Question: Must a doctoral dissertation be implemented and then evaluated? Or Is a doctoral dissertation merely a lengthy written analysis of the available literature? Eh?
It's all of this and none whatsoever! Get hold of a copy of these books: How to get a PhD by Estelle M Phillips and D S Pugh (Open University press) A Manual for Writers (6 or 7th edition) by Kate L Turabian (University of Chicago Press) There are plenty of others but if you only read these two books you'll be fine. A research doctorate hasa to make a 'contribution to knowledge'. A professional doctorate less so but must add something new or different from both a practical and theoretical (usually less so for a professional doctorate) view point. A simple literature review (they are not simple!) will rarely satisfy the requirements. I'm here not getting at the US, and yet I am. You have so many universities awarding doctorates there simply isn't a 'standard'. In the UK we have 'more of an equitable standard' because we have only a handful of universities (just about 150). Again, mcuh depends on the focus of course work set against the thesis (dissertation in the US). I recentrly had sight of a PhD from Stanford that would never have got across my desk as sufficient! Not for one moment to I criticise Standford. The guy had completed extensive course work, published artciles as he researched (very few people anywehere do that!) and overall the guy is worthy of a doctorate but judged on the dissertation alone he is not - in my judgement and int he british system he would not have got his PhD judged solely on his dissertation. Perhaps the committee took all the other things into account. Just go for it. Sometimes, people want too much information. I did what you are now doing, looking for all the right routes! There aren't any! If you want to do it - throw yourself in at the deep end - I did! Best of luck and good wishes. 'telfax'
Successful Dissertations and Theses David Madsen How to Complete and Survive a Doctoral Dissertation David Sternberg A dissertation is a significant, original contribution of knowledge to one's field. It is made up of an introduction to the question and the field, a review of the literature to establish your project's place and necessity, research questions and/or hypotheses, research methodology, conduct of the research, testing of the questions/hypotheses, analysis of the results, discussion of the results and their implication(s), and recommendations for further study. Oh, yeah, and a big sigh of relief.
Re: Daunting! Thanks. I didn't mention the part about your committee hating your work, your computer crashing and taking your draft with it, your subjects becoming unavailable, mistakes in your survey after you've administered it, events in your field overcoming the significance of your study, etc. There was almost no literature on how to write a dissertation when I was in grad school during the 1980's (pursing first an MBA and later the Union Ph.D. during my first go-round). Now you can't swing a dead cat without hitting someone offering advice. (Like me, I guess.) But the reality is is that the process is straight-forward, as long as you do a great deal of planning (or are willing to backtrack after a great number of mistakes.)
Re: Re: Daunting! This is a peril of the modern age. But it could be worse. Back in the early seventies, an acquaintance of mine had his original typed dissertation (ready for submission) stolen out of his car. I suspect that the thief saw him place a box in the car with such great care and reverence that the thief thought the box contained something very valuable. (And he was, of course, correct -- though not in the way he hoped.)
I can vividly understand all of the above, particularly: [*]Mistakes in your survey after you've administered it. What a nightmare. ROFLMBO That's great for my generation!!!
Ouch Is there any way to whitewash this kind of mistake or somehow sweep it under the carpet? What to do!!! If you're not a major in statistical analysis and research methodologies, then this kind of mistake will invariably occur!!!
Me again-telfax! Just get on and do it! If you're not that good with statistical analysis get some help from someone who is ...or do a thesis that is qualitative based. You do not have to include quantative analysis!!!!! Use a case study approach! I've posted this before but I'll do it again. Doing a doctorate is like being an athlete! When you think you've done your best you have to train that bit much more and break your own record and competence - even if only my seconds. You strugglwe until it hurts. Then you know what it means! It is about 'struggling' not taking classes!!!! Most people can do this. The real doctoral candidate is the one who struggles with the research, its analysis and final presentation and sheds some new light on one or more issues. That's what it's about! That's why there are so many USA 'All but Dissertation' candidates'(!) to the extent that ABD has become an acceptable part of academia in the US - what more can I say! Enough people don't, wonlt or can't 'struggle'! The whole focus has become too 'take classses and modules' oriented. We';re going, unfortunately, the same way in the Uk and devaluing what a doctorate really means. 'telfax'
So much insight. telfax, You make some excellent points. I would definitely prefer the "qualitative" approach in lieu of the quantitative methodological approach. A forum like this is great because I've gained insight that, otherwise, I would not have!!! In fact, due to the knowledge gained from this forum, I may embark on a doctoral program from Capella. I still have the masters hurdle though (11 more months or bust)... But I love learning from all the advisors who have posted here.
Don't fall into the trap that a qualitative dissertation is easier because there is less math or because it seems easier. It isn't! I am reading a qualitative dissertation that will be used in my literature review for my dissertation. It is a qualitative work, but the author clearly worked hard on it. As I read it, I am happy to be doing a quantitative project! I don't think I have the wherewithall to do a qualitative dissertation! Russ
While the research methodology chosen should best support the research topic, there are some generalities that can be drawn between the qualitative/quantitative dichotomy. My main one: quantitative methods are much easier to execute. Qualitative dissertations are difficult because conducting effective analyses on non-numerical data can be long and difficult. It's hard to develop a theoretical framework, execute it properly, and then cull enough of the correct data to draw your conclusions. In quantitative studies, your statistical methodolgy will provide a great deal of your framework. Pose the question correctly, design the study, select the statistic(s), execute the study, collect the data, write it up. Very straight-foward. In my time as a Union learner (and that's been a long time for personal reasons), I've met hundreds of learners. Invariably, the entering learners who are opting for qualitative methods do so because of math-phobia, not because those methods best fit their research topic. Me, I'd much rather get over the statistics hurdle and get on with it. With my current dissertation, I briefly flirted with the idea of doing a qualitative study, interviewing HR professionals about my research topic. It's still attractive, but not for a dissertation. Just designing the study would take months longer than executing a survey. And the interviews would take longer still. Culling through the data and piecing it together to support or reject a series of hypotheses, hoping I got the method right, seemed even more daunting. Nope. A survey using Likert-type scales, analyzing the data with ANOVA and compared-means tests, followed by a Tukey-T post hoc test is just fine with me.
One thing many folks don't realize is that some doctoral candidtaes don't crunch their own numbers. Yes, they need to design the experiment, collect the info, and they are responsible for the end results and interpretations. However, it is possible to have someone else do the actual number crunching. I remember seeing some businesses that provide this service.
Here is a dissertation for the Union Institute that is posted online Quite by accident, I found a dissertation that was posted online for the Union Institute. I'm interested in perusing dissertations because I'll have to write one if I pursue a doctorate. I bookmarked this one and will share it with this forum since it was written, ironically, for the Union Institute. Click here to read it. Since I'm currently studying graduate-level statistics, I was particularly interested in the statistics that were used in the dissertation. If you want to see the statistics, then click here.
