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What Makes For An OutstandingDoctoral Dissertation/Thesis?

E. Alana James, Ed.D.

Owner: DoctoralNet.com

How Are Doctoral Thesis/Dissertations Assessed?

Drawing from HE discussions on both reliability of assessment and how to assess

This conference those assessments as discussion using Award winning dissertations/thesis as examples

• You can download de-Miguel, M. (2010) either as a file from this site or through http://www.uv.es/RELIEVE/v16n1/RELIEVEv16n1_4eng.

• Albertyn, R. M., Kapp, C. A., & Frick, B. L. (2007). Taking the sting out of evaluations: Rating scales for thesis examination. South African Journal of Higher Education, (8), 1207-1221.

The complexities of this issue:

• Different professors have different backgrounds

• Universities are all across a continuum of what they see as what matters most – practice, theory, research design

• Research too has continuums from positivistic to postmodern and beyond – emphasis on methodology or outcomes?

• Advisors vary in how much help they think is appropriate or howmuch they are willing/able to offer.

• Academics don’t even use the same language all the time

• No wonder students are confused!

de-Miguel, M. (2010). The evaluation of doctoral thesis. A model proposal. RELIEVE: e-Journal of Educational Research, Assessment and Evaluation.

Section in Thesis Basic Requirements Excellent/Top Quality

Topic/Title Appropriate, clear focus, contains all key words

Addresses real problem and gives concise view

Presentation and formulation of problem

Adequate appropriate argumentation

Clearly understands the complexity/records key issues

Research Goal/Purpose/ Hypothesis

Goals and justifications clear and easily identified

Clearly stated – grounded and motivated

Design and methods Good description and justification

Clear theoretical framework/well argued and properly justified

Scientific Approach Good systematic theoretical foundation

Clear framework well argued and justified

Literature Review Widely researched. Well presented, adequately assessed and interpreted

Significant both in who they discuss and the conceptual understanding

Context Claims substantiated. Good depth and flow in argument,

Logical argument tied to problem with an impressive context & lit

Language and style Minor slips on grammar/style – coherent

Scholarly and complex in narrative while readable

Technical aspects Layout, graphics, good

Good report writing with graphics that enhance

References Good range, key materials noted

Wide range and some unexpected. Show keen understanding

Data analysis and interpretation

Clear mastery of data and interpretation- depth of research

Analysis and interp well grounded with theoretical underpinnings/develops the literature in review

Summary and conclusions

Good understanding of concepts and methodology. Ties it all together

Meaningful synthesis with conclusions linked to findings and to literature- meets significance level

Recommendations Appropriate and logically linked to findings/conclusions

Justifiable, realistic, completely linked

Contribution Shows evidence of originality and independent thought

Significant originality and independent thought

Publishable With minor editing Ready to go

Effective wrap around functions between chapters

Coherence between chapters “golden thread”

Topic/Title: Addresses real problem and gives concise view

• Transitional Justice in Postconflict Contexts: The Case of Sierra Leone’s Dual Accountability Mechanisms

• Up and coming? Doctoral education in china

• MORE THAN A NEW COUNTRY: EFFECTS OF IMMIGRATION, HOME LANGUAGE, AND SCHOOL MOBILITY ON ELEMENTARY STUDENTS‘ ACADEMIC DEVELOPMENT

• HIV/AIDS in Context: The culture of health promotion among Ndau women in rural Zimbabwe

• A QUALITY SCORECARD FOR THE ADMINISTRATION OF ONLINE EDUCATION PROGRAMS: A DELPHI STUDY

Formulation of issues: Clearly understands key issues

• Immediately after the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976), China faced devastating shortage of professionals. With strong support from the central government, postgraduate education was quickly resumed in 1978. By 1980, enrolled postgraduate students totalled 22,000. Meanwhile discussions on establishing China’s academic degree system were underway. In retrospect, the developmental path of China’s doctoral education shows strong promotion and tight control by the central government, which decides which institutions are qualified to offer doctoral training and in what scale. However, the government after all is a political rather than academic organisation. Its actions in doctoral education are based on its ideo-political considerations (Wu, 2009).

• Dr of justice not so clear –

• KEEP YOUR READER IN MIND

Goal/Purpose/Hypothesis: Grounded and Motivated

• This study seeks to add to our understanding of elementary students‘ academic development by investigating each child‘s performance on large-scale assessments at two time points (in Grades 3 and 6) in relation to three factors: (1) whether they immigrated to Ontario from another country, (2) whether they have changed schools since starting Grade 1, and (3) whether they speak the language of classroom instruction (English) at home. I believe that examining these factors in combination is important, as school mobility and not speaking the language of classroom instruction at home are often erroneously assumed to be perfectly related to immigrant status.

Socio-Technical Perspectives on Digital Photography: Scientific digital photography use by marine mammal researchers

• This dissertation examines the intersection between technology and scientific practice for marine mammal scientists who use digital photography. Scientists studying marine mammals use a technique called photo-identification to identify individual animals such as whales and dolphins in the wild. This technique involves photographing the animals, and later matching these images to catalogs of previously sighted and identified individual animals. This information then contributes to understanding the population parameters, behaviors, and other information about the animals. These methods have been in widespread use since the 1970s; recently, however, most scientists in this field have switched from film photography to digital photography. This research demonstrates that this change, which seems at first glance to be a simple matter of swapping one three-pound piece of equipment loaded with film for another similar looking three-pound piece of equipment equipped with a digital sensor and computer memory cards, has had important consequences throughout this scientific domain. Some of these consequences were intended, others were unintended.

Research Design and Methods: Clear theoretical frame, properly justified

The Relationship Between Self-Directed Informal Learning and the Career Development Process of Technology Users

Scientific Approach: Systematic, theoretical and clear

Other Resources:

In general Membership at

www.doctoralnet.com

And on the community

http://www.bigmarker.com/doctoralnet

You can download de-Miguel, M. (2010) either as a file from this site or through http://www.uv.es/RELIEVE/v16n1/RELIEVEv16n1_4eng.

Albertyn, R. M., Kapp, C. A., & Frick, B. L. (2007). Taking the sting out of evaluations: Rating scales for thesis examination. South African Journal of Higher Education, (8), 1207-1221

Other News From:

From the site @ www.doctoralnet.com

1. No Monthly Content for members this month – video issuesWe’re “making it up” by delivering personalized pdf’s discussing the issues requested by members – look for email this week.

2. New “bundles” are being developed – lower cost ways to:

1. Design your topic/research methodology

2. Complete your literature review

3. Pass your proposal hearing

4. Finish your data analysis and full thesis writing.

3. As of August 20th prices will be going up – should you want to avoid that you may email me at alana@doctoralnet.com and we’ll set up a pre-payment for any modular or bundled set of services.