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Climbing The Doctoral Mountain To Success, Ronald Black

The Journal of Advancing Education Practice

All educational journeys lead to successful personal and professional conclusions. Online doctoral students face numerous challenges from cultural, academic, and technological challenges throughout their doctoral journey. The doctoral journey requires the completion of a dissertation, a sign of scholarly achievement and success. With technology, online doctoral students enter a doctoral program looking for motivation to be successful and enhance their online doctoral journey. Mentoring plays a significant role in an online doctoral student’s journey through the doctoral study and research process. The doctoral mentor’s role is to advise and motivate online doctoral students through the dissertation process. Doctoral mentors guide …

Alumni Perceptions Of Formative Feedback During The Dissertation Process While Pursuing A Doctoral Degree In Biomedical Science At A Historically Black College And University: A Phenomenological Study, Shontell M.N. Stanford

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this phenomenological study is to discover through the perceptions and lived experiences of biomedical research Ph.D. alums who earned their terminal degree at a southern regional Historically Black College and University (HBCU) if the formative feedback they received impacted their dissertation process. Guided by Bandura’s social learning theory and it’s suggestions of how behavior cultivated by a mentor’s actions and feedback changes the mentee’s behavior and can mature into self-efficacy. This study sheds valuable insight through the lenses of this phenomenological qualitative research methodological strategy of one-on-one interviews, questionnaires, and document reviews. The findings not only uncovered …

Doctoral Dissertation Progress, Larry Starr, Phd

School of Business Faculty Papers

Writing a doctoral dissertation in the Thomas Jefferson University School of Business is conceived to be a complicated but linear and sequential endeavor within a well-structured and orderly context. The implication of this is that progress is made by completing a list of measurable goals based on the structure of a dissertation such as a literature review or description of research methodology. These goals are listed by doctoral candidates at the start of each semester in which writing takes place, then assessed by the faculty advisor at the end. According to the Graduate Student Handbook, failure to meet the goals …

Take Their Feet Off Our Necks: A Descriptive Study Of Sexual Harassment In Higher Education, Megan Michelle Bolter

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

This study examines survivors’ perceptions of sexual harassment experienced as members of higher education (e.g., faculty, staff, students, and administrators). Individually, an examination of the survivors’ perceptions of perpetrator consequences and how institutional responses occurred. This study aims to provide insight into the survivors’ experiences and understandings of sexual harassment experiences, further than the well-established health and career consequences. I utilized the Sexual Harassment in the Academy data set created by Dr. Karen Kelsky. In this study, there is a sample of 1,230 members of higher education who experienced sexual harassment. The sample of self-identified sexual harassment survivors allows the …

Doctoral Students’ Experiences Of The Pandemic And Their Perceptions Of Grit, Josie Bryant

Murray State Theses and Dissertations

The pandemic has significantly changed societal structures and individuals’ lives. The early tragedies and stress of the pandemic affected health, relationships, families, education, work, travel, and immigration. Students who entered doctoral programs in 2020 chose a unique time to pursue an already arduous goal amidst unprecedented challenges. Using a phenomenological approach, this study explored doctoral students’ experiences during the pandemic and sought to understand their perspectives of grit. The study aimed to offer first-hand insight into the pandemic’s effects on doctoral students, and add critical contributions to understanding the necessary actions, support systems, and policies for a life in a …

Faculty And Student Online Mentoring Preferences, Lee Stadtlander, Arfe Ozcan, Latoya Johnson, Briana Nicholson, Narjis Hyder

Journal of Educational Research and Practice

Isolation of online doctoral students intensifies when they transition from coursework to the dissertation/capstone phase, limiting them to interacting with their mentors. A three-round modified Delphi study was conducted to examine mentoring preferences of online doctoral students and faculty. The first round provided qualitative data regarding the preferred mentoring practices for faculty and alumni. Round 1 qualitative data were organized into Likert questions and used in the second round, which resulted in data about frequency of mentoring practices for the same participants from Round 1. The third round provided data about importance of each preference rated by faculty and current …

Etd Formatting And Reviewing: Hot Topics And Questions, Larry Tague, Sally Evans, Lily Compton, Stacy Wallace, Ericka Findley, Lee Spence

ETD Conferences and Academic Works

One of the most important products from university graduate programs is highly qualified professionals. Ultimately, student success is one measure of a university’s academic quality. But another measure of academic quality is the institution’s online continuous display of ETDs. This display is a public picture of content and style representing the students and their university. Thus, ETD administrators are tasked not only with the format reviews but also the continuous improvements in all aspects of the ETD workflow to ensure the integrity of their institutions’ public-facing ETDs.

To facilitate the plenary discussion about ETD formatting and reviewing for differentsized institutions …

Coaching The Dissertation: Hosting A 3 Day Intensive Workshop, Vandy Pacetti Donelson

Transforming Libraries for Graduate Students

For many students, the process of completing a dissertation stipulates a set of unfamiliar rules, unfamiliar schema, and a foreign field of play that can affect student resiliency. This presentation will describe a 3-day workshop event facilitated by the Robert Block Library in collaboration with full-time faculty to help scholars focus on their own research and writing to support their progress to completion. The workshop incorporated high impact communication practices incorporating the CASEL framework with a combination of panels, one-on-one sessions with faculty members and the research librarian and independent activities. Planning and preparation will be shared and insights covering …

A Glimpse Into The Multilingual Experience: A Phenomenological Study On How Nonnative English-Speaking Students Leverage Personal And Academic Support In Completing The Doctoral Journey, John Pervez

Dissertations

Purpose: The purpose of this phenomenological study is to use Activity Theory to identify and describe the personal and academic supports of multilingual doctoral alumni at a private, non-profit university in California.

Methodology: This study was a phenomenological study that identified and described the lived experiences of 15 multilingual alumni that completed a doctorate program at a private, non-profit university. Participants were selected using criterion sampling. Data was collected, analyzed, and triangulated between interview data and artifacts. Data was then coded, themed, and organized with reference to Activity Theory.

Findings: Examination of the data found that multilingual …

A Content Analysis Of Dissertations On Business Topics: A Quantitative Study, Kat Yamamoto

Doctor of Education (EdD)

Many students explore business topics in their dissertations because they are relevant research areas for future scholar-practitioners such as leaders, educators, researchers, and consultants. Nevertheless, there is limited scholarship on the content of dissertations from PhD and practitioner doctoral programs. Dissertation research methodology choices, page lengths, and research topics have not been studied extensively. Few studies have been conducted to explore the differences and similarities between researcher-oriented and practitioner-oriented dissertations. This study examined dissertations written on business topics in the recent ten years using content analysis to address these gaps. A sample of dissertations uploaded in the years 2010, 2015, …

Aspects Contributing To Dissertation Chair Success: Consensus Among Counselor Educators, Maribeth F. Jorgensen, Kelly L. Wester

Journal of Counselor Preparation and Supervision

Students frequently attribute completion of their dissertation to having a successful dissertation chair. Yet, a successful dissertation chair has primarily been defined from the student viewpoint. Through the process of a Delphi study, a panel of dissertation chair experts in counselor education conceded on 37 items that contributed to their success. These items included a combination of instrumental and relational aspects of working with doctoral students on their dissertation. Implications for dissertation chairs to navigate self, others, and the structure are explored.

Explicit Inclusion Of Fun In Instruction As A Catalyst For Academic Success, Kimberly Tyskiewicz

CUP Ed.D. Dissertations

Low graduation rates, rising drop-out rates, and increasing apathy and disengagement in learning has prompted the need for new strategies and interventions in education. This case study provides an analysis of the perceptions of high school teachers related to the impact of the explicit, intentional inclusion of fun in direct instruction. The participants included approximately 20% of the faculty in a semirural high school of approximately 1,325 students. The case study involved individual interviews with half of the participants and the other half participating in a focus group conversation. Six participants in each group were observed. All comments and concepts …

Quantitative Content Analysis Of Virginia Doctoral Dissertations 2007-2017: Trends In Degree Types And Methodologies, Craig Krueger

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This study was a trend analysis of the choices made by doctoral candidates in the state of Virginia who sought degrees in the field of education. It analyzed frequencies of degree types (EdD degree compared to the PhD) and research methodologies (quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods). This research is important because no such study has been done since 1994. The information will be useful to both those who lead doctoral programs and to people who seek to understand philosophical implications and practical applications of these degree and methodology types. The purpose of the study is to bring up to date …

Punishment Or Policy Change: A Case Of Plagiarism In A Dissertation, Patricia Deubel

Journal of Educational Research and Practice

This article examines a case of plagiarism in a dissertation, which was found after the doctoral degree had been awarded. Plagiarism detection is discussed in relation to the methodology, which included manual analysis, Google searches, and originality reports from Turnitin. Questions on the role of the dissertation committee, processes used to complete the dissertation, and consequences of plagiarism are addressed, as well as factors influencing a decision to report the case. Procedures for reporting plagiarism allegations and those the university used to investigate are included. Because this case illustrates that revoking a degree is not necessarily a sanction when plagiarism …

Curriculum Change In Undergraduate Strategic Communications Programs: How Strategic Communications Programs Are Adapting To 21st Century Media, Allyson B. Goodman

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

The year 2014 has been described by scholars as transformative in how consumers interact with technology and media. Pointing to such digital milestones as the explosion of social media and mobile technology and the decline of traditional television ratings, these scholars have described the evolution as a move from a broadcast era to a postbroadcast era of media. This mass media evolution has opened a digital talent gap between the skills needed by the industry and the abilities of current and potential employees.

Focusing on undergraduate strategic communications programs, this research discusses the current status of new and social media …

“I’M Not Good At Math”: Mathematical Illiteracy And Innummeracy In The United States, G. Wesley Rogers

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Why do we view mathematics the way we do in the United States and how have these views created an environment where we consider mathematical illiteracy and innumeracy socially and culturally acceptable when a lack of this knowledge and ability can function to enslave, exploit, restrict, and oppress. Throughout this investigation, I have explored some of the possible reasons for why we view education, mathematics, and the learning of mathematics the way we do and the impact of these views on our motivation and desire to learn mathematics. Using my over 20 years of teaching experience and the review of …

Avoiding The A.B.D. Abyss: A Grounded Theory Study Of A Dissertation-Focused Course For Doctoral Students In An Educational Leadership Program, Leslie Ann Locke, Melanie Boyle

The Qualitative Report

More than half of all graduate students drop out before graduation. Doctoral students often become mired in the “all but dissertation” (ABD) phase of the process. This grounded theory study focused on the perceptions and experiences of doctoral students in an educational leadership program, who were ABD, regarding their participation in a dissertation-focused intensive writing course called the Dissertation Boot Camp (DBC). Findings revealed participants had particular challenges with time, writing, and advisement. The DBC attended to many of these challenges by providing time, structure, encouragement, and support. Results of the study led to the development of a conceptual framework, …

Rethinking The Dissertation: Opportunities Created By Emerging Technologies, Katina Rogers

Publications and Research

This is a position paper for a workshop convened by the Council of Graduate Schools on rethinking the dissertation. In it, I reflect on what new technologies enable us to do with this critical milestone in graduate study. My main argument is that while the affordances of specific technologies can be exciting, more important is the shift toward collaborative, creative, accessible, and public-facing scholarly work that today’s digital platforms allow.

Literature Review, Deirdre Quinn

Assessment & Feedback Cases

This is a 3,000 word assessment which is a literature review and is the first stage in the process of producing a Dissertation. In the lecture they are brought through the different stages of finding ideas, generating output, gathering material and writing. Feedback is given through the process to those students who speak to the lecturer. They are also getting feedback from their supervisor. At the end of the module students are given a structured feedback sheet (see attached). Due to large numbers this feedback sheet it extremely important.

Does The Online Environment Promote Plagiarism? A Comparative Study Of Dissertations From Brick-And-Mortar Versus Online Institutions, David C. Ison

Aeronautics, Graduate Studies - Worldwide

In recent years, there has been a concern that the Internet has been contributing to a growth in student plagiarism. This paper reports on a study aimed at investigating if there were differences between plagiarism levels in doctoral dissertations submitted by students enrolled at traditional, brick-and-mortar institutions and those by students attending online counterparts. A sample of 368 dissertations written between 2009 and 2013 (184 from traditional institutions and 184 from online institutions) were mined from an online database and uploaded to Turnitin for analysis. A Mann–Whitney U test was conducted on the similarity indices calculated by Turnitin. The test …

Psychometric Analysis Of The Appreciative Advising Inventory, Nancy Crone

Nancy Crone

The Appreciative Advising Inventory is an instrument created for use in academic advising. The inventory helps the advisor get to know and understand the student, which in turn allows the advisor to better assist the student. This research provides a psychometric analysis of the Appreciative Advising Inventory to measure its validity and reliability and recommends alterations to the inventory based on the results of these analyses.

An Ethnographic Study: Becoming A Physics Expert In A Biophysics Research Group, Idaykis Rodriguez

Idaykis Rodriguez

Expertise in physics has been traditionally studied in cognitive science, where physics expertise is understood through the difference between novice and expert problem solving skills. The cognitive perspective of physics experts only create a partial model of physics expertise and does not take into account the development of physics experts in the natural context of research. This dissertation takes a social and cultural perspective of learning through apprenticeship to model the development of physics expertise of physics graduate students in a research group. I use a qualitative methodological approach of an ethnographic case study to observe and video record the …

Preventing Graduate Student Heroic Suicide In Community-Based Research: A Tale Of Two Committees, Nancy K. Franz Dr.

Nancy K. Franz

Graduate students are increasingly interested in community-based research and public scholarship. However, they often struggle to find faculty research mentors who fully understand or have been personally involved with this type of research and related scholarship. In fact, some graduate students are advised by graduate committee members to refrain from working with communities and community stakeholders. Graduate students also experience few opportunities to develop skills and knowledge for community-based scholarship. It is clear that graduate students interested in community-based research need tools to navigate these dynamics. This article proposes a research stakeholder advisory committee as a successful tool for graduate …

Identity Development In Black Undergraduate Women: A Grounded Theory Study, Christa J. Porter

Dr. Christa J Porter

No abstract provided.

Critical Success Factors Of Technological Innovation And Diffusion In Higher Education, Wayne Dennison Ph.D.

Wayne Dennison

This case study surveyed faculty members and information technology (IT) leaders within the State System of Higher Education (SSHE) and at Southern Regional State University (SRSU) to examine their perceptions of technological innovation, adoption, and diffusion in higher education. The data gathered identified seventeen critical success factors affecting technological innovation, adoption, and diffusion and was used to evaluate how the perceptions faculty compared to those of IT leaders within a single university setting. Examining and comparing the perceptions of these two groups regarding critical success factors for innovation, adoption, and diffusion of technology provided insight into elements influencing technological innovation …

Getting To Finished: Strategies To Ensure Completion Of The Doctoral Dissertation, Barbara Holmes, Lillian Robinson, Angela D. Seay

Education Doctorate Faculty Works

This paper reports the results of focus group conversations with thirty-four doctoral students enrolled in an educational leadership program. Doctoral students were asked to provide suggestions and strategies used to complete the doctoral dissertation. The results of these conversations reinforce the value of the collaborative cohort and the proactive interdependence students experienced as a result of working together. These findings highlight the need to examine how doctoral students experience the university context particularly as it relates to the dissertation phase of study.

Citation:

Holmes, B., Robinson, L., Seay, A.D. (2010). Getting to Finished: Strategies to Ensure Completion of the Doctoral …

Cohort Learning For Graduate Students At The Dissertation Stage, Barbara Holmes, Kimberly Birds, Angela D. Seay, Debra B. Smith, Kimberly N. Wilson

Education Doctorate Faculty Works

Doctoral students discuss the power of collaborative cohort learning in transforming the dissertation phase of doctoral study. Innovative components of doctoral cohort learning and dissertation preparation are detailed.

Along The Red Road: Tribally Controlled Colleges And Student Development, Ann Marie Machamer

Thesis, Dissertations, Student Creative Activity, and Scholarship

American Indian tnibally controlled colleges were created to provide higher education in a familiar cultural setting to a population that is severely underrepresented in American higher education. Since little is known regarding student development at tribal colleges, the purpose of this study was to assess retention, talent development, satisfaction, racial discrimination, and cultural knowledge/identity at tribal colleges using American Indians who attended non-Indian institutions as a comparison sample. In early 1999, survey data were collected from students who entered fourteen tribal colleges and two Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) colleges and from American Indian students who entered non-Indian. institutions in …

Dissertation: The Effect Of Study Skills Training Intervention On United States Air Force Aeromedical Apprentices, John Griffith

John Griffith

The study examined the effects of a study skills training intervention course on U.S. Air Force Aeromedical Apprentices with five main purposes. The first was to examine the relationship between study skills training and the number of times students required academic interventions outside of normal class time. The second purpose was to examine the relationship between study skills training and end of course averages. The third was to determine the relationship between study skills training and the amount of additional instruction, measured in time, students required. The fourth purpose examined the relationship between study skills training and graduation rates. The …