If you find yourself in need of a change in chairs or committee members, you are certainly not alone. Doctoral programs, departments, and graduate divisions or offices in universities across the United States have developed policies and practices to support you in these situations because, in part, students who graduated (or did not graduate) ahead of you shared similar experiences in dissertation advising. That is, students have faced circumstances like you—and, while this fact may not ease the pain or angst associated with these experiences that you feel, you can be assured that you can access institutional resources to help you navigate back to your study with advising support that meets your unique student research needs. You should know that if you do not face challenges in dissertation advising, you will likely confront issues in some other aspect or aspects of your dissertation research work—this is the nature of naturalistic inquiry. Rarely do studies go according to plan, and—by most measures—this is fine and part of qualitative research. With a complex mix of sometimes tricky methodological work and confusing fieldwork at times, you are bound to address an issue or two. Keep going and push through; you will overcome and make the contribution that you envisioned from the start of your dissertation study.
Chapter Summary
This chapter explored several initial considerations in developing a qualitative dissertation: aligning research goals, setting a dissertation timeline, selecting a dissertation chair, and negotiating a qualitative methodology in a dissertation study. Early in the chapter, discussions focus on how adopting a qualitative methodology starts with confirming that a qualitative approach best supports your dissertation research interests and goals. Moving through a set of guiding principles in developing and implementing a qualitative dissertation, the chapter considered how to align your study’s goals to the general goals of qualitative research (as articulated in your research purpose), integrate current practice and overlap your career interests in your study, and assemble the best team for your unique qualitative dissertation study. Then, attention turns to transitioning to qualitative methodological work, with the chapter looking at how to arrange a schedule and timeline to complete a dissertation study. Advice here is to avoid languishing—set realistic and achievable goals for your study and work toward them on a timeline set up at the start of your study. The chapter discussed contingency plans when things do not go as planned—shifting goals, adapting timelines, and reworking proposed activities. The balance of the chapter explored strategies to select and work with a chair, even if you have less or no say in dissertation chair assignment. Practical advice on what to look for in chair characteristics and navigating the chair and committee selection process rounded out the chapter—with a final note on strategies to switch chairs or reconstitute a committee if needed.
Questions for Application
1 What are your goals in proposing a qualitative research study for your dissertation? What do you hope to accomplish in your study? How realistic are your goals—are they achievable within the research framework that you are conceptualizing or have developed?
2 How comfortable are you with uncertainty and ambiguity in data collection and analysis? How do you plan to work with unpredictable conditions during fieldwork?
3 Who is or will your dissertation chair be and what does or will your dissertation committee look like? Who is on your “dream team” dissertation committee?
Visit the SAGE website at http://www.sagepub.com/qualitative-dissertation-methodology/book251768 for videos featuring Nathan Durdella on formulating qualitative research questions and writing a qualitative research proposal.
Chapter 2 Understanding a Dissertation as Qualitative Methodology: A Section-by-Section Approach
Chapter Objectives
Discuss historical and contemporary contexts of dissertation research in graduate education
Evaluate current contributions that shape dissertation methodology in graduate education
Describe the focus, assumptions, and guiding principles of qualitative dissertation methodology
Connect methodology work with doctoral program structures and student experiences and identify opportunities to develop research skills in program and professional contexts
Apply a qualitative dissertation methodology chapter framework within the context of your dissertation study
Chapter Purpose
The purpose of this chapter is to discuss the concept of the dissertation as a methodology—a genre of social science research with conventions that guide development and practice of dissertation studies. Moving directly into an exploration of the dissertation as a unique approach to conceptualizing, designing, and conducting research in the social and behavioral sciences, the chapter begins with a discussion of the historical and contemporary contexts of the dissertation and ends with a look at how institutional contexts and program type shape the focus, structure, and parameters of dissertations. Then, the chapter focuses on qualitative dissertation methodology from historical and technical perspectives, with an eye toward key characteristics and uses of qualitative methodology, methods, and procedures in dissertation research. At the end of the chapter, the basic framework of the book can be seen—a section-by-section approach to the development of a dissertation research methodology and methodology chapter. The emphasis throughout the chapter is on the connections between a study’s research foundations and methodological framework, making the case for the selection of specific design and rationalizing the choice of instruments and procedures.
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Key Chapter Concepts
Dissertation research
Dissertation methodology
Methodology in doctoral programs
Qualitative dissertation chapter
Dissertations as Socially Constructed Processes and Products of Cultural Values and Rituals
Up to this point, I have explored with you keys to successful completion of a qualitative dissertation methodology and specific guidelines in selecting a dissertation chair that support your methodological decisions and the negotiation of the details of research design and methods in your dissertation study. Through these discussions, I have articulated an explicit, albeit shallow, definition of the dissertation. Here, I discuss with you the elephant in the room: the cultural foundations of socially reproduced and reified notions of dissertation research and culturally produced artifacts of dissertation studies. Sorting out the multiple and competing meanings of what we mean by dissertation research and working toward a more complex understanding of dissertation work may help.
What do we mean by “dissertation”? What is a “dissertation,” and what do students produce in the dissertation research process? Conventionally, we mean the following:
a book-length study or an original research study;
a contribution to scholarly research and practice;
a study deposited in a library and accessible in an online repository of similar publications;
the first among multiple studies in the lives of scholars and academic types;
a series of steps to follow and structure to use in a process that includes working to the expectations of an advisor and faculty members of a committee who assess work on the study;
a signature program requirement for doctoral degrees and a culminating experience of a doctoral program of study leading to a terminal degree;
an