School of Education
DEPARTMENTSDissertation Expectations
Expectations Concerning the Doctoral Dissertation
A dissertation serves as a "warm-up" for the kind of work doctoral candidates might do many more times in their careers. It ought to relate to and further the doctoral candidate’s interests and/or career goals. We hope that clarity about expectations will help eliminate some of the limitations felt by doctoral candidates. Doctoral candidates will not be able to realize all of the possibilities, they are the ideal. We put them forth to outline possible expectations doctoral candidates ought to consider, knowing that they need to work with the dissertation chair to agree on what is manageable. Criteria for an acceptable dissertation are listed below.
New knowledge - In the Department of Organization, Leaning and Development our requirement is that doctoral candidates add new knowledge to the field. New knowledge may involve a positivistic study, measured by positivistic reliability and validity. Or new knowledge may involve a deeper understanding of the meaning of something for a person or group. Or new knowledge may involve the research being used by the participants as they emancipate themselves from oppressive practices.
Clarity about epistemology and method – Doctoral candidates must be clear about the epistemology and methodologies they have chosen to use. The work must be consistent with the norms of the epistemology and methodologies chosen (which is usually explicated in the “methodology” section of the dissertation).
Brevity – While doctoral candidates need to demonstrate mastery of their subject matter, this does not mean exhaustive regurgitation of every resource. The literature review chapter need not prove that the student has read every resource that has any bearing on the research question. Instead, all the chapter needs to show is where the student's own research question comes from and who has done work relevant to the framing and answering of the research question.
Practicality - Theory, research and practice need to inform each other. Ideally dissertations will allow practitioners to see what can be done with the ideas and research findings within the dissertation.
Simplicity - Simplicity involves working with content that may be highly complex, until it is presented in a manner that is understandable by the reader. Simplicity contributes to readability.
Relevancy – The topics explored should have relevance to the doctoral candidate’s interests and/or career, and to organization development.
Originality - Positivistic validity and reliability are not the only measures appropriate to dissertations. Adding new knowledge to the field is a goal for the dissertation, and this may require room for originality.
Literary value – A well done dissertation ought to be readable, not so abstruse with jargon and unreadable sentences that reading the dissertation is painful to the reader.
Completion deadline – One of the goals of the doctorate is to finish. Doctoral candidates need to design dissertations that are manageable, and work to complete the work in one to three years if at all possible.
