Applied PhD?

University of North Dakota's PhD in Indigenous Health has an applied dissertation option.

“Applied Track” Students will produce a dissertation that includes three products with prior approval of faculty advisor and Indigenous Health PhD degree program (e.g., published manuscript, tribal program evaluation, tribal health strategic plan, grant application, policy brief, etc.).

https://und.edu/programs/indigenous-health-phd/requirements.html

 

Scholarly doctorates result in a dissertation that produces....scholarship. This is generally done through theory testing or theory building. (I've done one of each.) A professional doctorate advances practice instead of scholarship, which is what the "applied track" stuff is saying. It's odd that they award the PhD, but not odd at all that they accept such dissertations. The line between scholarly and professional doctorates is occasionally blurred, with PhDs sometimes awarded for practice-based research and non-PhD doctorates being awarded for scholarly research.