I have just completed foundation and my specialization (HRM) in the PhD program at NCU, so I getting closer to the end. As credits are completed I have spent more and more time viewing other people thesis mostly from top universities around the world. The thing that stuck me is the meaningless of the topics. I hope I don’t offend someone(sorry), but most topics seem to have been of no real use or common interest except to the writer and his/hers supervisor. I have also found several topics of own interest, so I fear that I also will land a doctor thesis of no real value as well. Off course I have been talking with people, but still. DL student do sometimes lack the BM network. So I have been searching for international project or universities doing some exciting research in order to join something interesting, but with little luck so far - HELP! Anyone got any good ideas for “writing something meaningful” or where/how to join some research/project of general interest? Thanks in advance
Welcome to the academic world. Most dissertations will likely do not much more than collect dust on a university library bookshelf ... and allow someone those last 30 or so semester hours or 45 or so quarter hours necessary to call onesself "doctor" so that one can earn the right to put others through the same hazing ritual for entry into the saced circle of academia. It should be obvious that the "originality requirement," whatever that may mean in the context of any given department, has reached the point of diminishing returns such that doctoral students seek more an more obscure (and, concomitantly, more and more boring and useless) dissertation topics, producing a situation of learning more and more about less and less until one knows everything about nothing. Hope you find an acceptable dissertation topic.
One of the PhDs where I work suggested that I look for an area or an issue that is important the organization, but one that they neither have the time nor money to solve. In that way you solve a real world problem in the context of your dissertation (i.e. meaningful) and one that will make you look good when you present it to them.
Re: Re: Re: PhD topics for an NCU student Rolling On Floor Laughing My Butt Off (ROFLMBO) I must be becoming an old geek because I had to look that one up.
Plan A: Start reading the implications sections at the end articles in scholarly journals that most closely match your research interests. Hint: you need to clearly express your research interests on paper (e.g., daily journal), so you are not wandering all over the map; every real researcher knows precisely what they are interested in and why. Plan B: Start looking at the statistical techniques used in scholarly research articles on topics of interest. Occasionally, you'll find a hole or deficiency in statistical techniques large enough to drive an 18 wheeler through. Hint: start working statistical problems as a hobby until you eat and breathe the stuff comfortably; buy the grad pack of SPSS with the CD version of the manuals and start disassembling the research that you are reading. In sum, get some passion. The world is waiting for you who are at the top of the educational food chain (i.e., doctoral researchers) to enlighten them. (e.g., I am trying to split the atom before the forces of evil can; I am trying to find a cure for avian flu before millions of children die; I am trying to understand the socio-economic underpinnings of racism, etc.) What will you say and do to make the world a better place? Hope it helps. Dave
Re: Re: PhD topics for an NCU student Oh no, I definately wasn't laughing at you. I was simply laughing at what you wrote. It was quite elegant and it was like eating a pithy orange, regarding your description of how many dissertations no longer contribute anything valid to the community or to science, but are basically used by doctoral students to... wait a minute... let's just re-read what you wrote, just for fun! I really enjoyed reading that.
Re: Re: PhD topics for an NCU student All great advice. Especially the part about looking at the end of journal articles where they go over the results of their research. Many academic papers identify "issues for future research" in the last couple of pages. I would add that it is also helpful to find a lit review article for a particular research stream. These articles identify and show the chronological progression of a particular research stream.
HR PhD Kelben, Have you discussed with the HR team in your company about some of the problems that they are facing? I feel that could be throw up some interesting options. That would also make it relevant rather than academic. you could then research the journals to identify the existing literature and come up with a gap.
If you fall into the trap of trying to limit yourself to only "meaningful" research, you might find yourself in school for a very very long time. Most PhD students don't have the financial resources to go to school for 4+ years. The point of the PhD dissertation is to prove that you can do original, quality research, not to save the world. Get your PhD first, once that is done, you can take the rest of your life to save us.
If a PhD student can not develop his or her topic (meaningless or not), then they should not be in the PhD program. Sorry do not mean to be harsh, but the reality of graduate education on the doctoral level is that you have to be independent and creative.
Thanks a lot for the many good replies. My point is that I already have several narrow topics of interest, but was just concern about doing it for “my own sake”. Sure, I have been speaking with industry, at work, academics and done some research on the topics and so forth, so my topics are fine. I was just amazed by the papers out there and was trying to figure out a way to perhaps join some existing BM international research/projects. This might improve the view on a DL degree, if research were done with a BM university.
Re: Re: PhD topics for an NCU student Consider also that "meaningful" and "publishable" are words to characterize research that usually are applied together; rarely do they travel alone. Dave
I would avoid this at all cost. This is sure fire way of putting your PhD process to a grinding halt. There is also the problem of "too many chefs in the kitchen", other people taking credit for your work, office politics, etc. Do what YOU want to do (as long as it is approved by your committee), and keep it YOUR work. Save the group project stuff for post-doc work. I tried to do something similar at the beginning of my PhD. I was going to work with a government agency on a project they were doing. It took them a year just to decide on a meeting date so I can get an idea of what they are trying to accomplish. After a two hour meeting, they still didn't give me a straight answer. I quickly realized if I worked with these people for my dissertation I wouldn't graduate for 5 or 6 years. And I'm a full-time BM student! Besides, if you can get your research published in a peer-reviewed journal, thats much more important than if your degree was by DL or not. Most hiring committees will take 1 DL grad PhD who is published over 10 BM PhDs who are not published any day.
