisor should certainly be someone who has done one him/herself, IMHO."

Cehi: So, you think it would seem acceptable if the advisor holds a Ed.D in as much as the advisor has written a dissertation and has experience in the field. I know a lot has been said here that most Ed.D holders have written a dissertation. Thank you.

 

All Ed.D. degree programs should have a dissertation requirement, although some allow a more practical approach to the dissertation. But, as Tony says, most Ed.D. programs are identical to the Ph.D. No worries, mate.

 

Tony, Nosborne48, and Rich, thank you for your feedback.

 

In a practical sense, the chair and members of the committee only have to be approved by the department and graduate school.

Normally, the dissertation committee has to be formally approved in some way. Each school has different ways of deciding who can sit on a dissertation committee. Some require formal status on the graduate faculty, others don't.

The bottom line is that it is up to the school to approve or deny it. It "legal" whatever they do. They're giving out the degree. It is possible, though I'm sure extremely rare, for the school to approve some brainiack with no degree to sit on your committee, if that person happens to be a specialist in the topic of your dissertation. Most schools, I think, also have a provision for someone sitting on your committee who is not on the faculty of that school.

Hope this helps.

marilynd

 

Marilynd, thank you for your comments. Thank you.

 

A friend of mine did the design, development and evaluation of a staff development program for his school district as an applied project, in lieu of a research dissertation at Nova Southeastern University.

If I understand correctly, Union Institute and University's Ph.D. allows for the possibility of a substantial applied work, in place of a research dissertation, for it's PDE (Project Displaying Excellence). Am I correct, Rich?

There are a few programs that allow for alternatives to the research dissertation. They are few and far between.

Tony

 

It used to be called Applied Project. The new name is Doctoral Applied Dissertation. I know a friend who just finished his.

 

Ed.D. folks regularly chair doctoral committees. Rich is right, the cahir needs to be comeone who has written a dissertation. Often the committee is built by finding subject matter ecperts and research/statistics experts to help you produce a final product that meets appropriate dissertation standards.

 

"Demonstrating," not "Displaying," BTW.

Almost all Union learners do traditional dissertations. However, the nature of the research might take on a more practical, rather than theoretical, approach.

My understanding was that some Ed.D. programs allowed for this, too. In other words, one might design, say, a training program, then evaluate its efficacy. This, surrounded by the other trappings of a dissertation (literature review, research questions, measurements, and discussion of the outcomes) would comprise the dissertation. While not exactly building theory, these kinds of dissertations still make significant and original contributions to the field.

There are DBA programs that do the same in business.

 

Hi Rich,

Sorry about the semantic error (that is why I called for your correction). The only large study on PhD. vs. Ed.D. dissertations looked at over 1,900 of them. There were a few applied projects among the Ph.D. dissertations and few more among the Ed.D. dissertations, but they amount to a small fraction. With all of the rhetoric given by some programs about the Ed.D. being more "applied", this doesn't seem to be demonstrated in the actual dissertation themselves. The researchers did find a higher percentage of survey research among the Ed.D. dissertations.

Tony

 

The difference between what's in the catalog and what really happens in practice. I wonder how many people start out doing an applied dissertation but get "guided" into doing a traditional one? Union is like that. Sure, you can take a variety of approaches, but 90% of students do a dissertation.

(The correction was for all; I didn't mean to nitpick. )

 

I'm certain that this "guidance" occurs regularly, since many senior professors have come from an environment where the only type of acceptable research is quanititative/experimental. That is why we see so many "Effects of Two Miniscule Independent Variables on Student Achievement or Attitudes" types of dissertations being prepared for publication in the "Great Journal of Unread Research". Fortunately, newer faculty are becoming more open to other types of designs, such as the various types of qualitative research and action research. Those types of studies, while not as easy to generalize statistically, are certainly more interesting and accesible for putting theory into practice.

We'll always have need for analyses of variance, chi squares, multiple linear regressions and the like, but it would be nice to see more dissertations that can be used for something other than fat bookends.

Tony

 

Anthony Pina: "Those types of studies, while not as easy to generalize statistically, are certainly more interesting and accesible for putting theory into practice.

We'll always have need for analyses of variance, chi squares, multiple linear regressions and the like, but it would be nice to see more dissertations that can be used for something other than fat bookends."


Cehi: This is an excellent comment, that I totally agree with. While hearsays are not admissible, however, I heard from a conversation that there is an educational opganization that promote and provide grants to support only qualitative research for the very reasons that you have enumerated above........the relative easy of puttting theory into practice within organizations. If this corporation exists, I am sure someone on this forum may know the name.

By the way, my thanks to all of you that have provided feedback on the dissertation committe degree issue. My many thanks to all of you. Thank you.