Dissertation of Practice

by Augie Morado

The Department of Counseling and Higher Education at NIU offers doctoral students in its Ed.D. in Community College Leadership program the option to submit a “dissertation of practice” rather than a conventional, monographic dissertation.

 

According to the Community College Leadership page on the Department of Counseling and Higher Education’s site (pictured above), the dissertation of practice, also called “dissertation in practice,” “takes an innovative practice-based approach to research.” Although the page says little else at the moment about this genre, it is an intriguing alternative to the traditional dissertation that virtually all doctoral candidates submit. In this month’s post, I will define the dissertation of practice further and discuss what it means for candidates in the Community College Leadership program.

Ed.D. vs Ph.D.

The Doctor of Education (Ed.D.) differs from the Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) in that the former is focused on preparing students to solve practical problems related to pedagogy, whereas the latter tends to emphasize theory. Storey et al. (2015) point out that universities in the past have had a tendency to conflate the requirements of their Ed.D. and Ph.D. programs – in other words, making the Ed.D. requirements match those of the Ph.D., including the capstone project: the dissertation. However, given that the Ed.D. and Ph.D. are intended to prepare candidates for different career paths – i.e., for the Ed.D., leadership and administrative positions in schools – it seems unreasonable to expect that the final requirement for the Ed.D. should match the Ph.D.

What Is a Dissertation of Practice?

Duquesne University’s School of Education defines the dissertation of practice as

scholarship focused by a lens of social justice on a problem of practice that is addressed by a design for action that yields generative impacts on the practice of educational leadership. (Dissertation in Practice, n.d., p. 2)

Storey et al. (2015) supplement this definition with a list of criteria for what an effective doctoral candidate in education should be able to do by the time they complete their program. From the previous two definitions, they echo things such as the importance of “equity, ethics, and social justice” in solving practical education problems as well as other things such as maintaining relationships with people in the communities that Ed.D. grads are working in.

The dissertation of practice can take a number of forms. It could be a portfolio of one’s published scholarly work, a performance of one’s work (e.g., “music, visual arts, drama”), or the sum of one’s practice through professional work and/or internships, to name a few (Storey et al., 2015, What Makes a Professional Practice DiP?).

What seems most important about the dissertation of practice, regardless of its format, is that it solves a problem in an organized way. Duquesne’s School of Education offers a three-step process: first, identifying a Problem of Practice, a problem that exists currently in a professional setting (as opposed to a theoretical problem such as a Ph.D. candidate would address); second, developing a Design for Action, an empirically based plan for addressing the issue; and third, discussing Generative Impacts, specific ways in which scholars and the real-world communities impacted by the research will generate and share knowledge (pp. 6-7). Storey et al. (2015) also emphasize the significance of generating and disseminating “new significant knowledge,” not unlike a conventional dissertation (What Makes a Professional Practice DiP?).

Conclusion

I think it is important to stress that the dissertation in practice does not make the monograph dissertation obsolete; after all, the latter is still overwhelmingly the most common capstone project at the doctorate level. However, given the unique focus on timely, practical problem solving, the dissertation in practice offers candidates in the Ed.D. program a chance to conduct original research while also building professional and personal relationships with the students, families, teachers, and administrators in the settings where they work. As NIU continues to develop its Community College Leadership Ed.D. program, more likely than not, the ways in which students approach the dissertation in practice may evolve as well. In the meantime, we at the Thesis and Dissertation Office will keep in touch with the College of Education to better understand the needs of their students and to better serve them as a result.

Finally, please continue to stay safe this summer! We’re available remotely via email (Thesis@niu.edu), and we hope we will be able to see you again in Fall 2020!

References

Community College Leadership. (n.d.). https://www.cedu.niu.edu/cahe/academic/higher-education/edd-community-college-leadership.shtml

 

Duquesne University School of Education. (n.d.). Dissertation in practice. https://www.duq.edu/Documents/education/_pdf/DEFL/Dessertation-in-Practice-DU.pdf

Storey, V., Caskey, M. M., Hesbol, K. A., Marshall, J. E., Maughan B. D., & Dolan, A. (2015). Examining EdD dissertations in practice: The Carnegie Project on the education doctorate. International Higher Education Teaching and Learning Association, 5. https://www.hetl.org/examining-edd-dissertations-in-practice-the-carnegie-project-on-the-education-doctorate/