What is a professional doctorate?

Discussion in 'Off-Topic Discussions' started by Randell1234, Dec 25, 2003.

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  1. Randell1234

    Randell1234 Moderator

    What is meant by a professional doctorate?

    Is it a JD, MD, DO?
     
  2. Randy Miller

    Randy Miller New Member

    It includes the JD, MD, DDS. and a few others. I don't know about the DO but the Dept of Education somewhere on their website has a list.
     
  3. Guest

    Guest Guest

    I would include all of those, any degree that allows one entry into one of the professions: medicine, law, or religion.

    I would think that:
    MD- Medical Doctor
    OD - Doctor of Optometry
    DPM - Doctor of Podiatric Medicine
    DDS- Doctor of Dental Surgery
    DVM -Doctor of Veterinary Medicine
    DMD - Doctor of Medical Dentistry
    DO - Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine
    DPharm - Doctor of Pharmacy

    JD - Juris Doctorate
    JCD - Doctor of Canon Law (Juris Canonis Doctor)


    DD - Doctorate of Divinity
    DHL - Doctor of Hebrew Letters

    would all be professional doctorates. Perhaps some of our more learned colleagues could however enlighten us on the DD as opposed STD (Doctorate of Sacred Theology) or other theological doctorates differ.

    I do not think that an EdD, DBA, DMus, DMin, DFA, would be considered professional doctorates, as they are not required terminal degrees to enter their respective professions.

    I am on the fence about DPsych.
     
  4. Bruce

    Bruce Moderator

    Re: Re: What is a professional doctorate?

    I believe that the APA considers the Psy.D. a professional doctorate.
     
  5. Dave Wagner

    Dave Wagner Active Member

    Re: Re: What is a professional doctorate?

    If one considers preparation to teach in higher education as a test of the professional doctorate, the DMin might be considered to be more of a professional doctorate even though the MDiv is generally the standard for ordination. Also, an AACSB DBA might be considered excellent preparation for teaching full-time at a university because of the emphasis on research methods, while a non-AACSB DBA might be considered to be more of a practitioner or professional doctorate; it might depend on the program.

    My two cents worth,

    Dave
     
  6. nosborne48

    nosborne48 Well-Known Member

    Yes, and as I never tire of pointing out, in an American law school, the basic credential for tenure track is the J.D., not the exceedingly rare J.S.D. or even more common LL.M.

    I think a better distinction than the one between "professional" and "academic" is "dissertation" v. "non-dissertation". I know that the Ed.D. and Psy.D. often allow some major project and report to substitute for the traditional dissertation that is always required of the Ph.D.
     
  7. obecve

    obecve New Member

    I think most Ed.D. programs require a dissertation that is equal to the Ph.D. dissertation. At my own institution Ed.D. and Ph.D. dissertations compete equally in the research awards given by the insititution. My own dissertation was more than 240 pages and included multiple ANOVA's, discriminant analysis, and cluster analysis.
     
  8. nosborne48

    nosborne48 Well-Known Member

    My point exactly. The distinction should be between dissertation and non dissertation degrees.

    This is true not only at the doctorate level. American master's degrees also come in these two flavors; thesis or non thesis. The UK system actually recognizes two levels of master's degree; the so-called "taught" masters, which is a year or two of coursework and examinations, and the "research" M. Phil., which contains no coursework whatever but usually has the "taught" master's as a requirement of admission.

    (Actually, Oxbridge has THREE ascending levels of master's degree, FOUR if you count the MA!)
     
  9. Anthony Pina

    Anthony Pina Active Member

    First professional degrees (aka First Professional Doctorates) are degrees that typically do not require completion of a masters degree pror to doctoral studies and do not require a research dissertation.

    The U.S. Department of Education publishes a list of first professional and research doctorates.

    First Professional Degree
    http://www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ous/international/usnei/us/edlite-professional-studies.html

    Research Doctorate
    http://www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ous/international/usnei/us/edlite-research-doctorate.html

    I cannot speak authoritatively about the Psy.D., but I do possess nearly all of the research studies that compare the Ph.D. in education versus the Ed.D. The Ed.D. is considered a research doctorate equivalent to the Ph.D. It was originally conceived as a professional degree but, with a few very rare exceptions (the programs that allow for a project in place of a dissertation) there is no difference between a Ph.D. in education and an Ed.D.

    It would be incorrect to state that Ed.D. programs "often allow some major project and report to substitute for the traditional dissertation". The universities that allow for this are few and far between. A survey done of 660 institutions that offer the doctorate in education only turned up a few that did not require a dissertation.

    I agree with nosborne about the classification of "dissertation" vs. "non-dissertation", which pretty much mirrors the professional vs. research degree.

    U.S. masters degrees actually come in several flavors, depending on the culminating activity (comprehensive examination, oral defense, applied project or thesis). Some require one or more of these and many require only course work without a culminating activity. Incidentally, there appears to be no relationship between the name of the masters degree (MA, MS, MEd, etc.) and the type or presence of a culminating activity.

    Tony Piña
    Faculty, Cal State U. San Bernardino
     
  10. nosborne48

    nosborne48 Well-Known Member

    I am quite willing to accept that, in the vast majority of cases, the Ed.D. is the equivalent of the Ph.D. Why, then, I wonder, do both degrees exist? Secondly, if the degrees are equivalent, why would anyone elect the Ed.D. designation?

    A perusal of the local state university catalog confirms that both degees require a dissertation but it does seem to me that the difference in emphasis must somehow be reflected in the requirements for the degree?
     
  11. Jack Tracey

    Jack Tracey New Member

    Please allow me to speculate.
    If my business card says John Jones, PhD the question arises, "I wonder what field he's in?" If the card reads John Jones, EdD then there is no question. If Dr. Jones is commited to the field of education then he may have a clear preference toward the EdD as it announces this commitment. Just a thought.
    Jack
     
  12. Anthony Pina

    Anthony Pina Active Member

    Why do both degrees exist?

    Well, Harvard invented the Ed.D. to be a profesisonal degree to replace the Ph.D. in education, in much the same way that the medical, legal and other professions replaced the philosophy degree (Ph.D.) with their own professional degree (M.D., J.D., etc.). When the profesisonal degrees were established, the universities dropped the Ph.D.

    The problem was that the schools of education were so eager to be recognized as a "legitimate" social science that many of them wimped out and refused to give up the Ph.D. A survey of 660 universities offering the doctorate in education found that the Ed.D. is the most commonly offered degree, but that many universities offer only the Ph.D. and fewer still offer a choice between the Ed.D. and Ph.D.

    If the degrees are equivalent, why would anyone elect the Ed.D. designation?

    The simplest answer to this is "it depends which degree is offered by your university". I have been enrolled in two doctoral programs (a job change necessitated a move to a different state and enrollment in a different university). One university offered only a Ph.D. in my discipline, while the other offered an Ed.D. If your university offers only an Ed.D. degree, then you would elect an Ed.D.

    ...it does seem to me that the difference in emphasis must somehow be reflected in the requirements for the degree?

    A reasonable assumption. A few universities do offer the choice of a Ph.D. and Ed.D. with different (but supposedly equivalent) requirements for each degree. However, all of the major studies that have been done in this area (looking at admission, coursework and dissertation requirements) have been consistent in their findings: There is no significant difference between the Ph.D. in education and the Ed.D.

    There is, however, a widespread idea that the Ed.D. is, somehow, a lesser degree than the Ph.D. in education. There is absolutely no data or research to support this opinion, but, as we all know, opinions are often based on crtiteria that have nothing to do with facts.

    Tony Pina
    Faculty, Cal State U. San Bernardino
     
  13. obecve

    obecve New Member

    Nosborne,
    I wanted to do a doctorate in adult education for several reasons. I felt that adult education was a better match to rehabilitation than psychology. I felt that adult education recognized its role as a social change agent. I liked the philosophical stance of many philosophers in adult education (Knowles, Freirie, Conti, Brookfield, etc.). Once I chose this as the clear area for my doctorate, I had a choice between two universities locally, and several by distance. The local schools were the University of Oklahoma which offered a Ph.D. and Oklahoma State which offered an Ed.D.. I chose Oklahoma State because of the Ed.D. , the course work was more focused on education practice and social change and I decided that I wanted to be identified with clearly having an education doctorate. Finally, the OSU program was ranked 7th in US News at the time (a nice addition). Both had internationally recognized authors in their program (OU had Huey Long, over 600 international articles and multiple books and in the international adult ed hall of fame, and OU had Gary Conti, over 200 articles in teaching style and philosophy and the succesful chair of more than 70 dissertations). Ultimately I chose the Ed.D philosophy at OSU over the Ph.D identification of OU. The work was the same and I have never regreted the choice. I also like the cool powder blue doctoral hood lining over the navy blue doctoral hood lining (smile).
     

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