Sunday, November 04, 2007

The Big "D"

My girlfriend refers to a dissertation as the big "D". They seem to have a lot of mystery surrounding them. In the world of PhDs we have a saying which is "the only good dissertation is a done dissertation". So whenever Mike goes to a dog show (like this weekend) and I stay home, he is constantly asked "Isn't she done yet?" Poor Mike then has to try to explain just exactly why I am not done yet and no he doesn't know when I will be done because dissertations aren't that simple. So let me explain a little about the dissertation process.

I began my doctorate in September of 2001. In fact my first class was September 10th of 2001, the night before Sept 11. In the beginning you just take a couple of classes each semester. They are 800 and 900 level classes and each involves reading hundreds of pages weekly as well as writing lots of papers. No matter how on top of things you stay, you always feel behind because just as something halfway intelligent comes out of your mouth in class some other graduate student trumps you with a better insight or another reference you hadn't heard of.

Course work goes on for a long time. In my case I had to take numerous classes in my cognates of administration, leadership, technology and research methods. About halfway through your classes you select a committee and then get them together to approve your plan. The plan is like a contract. It lists all of the courses you will take, why you will take them, your relevant research and experience and your plan for a dissertation. Once signed it must be followed unless you petition the committee for a change and have a good reason for it.

Somewhere near the end of classes you have to take and pass comprehensive exams. In my case I had a take home exam. That means they e-mailed it to me and I sat and wrote answers and sent them back via e-mail. My major advisor (after consulting with my committee) came up with a list of questions which I had to answer and I had four days to do it. This meant I had to write eight essays in four days, each about 10 pages long with references. Ouch! That was by far the hardest part of the doctoral program and just about everyone I have ever talked to agrees it was really the moment that made them question whether they wanted to do this. Many doctoral students fail here and then they are out of the program. In some cases they can retake them, but often they are just out. I was fortunate because I passed all of them the first time I took them, but it was the most exhausting four days of my life. Mike went to a dog show and most of the dogs with him so I was home alone struggling with my personal nightmare.

Once you have passed comprehensives you write your dissertation proposal. The proposal is the first three chapters of the dissertation. It includes the introduction which explains why this research is important and why you are going to do it. The second chapter is the literature review. You are expected here to discuss everything ever written on the topic you are proposing and include citations. In my case I have about 85 citations. The third chapter is your methods chapter and it is a step by step detailed discussion of everything you are going to do and how you are going to do it..right down to what kind of stamp will go on the envelope you are mailing to your survey audience (no joke). Once it is written you gather your committee again and pitch the proposal. Here is where most doctoral students derail. I know MANY people who never got a proposal approved. Others rewrite many times before it is approved. I was lucky, mine went through with just a request to change the direction of my survey a bit and add interviews to my methods. I didn't have to meet with the committee again to get approval on changes.

Once the proposal is approved, you then have to submit to SIRB which is the Institutional Review Board of the university. This is because all research is subject to ethical standards. They have to approve each word of every document related to the research. And let me tell you they are very picky! Once you get their approval (which takes weeks) you pilot your research. In my case this meant sending out the survey to a smaller group and checking my reliability. Then you meet with an advisor, make some revisions and guess what? You have to have all revisions approved by the SIRB!

Once your final revision is approved you can begin to collect data. That is where I am now. Sending out 300 surveys. Each survey has at minimum three mailings (pre-letter, the actual mailing and the follow up thank you) and those that don't reply are then sent another survey.
Once data is collected you can begin analysis which you write up as chapter four. You make some conclusions in chapter five and then.....only then.....you gather up your committee one last time and you defend your dissertation! Assuming all goes well that day and you have paid attention for the previous seven years... you finally get to put those initials after your name and for the first time in years you can face a weekend with no more thoughts of all of the work you have to do on that BIG HUGE "D"!

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