Dissertation not required for many Psy.D. programs

I've been doing some research regarding requirements for the Psy.D. at various programs around the country. I've discovered that many programs do not require any dissertation. A couple of examples are George Washington University and Rosemead School of Psychology which are both APA approved programs. Even the Psy.D. programs that say they require a "dissertation," have a very loose definition of what constitutes a dissertation. Research projects, literature reviews, and an in depth case study all constitute a "dissertation" in many programs. Since the Psy.D. is supposed to be a practitioner degree and not a scientist/practitioner degree like the Ph.D. in psychology, these schools IMO should drop the pretense of calling these types of requirements "dissertations."

 

Clearly this is to be determined on a case-by-case basis and not "across the board" for every single PsyD program in the country. I believe that many programs still require "dissertations" in the true sense of the word. However, I am a believer in the idea that a word means what it means and that if a program requires a "project" of some sort and the definition of that project does not substantially conform to the definition of a "dissertation," then it should not be called a dissertation.
Jack
(who is currently mired in his dissertation and so is forever finding new respect for those who have found their way out of that swamp.)