NCU offers a DBA !!

It could also allow them to exercise some discretion (as in either an accredited institution or one that they think is sufficient).

 

Re: The difference between them.

I left a message for them on Friday afternoon. I guess I will speak to someone on Monday. If there is a big difference (disertation vs. project) I would go with the DBA. If the oral defense is the only difference I will go with the PhD.

I will also look into the "approved institution". I have a friend that completed his BS in Management from CCU and now he is enrolled in the MBA program. He may be interested if they accept CCU degrees.

Maybe it is a "loophole" to accept their State Approved - SCUPS students into their RA - DBA program

 

Re: Re: The difference between them.

He is enrolled in CCU's MBA program...just to be clear.

 

USSA Competition

This Doctorate also competes with the USSA's Doctor of Sports Management degree. I bet USSA would love to have that Ph.D. designation.

 

I just received the awaited NCU catalog in the mail about a hour ago today and also looked on website to find they now have a DBA. Where did that come from?

I would be actually more interested in the DBA if it were a bit less required in terms of cost ( credits needed to complete etc).

I am also not clear as to why one would seek to perform pretty much the same curriculum - minus a oral defense, for a DBA though. It kind of shocks me that te program is sooo identical in structure.

Shouldn't a DBA cost a bit less...at least I feel it should in some accord.

I am seeking to begin a DBA preferably as I have NO intentions of using it in Academia. Maybe one day, I may seek to possibly teach a course, but no intentions of making a career to academia.

I am still thinking of enrolling in a California State approved DBA for cost reasons and again, no intentions of teaching.

In either case, I am considering NCU for one main reason - RA.

Outside of that, I do not see much difference in what I would gain other than a much higher tuition that a california school.

Comments and suggestions please.

 

If I was choosing just between the two titles, and assuming everything else was the same, I'd choose the Ph.D. Fewer questions--it is the generic term laymen use for the doctorate.

But if I was to pursue a second doctorate, I'd choose the DBA (or other, non-Ph.D. title). I would want the differentiation.

 

You can do a legitimate degree at a California-Approved school. Just don't expect to have that degree accepted in all employment situations. In my business, for example, such a degree would be useless, and could actually work against you.

Even though I already have an RA Ph.D., I wouldn't consider a state-approved DBA.

Higher cost isn't the only issue. I'm not convinced all California-Approved schools offer sufficiently rigorous processes for the doctorate.

It all falls back to Bear's paradigm: if you're convinced such a degree will meet your present AND future needs, you might consider it. But such predictions are shaky, at best. I never knew what my Ph.D. would bring, but it did. It wouldn't have if it had come from an unaccredited school.

 

Then what's the last?

If a PhD is the penultimate (next to last) academic achievement, then what comes last?

 

In the UK, Australia and several other places, a higher doctorate outranks a PhD.

 

Re: Then what's the last?

I recall John Bear having this comment someplace. I think he wondered if a "Chancellorate" would catch on.

 

Effective immediately, I just got out of debt. Again!!!

Subsequent to the above, I will now have the financial resources to pursue doctoral studies, if I want to. However, I need to pursue doctoral studies like I need another hole in my head. Yet the contemplation of continuing onwards and ever higher is always there. I must be sick. Then along came this thread about the NCU DBA with a concentration in criminal justice... The fact that it looks more like a doctoral "project" in lieu of a traditional doctoral dissertation looks very appealing.

Still chewing. No rush. No forthcoming decision.

 

Other than the fact that it does not have to contribute new knowledge to the field, I don't see how the dissertation requirement will be any different. You can base it on an organizational problem, sure. But you'll still have to do a literature review, design a research methodology, conduct the research, and report the results.

In some ways, this could be more difficult. If you don't have an organization (or one with a problem), for example.

It's still a dissertation, and that's what NCU calls it.

 

That is interesting...every Ed.D. program of which I was aware (including my own) required the same dissertation defense required of the Ph.D. Most Ed.D. dissertations are research based, although a few schools, such as NCU, allow students to do an applied (rather than research) dissertation. This actually follows the original intent of the Ed.D. It's too bad that there is not more consistency in the field of education. The fact that Ed.D. degrees and Ph.D.s in education at most universities are vitually indistinguishible from each other is a major source of confusion for potential students.

It appears that the Ph.D. and D.B.A. in business are better defined.

Tony Piña, Ed.D.
Administrator, Northeastern Illinois University

 

Can't remove the spots from a leopard

Yes indeed, they do call it a dissertation, but it still looks more like a big project because:

• No oral defense is required.
• It does not require a "new" contribution to our academic body-of-knowledge.
• In lieu of being a research dissertation, it only requires the application of a "project" to an organization, presumably to your employer's ogranization.

A research of the literature should be pretty easy, IMO. I've never had trouble with that sort of stuff, espicially with the advent of electronic libraries. Thus, the student would simply have to write a five chapter book (or project or dissertation or whatever you wish to call it) that addresses the issue(s). Chapters would include a review of the literature, a qualatitive or quantitative analysis (probably the former since it's more like a project), etc...

 

Re: Can't remove the spots from a leopard

We're saying the same thing but drawing different conclusions.

I will add this: the amount of work and the complexity involved is similar. Applied or theoretical, both require the same amount of work in each of the elements of the dissertation.

Oh, and I don't think the lack of a defense impacts the workload--the work still has to meet the school's standards.

People who enroll in this program thinking they'll not have to do a dissertation will be in for a rude awakening. But it's all right there on the website:

"The D.B.A. dissertation is original research intended to establish a learner's research competence through the application of research to a practical business problem. It may involve a case study methodology, documentary analysis, a qualitative research design, or a "mixed methods" research design."

Applied instead of theoretical, but a dissertation nonetheless.

 

So, the main difference is that the DBA is applied rather than more theoretical and that you don't orally defend it.

What are the elements of an oral defense that one would want to not take the PhD route because of it then? Is this just the total killer? My brother did a PhD program in biology and I don't recall him saying much about the oral defense. He said it went very well and I think it was like 90 minutes long. He told me that one of his committee members didn't even show up for it and told him beforehand that he did a great job or something like that. My sister did a master's oral defense in English and it went for 3 hours(they told her to make some changes and come back in a month...at which time they passed it i guess).

 

The oral defense is often (but not always) relatively unimportant. I think its use really varies a lot across disciplines and programs. In most cases, if a person's committee is paying attention, then any serious problems with the dissertation will already have been noticed and fixed before that stage.

I once ran across a really funny list of tactics to use if you get stumped during an oral defense. The one that stuck with me was "Could you please rephrase that question in the form of an answer?"