How many courses are typical for a non-education Ph.D.?

I am currently searching for a suitable Ph.D. program in Education. I want to focus on research, not coursework. I found many Ed.D.'s, but these mostly just contain lots of courses, comprising ~85% coursework, ~15% research. I also found some schools with Ph.D. in Education programs, but these comprised ~80% "how-to-do-research" coursework, and only ~20% credits count towards the dissertation, which seems to be only 2 semesters of time. Furthermore, some programs are "set" as part of a cohort, so it seems I would be stuck taking courses that I have no interest in and that will not help me much with the research.

Is the situation outside of Education different? I thought Ph.D.'s typically comprised 15-20% coursework and 80-85% of the time was spent on the research paper.

 

It seems that most American dissertations are about 24 credits, although there are some anomalies, especially with non-traditional degrees.

 

Have you considered UNISA? The "dissertation only" would allow you to focus entirely on research.

 

Typically, doctoral degrees require 30 semester hours or 45 quarter hours of coursework followed by 30 semester hours or 45 quarter hours of dissertation. Most courses are 3 credits, so that would be 10 classes if you're on the semester system or 15 classes if you're on the quarter system.

 

Here is a typical course distribution for an engineering PhD (this from UAH)

1. Students entering the joint Ph.D. degree program with a baccalaureate degree and without a master's degree must complete the following credit hours of coursework and research
   • Course Credit hours required in major: 27
   • Course Credit hours required in minor 1: 9
   • Course Credit hours required in minor 2: 6
   • Course Credit hours – additional
     (can be in major or minor 1 or minor 2): 6
   • Total Course Credit hours required: 48
   • Credit hours for dissertation research: 24

The quantity of course credits may be reduced if a masters degree is accepted as meeting some of the courses.

 

My university is traditional and has 10 PhD programs (including five related to education). The minimum dissertation hour requirements range from 12 semester hours to 18 semester hours. I think this varies by field and school. Looking at several top criminology and criminal justice programs, mine doesn't seem out of the norm for requiring 12 dissertation hours.

 

In our study of 100+ PhD and DBA programs in management, we found that the bulk require 60 semester credit hours, with dissertations comprising anywhere from 12-24 of the 60.