Why do so many get their doctorate when it isnt needed?

You simply don't know this. You can't prove it. The weight of evidence (that people have been completing doctoral degrees mid-career for decades with no one complaining later that it was a mistake) is to the contrary. You don't know.

 

Well, it depends on your definition of need, but educational attainment rates make it fairly clear that the majority of the population doesn't need a graduate degree of any kind to "get by" because the vast majority of people do not have graduate degrees.

 

Guess my 12 years of experience as a university educator don't count.
I can prove or disprove this if I wanted as I have access to the students and could survey them but I dont think it changes anything. I could post results here and not change the mind of a single student for good or bad so let people make their own mistakes.

 

Your logic is flawed here, this reminds me to our MBA salary surveys that come back inflated. Students that got lower than average salaries dont fill up these surveys and students that found above average salaries fill up the surveys.

Same logic here, I wonder if anyone with negative experieces would bother to come here to tell others about this. The assumption that because the few people that post positive testimonials here is evidence of the utility of online doctorates is not exactly credible in particular in a site that is dedicated to enthusiastics of distance learning.

We could argue here against and for and critizice each others logic and arguments all you want but this wouldnt change anything.

I believe the concern of the OP is genuine, people are spending money in getting a degree that teaches them how to conduct literature reviews, data collection, research methodologies, etc when the vast majority are working in regular jobs that dont require these skills.

Lets give this discussion a rest before it starts becoming personal.