“Contracting Out” Statistical Analysis of Dissertation

Discussion in 'Off-Topic Discussions' started by me again, Apr 11, 2003.

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  1. Rich Douglas

    Rich Douglas Well-Known Member

    Indeed.
     
  2. tcnixon

    tcnixon Active Member

    Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: “Contracting Out” Statistical Analysis of Dissertation


    Many, many members. And he's not even a particularly good liar.




    Tom Nixon
     
  3. me again

    me again Well-Known Member

    Mr. Edwards,

    I would venture to say that you do not have a regionally accredited doctoral degree. I am anecdotally basing this speculative conclusion on the character and the quality of your postings.

    Am I correct? :)
     
  4. Jeff Hampton

    Jeff Hampton New Member

    Dr. Edwards:

    Are you the John Edwards who is running for President? Or perhaps the John Edwards who has a TV show about contacting dead relatives?
     
  5. jon porter

    jon porter New Member

    Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: “Contracting Out” Statistical Analysis of Dissertation

    No. I have NEVER encountered anyone who has used the abbreviation PhD for an Oxford Doctor of Philosophy. All use DPhil, which is the correct designation. (For which, see Statutes).
     
  6. Rich Douglas

    Rich Douglas Well-Known Member

    Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: “Contracting Out” Statistical Analysis of Dissertation

    I understand Berne University uses the "Ph.D." designation.
     
  7. Rich Douglas

    Rich Douglas Well-Known Member

    I see that the Three Stooges guy, Dr. Edwards, and Dr. PK have all fallen silent simultaneously. Amazing.

    One thing Dr. Edwards said that I called a lie just hit me. He accused me of having someone do my literature search for me. He said, "Besides the $75 that he paid, he also mentioned that "[he] couldn't follow up without ponying up another bunch of bucks."

    I realized just now what he was talking about. He, of course, twisted my words around to give them a different meaning. That still makes him a liar. In fact, the words come from this thread where I said "When I first enrolled in Union, internet-based search services (like Dialog and BRS) weren't generally available. I remember paying $75 for a search of ERIC through a local university library. It was a one-time shot which gave me many citations, but I couldn't follow up without ponying up another bunch of bucks. Like statisticis handled by someone else, I was really detached from the search process. I couldn't really "surf" through the search, letting it take me in unanticipated directions. Well, now you can search ERIC and hundreds of other databases for free, online, at home, at your convenience. Literature reviews have evolved from "just enough" to "just right."

    I developed the search terms. I reviewed the resulting documents. I wrote up reviews of the ones relevant to my dissertation. The point I was making is that now dissertation writers are much more in control of what they can find and include in their dissertations because they, not librarians, control access to the databases. I guess Dr. Edwards/PK/Moe/Larry/Curly/Shemp/Joe decided it meant something else.

    Oh, when will he appear again?! :rolleyes:
     
  8. Roscoe

    Roscoe Guest

    Rich,

    Thanks for sharing. Some good info on ERIC.

    Two questions:

    1) Is ERIC exhaustive? In other words, if you've checked all of your key words there, does that mean that you have pretty much covered all the bases as far as scholarly journals are concerned?

    2) After using ERIC, did you still have to spend time at a library?

    Thanks.

    Roscoe
     
  9. Rich Douglas

    Rich Douglas Well-Known Member

    ERIC is by no means exhaustive. But it is pretty comprehensive. But even in an education-related degree, it might be necessary to explore literature from other fields which would not be in ERIC.

    Yes, I had to spend a ton of time in the library. ERIC is not a full-text service. You get the citations and abstracts, but it is necessary to go to a library with the microfiche set of documents in order to read/copy the full articles. Plus, as I said above, I had to expand my search to other fields.

    I appreciate the availability of ERIC, Dissertation Abstracts Online, and others to search online. I would conduct searches from home, save them to my laptop, then go into the library and get what I needed. Of course, those searches also took me in unanticipated directions--libraries are great for surfing.

    Finally, I found the Library of Congress' website very helpful when searching for books. I would use them as a comprehensive information center, then search for local sources for the books. (The LOC is also local for me, but you cannot check out their books, nor can you explore their stacks. You go in, request your titles, someone brings them to you, and you read right there.)
     

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