Doctor programs with no Dissertation?

Hey in my last post I asked about phd programs with no disserations and was told that phd do require a dissertation but was told that doctor programs dont. Is there any doctor programs in education that require no dissertation? Also any other doctor programs with no dissertation? (No medical or law field related ones please)

 

If it does exist, it will require something equally significant such as a real world research project that takes months or years to complete. Don't think that just because it has no dissertation that it is all coursework. It won't be.

 

I thought the Doctor of Education (Ed.D) is equivalence to Doctor of Philosophy degree; therefore, it requires dissertation. Only others consider as professional Doctorate, such as Doctor of Science, Doctor of Engineering Science, Doctor of RN, PsyD, and etc. do not require dissertation.

If there, you have to check with profit schools such as Northcentral University, Capella University, Walden University, University of Pheonix, Agrosy University, and etc. These schools tend to have no dissertation for professional Doctorate.

 

Northcentral, Capella, Walden, Phoenix and Argosy all require a dissertation for their EdD programs. If you find any RA institution that offers an EdD degree without a dissertation, then please post a direct link to it.

 

A few years ago, I only found one online EdD that requires an applied research project instead of a dissertation. A lot of these research projects are the equivalent of dissertations in the amount of work one has to do.
http://tlac.tamu.edu/sites/tlac.tamu.edu/files/Ed_D_Course_Study.pdf

Nova Southeastern's Doctor of Health Science requires an applied project.
http://www.nova.edu/chcs/healthsciences/forms/dhs_curriculum.pdf

Arizona State University's Doctor of Behavioral Health requires a project instead of a dissertation. They have a management track for those who are not licensed mental health professionals.

I did come across a ground program that lets you complete a creative project such as write a book, but can't remember which school it was at.

 

Having listened to many of our members talk about their grad/doctoral experiences I have taken to heart the idea that earning a PhD is more than simply taking some extra courses and then writing a bigbig essay at the end. I've come to understand that there is a qualitative leap that is made in this process. Without going further into detail, and having looked at the op's sig line I'd suggest that he consider earning a Masters degree before even thinking about shooting for a PhD. Assuming that he goes that route he would not only be better prepared but would also have a much clearer idea of what is involved in doctoral level study.

 

The OP addressed this in the original (Ph.D.) thread:

 

The link to the online Texas A&M EdD program includes:
- coursework on qualitative and quantitative analysis
- coursework on mixed methods research
- post coursework: actual data collection (and analysis)
- etc.

Are you saying that the post coursework phase involving data collection and analysis is not part of a dissertation?

 

It appears they call it a "Record of Study" not technically a dissertation more akin to a comprehensive project:

http://tlac.tamu.edu/sites/tlac.tamu.edu/files/Prospectus-EdD-Revision-cs5-11-01-14%20%281%29.pdf


a major research document that may involve such topics as (1) a field study on a problem of major proportions in time or extent; (2) a curriculum development project validated through pilot and field testing; or (3) action research on a curricular, instructional, supervisory or administrative problem based on empirical data.

Gig 'em

 

OKthen. Assuming that an applied "project" on the doctoral level is roughly equivalent in difficulty, rigor, time commitment, etc. as a dissertation (it's just a different flavor of hard work) then the basic answer to the original question is "no."

 

Remarkable.

Scroll down to page 5 to read their distinction between:
- EdD "record of study"
- PhD "dissertation"

P5: http://tlac.tamu.edu/sites/tlac.tamu.edu/files/Prospectus-EdD-Revision-cs5-11-01-14%20%281%29.pdf

 

Is there a doctorate somewhere, anywhere, in any subject that doesn't have a dissertation? Sure.

South University has a Doctor of Ministry that allows you to write a dissertation OR complete a ministry project OR complete advanced Clinical Pastoral Education.

CPE cannot rightfully be compared to a dissertation or an applied "project." I took three CPE courses when I was considering a life in the ministry. It is very much applied chaplaincy training. One of my courses involved the study of family systems and involved, what was essentially, multi-week group therapy. CPE is required of many nursing homes, hospitals and other major medical facilities (though not all) to work as a staff chaplain.

Having said this:

1) The Doctor of Ministry, unlike the Doctor of Philosophy, is not a research degree. Though, clearly, you can add a significant research component to this program.
2) While CPE isn't a dissertation or a thesis, it isn't really easy to complete. It requires a lot of work. So I wouldn't call it an easy way out, just a different path. It's a bit like saying you're going running rather than riding a bicycle. One might be preferable to you. One might be more relevant to your day-to-day work (maybe you're a beat cop or a bike courier). But they are arguably comparable in terms of actual "difficulty."

So, there are really two ways for us to read the question: "Is there a Doctoral program with no dissertation"

1) "Dude, I want to skate my way to an easy title."
2) "OK, there are dissertations. Are there any other options?"

I like to give folks the benefit of the doubt. Is this helpful to someone studying Criminal Justice? Probably not. But I believe it is interesting nonetheless.
3)

 

The DPS may be an option. A project instead of a dissertation.
Doctor of Professional Studies - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

For many years, the U.S. Dept. of Education has published "The Structure of U.S. Education," where it provides a list of "research doctorates" (including the DBA and Ed.D.) that it considers as equivalent in level to the Ph.D. and that require a dissertation. However, when the Dept. of Ed. allowed the DETC (now DEAC) to change its accrediting authority from "first professional" to "professional doctorate," it did not have an official definition for "professional doctorate," which allowed the DETC to define it as anything other than a Ph.D.

in 2010, another area of the Dept. of Ed. created new IPEDS classifications, eliminating the "First Professional Degree" category and creating new categories of "Doctor's Degree-Research/Scholarship,"Doctor's Degree-Professional Practice" and "Doctor's Degree-Other" and allowing institutions to pick their degrees' category. So now the DOE has created a "wild west" for doctoral degrees.

 

Morehead State University has an Ed.D. with an applied project instead of a dissertation. Morehead State University :: Foundational and Graduate Studies in Education :: Doctor of Education (EdD). Even though it says that the program is for P-12 educators, the educational technology leadership track has several students who are not elementary or secondary educators.