Legitimate reasons for closed thesis

Discussion in 'General Distance Learning Discussions' started by hans.malherbe, Nov 29, 2006.

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  1. hans.malherbe

    hans.malherbe New Member

    I am verifying the credentials of someone claiming a Ph.D. from the Commonwealth Open University.

    I always assumed a Ph.D. must constitute an original contribution to public knowledge.

    I can understand a review board delaying publication for the purposes of patent applications, but to indefinately close a thesis for the purpose of protecting secrets seems to violate the principle stated above.

    Do reputable institutions of higher learning do this? Are there guidelines for when a Ph.D. can be awarded without publication and subsequent peer review?
     
  2. SteveFoerster

    SteveFoerster Resident Gadfly Staff Member

    Hello Hans,

    I doubt that real universities allow closed theses, for exactly the reason you give -- the whole point is to advance knowledge in one's discipline. Even if they do, however, it shouldn't matter in this case, since Commonwealth Open University isn't a recognized university anyway.

    -=Steve=-
     
  3. hans.malherbe

    hans.malherbe New Member

    I know the COU is not accredited. Not being accredited does not mean it is a degree mill. It just means one must exercise caution.

    I'm interested to know if a closed thesis is necessarily proof of academic fraud.

    Things become difficult otherwise.
     
  4. jimnagrom

    jimnagrom New Member

    I dunno....wasn't there some difficulty with someone with an axe to grind trying to access Rich Douglas' dissertation? And UI is RA.

    I didn't really pay attention but I gathered that it was not in the public domain.

     
  5. BillDayson

    BillDayson New Member

    Lack of accreditation isn't conclusive proof that a school is a degree mill. But since well over 90% of non-accredited schools are either mills or seriously substandard, there's certainly a reasonable presumption. The way to defeat that presumption is to become familiar with the school in question.

    You do have the option of being charitable, of passing over the questionable degree and directly assessing an applicant's work. But in order to do that, the applicant has to supply you with the material. That should be his responsibility, not yours.
    In this case it's probably pretty strong evidence.

    I have heard of dissertations at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey California that have been given security classifications and are only made available to individuals with the appropriate security clearances. The NPGS library actually has an entire secure floor devoted to classified materials of various sorts.

    But this certainly isn't that.

    If it was me, and if an applicant's qualifications consisted of a degree from a suspect "university" that lacks any accreditation or professional reputation, then I'd probably just reject it. If I was feeling especially charitable and told the applicant that I'd be willing to look at his work, and if he couldn't or wouldn't provide it, then I'd definitely reject him with no regrets.
     
  6. SteveFoerster

    SteveFoerster Resident Gadfly Staff Member

    Going to the source

    I've written the Minister of Education for BVI and asked his opinion of Commonwealth Open University. I'll post any response here. (Even if that's not of interest to the original poster, it may be of interest to others.)

    -=Steve=-
     
  7. hans.malherbe

    hans.malherbe New Member

    Sorry to mislead, this person is not an applicant. I am considering an expensive course he sells. The Ph.D. on his marketing material was simply the easiest to verify.

    So far it's not looking good and for many it would be clearcut at this point, but generally I try to be less than cynical. At least his assistant is still speaking to me even though I have been very insistent on getting answers.

    If he is a fraudster, he's not a good one because he should have clammed up long ago.

    Let's hope Steve gets a response from the Minister of Education soon.
     
  8. Bill Huffman

    Bill Huffman Well-Known Member

    What you say is true about there being a requirement for a significant contribution to the academic knowledge of man, which means it would generally have to be published. Publishing of a dissertation minimally means made available from the school library, or in the USA being listed by UMI. This is one reason why I personally doubt that most unaccredited are even capable of bestowing a valid PhD since they aren't usually part of the greater academic community so can't make such a contribution. They aren't allowed to publish dissertations in UMI as another example (at least that was their stated plan when I talked to them years ago).

    Anyway, you know the school the PhD supposedly came from. You could call them and ask the "librarian" if a dissertation is on file for that person.

    John Bear actually once had some words to say on this subject. He was asked if he had heard of anyone having a totally supressed dissertation. He answered that yes, back in the 1930's in Nazi Germany a person of jewish descent wrote a dissertation disputing the official policy that German was the superior race. The dissertation was supressed in order to protect the life of the author from the Nazis. My investigations into this question (mostly talking to UMI) was that when a dissertation is made unavailable (due to national security or patent issues) that the abstract, author, title, and school will still be public knowledge but that a copy might not be made available except from the school library only.

    Some of my findings were documented on the following web pages.
    http://suburbia.werewolves.org/~follies/PhDFraud/
     
  9. CLSeibel

    CLSeibel Member

    I am enrolled in the PhD program in Practical Theology through the University of Pretoria in South Africa, a well respected institution.

    All doctoral graduates in all disciplines, upon passing the defense, are required to submit their dissertations in electronic format to the library. In turn, these dissertations are made available to the public in their entirety in an unrestricted fashion through the library's website.

    However, some of the dissertations completed in my department are listed on the website with the following notice:

    "The full text of this thesis/dissertation is not available online. Please contact us if you need access."

    The majority of the dissertations that are protected by this limited access policy are focused within the field of pastoral care and, more specifically, reflect a narrative approach to dealing with issues of providing care for AIDS sufferers (my department is arguably the leading entity engaged in such research internationally). I imagine that some of these dissertations provide narrative descriptions that are, perhaps understandably, of a sensitive nature and, therefore, worthy of treating with greater privacy for the sake of protecting innocent subjects.

    So, this is just one example of a legitimate institution that is choosing to restrict access to doctoral research for arguably legitimate and noble reasons.
     
  10. Jeff Walker

    Jeff Walker New Member

    There are cases in science where dissertations are not published and immediately become classified information due to potential military applications of the work.
     
  11. hans.malherbe

    hans.malherbe New Member

    Thanks for the responses, everyone!

    I know about "The Game" and the people who used to play it. It's how I got here.

    This person's motivation is similar in that suppression is for the purpose of protecting secrets. Only in the current situation, the secrets are for sale. I'll ask, but I assume you do not get to see the actual dissertation on the course.

    PS: The "Preview Reply" button does not work everytime. I'm on IE6.
     
  12. SteveFoerster

    SteveFoerster Resident Gadfly Staff Member

    He didn't respond, so I called his office. They are not recognized. The person there had never even heard of "Commonwealth Open University".

    Hope this helps,

    -=Steve=-
     
  13. Ted Heiks

    Ted Heiks Moderator and Distinguished Senior Member

    Ah! I sort of remember that. If I recall correctly, Union requires two documents at the end of the program: the dissertation and a document that reviews the entire program. When it came time to make the dissertation available (I forget whether it was through Union Institute or University Microfilms International), there was a snafu in which the "dissertation" which was made available was actually the end-of-program review. Then there were all these threads about Rich Douglas, Union Institute, and inadequate dissertations. Or something like that.
     

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