The Professional Doctorate

*Shortlisted in the Management and Leadership Textbook Category at CMI Management Book of the Year Awards 2017* Are you undertaking (or thinking of doing) a Doctor of Business Administration (DBA) or other professional doctorate (PD) in business and management? Or perhaps you’re supervising and delivering one of these programmes? This is your complete - and practical - guide to succeeding on this course. A Guide to Professional Doctorates in Business and Management has been written by a team of experts with experience of the challenges faced in both studying for and supervising professional doctorates in business and management. Inside they address the key issues faced, in particular how these courses differ from a traditional PhD, and the different skills and approach needed for success. Chapters explore the nature and importance of PDs as leading change in the professional world of practice, and how they need to differ from traditional forms of doctorate such as PhDs. The guide also offers practical guidance on researching in this particular mode, and through writing and publishing a thesis, making a valuable contribution to professional knowledge.

This book addresses a world-wide audience with reference to a global problem: how the PhD can serve the planet. It examines the role of the PhD, in and of itself, and, as representative of research, the university and evidence-based knowledge, in relation to global crisis and the future of humanity. As such, it speaks to the scholar, the teacher, the policy-maker and the administrator concerned with the role of higher education’s highest award at a time of great global crisis. The approach is critical in that it offers diverse views on these issues and does not seek to privilege one single school of thought. The collected articles span theoretical reflections on key issues through to case-study examples of how PhDs are being deployed and re-thought to address global issues.

This resource contains concrete, practical guidance for anyone wishing to study for a professional doctorate. It explores the nuts and bolts of the professional doctorate, from framing a research question to putting together a portfolio, and supports readers in the development of deeper critical and reflective skills. This book also provides readers with valuable advice on working with their supervisor, disseminating their findings and influencing their community of practice. Chapters are complemented by hands-on activities and a wealth of case studies which draw on the experiences of real students. This book will be essential reading for both prospective and current professional doctorate students in any subject area.

The purpose and impact of the professional doctorate – or EdD (Doctor of Education) – has long been debated. What should it be? Who should do it? Why is it worth doing? How should it be taught? What makes the EdD distinctive, unique and worthwhile? Internationally, at the level of program development and provision, universities are increasing the range of transformative professional doctorate practices while recruiting larger numbers of students from a wider range of professions. Transformative Doctoral Research Practices for Professionals offers unique insight into the teaching, learning, thinking and doing of doctoral education. In the form of a collaboratively authored volume this book offers the first institutional-specific collection that focuses on doctoral research practices. It showcases: the practices of researching professionals at different phases and stages of a five year doctoral journey; the imperative of reflexivity as one moves from practitioner to researching professional and scholar; and the placing of ‘practice’ at the centre of a doctoral program specifically designed for professionals. This book shares the lived-through debates, deliberations, challenges and experiences of a group of professional (practitioner) doctoral students, their supervisors and lecturers. The critical perspectives and examples explored offer a wealth of insights on the distinct practices and unique journeying of professional practitioners embarking on professional doctorates. This volume invites you to reflect on and enter into dialogue with your peers and professional learning and research communities about the distinctiveness of the professional doctorate. /div

The interest in and demand for online terminal degress across disciplines by professionals wishing to conduct research and fulfill doctoral degree requirements at a distance is only increasing. But what these programs look like, how they are implemented, and how they might be evaluated are the questions that challenge administrators and pedagogues alike. This book presents a model for a doctoral program that bridges theory, research, and practice and is offered completely or largely online. In their described program model, Kumar and Dawson enable researching professionals to build an online communtiy of inquiry, engage in critical discourse within and across disciplines, learn from and with experts and peers, and generate new knowledge. Their program design is grounded in the theoretical and research foundations of online, adult, and doctoral education, curriculum design and community-building, implementation and evaluation. The authors, who draw on their experience of implementing a similar program at the University of Florida, not only share data collected from students and faculty members but also reflect on lessons learned working on the program in diverse educational contexts. An important guide for program leaders who wish to develop and sustain an online professional doctorate, An Online Doctorate for Researching Professionals will also be a valuable resource for higher education professionals seeking to include e-learning components in existing on-campus doctoral programs.

- What are professional doctorates? - How do they change professional knowledge and improve practice? - How can universities organise doctoral programmes to facilitate professional learning and development? - What is the most appropriate relationship between professional and academic knowledge? This book examines the relationship between advanced study on higher education courses and professional practice. It explores contributions made by research on practice to professional development. The editors document and explain strategies that universities use: - in recruitment - aims and purposes of the degree - selection of content and focus - assessment procedures - curricular structures - pedagogy - teaching strategies - conditions for learning - support for professionals - relations with interested bodies and stakeholders. The book uses in-depth case studies of three professional doctorates: the doctorate in business administration (DBA), the engineering doctorate (DEng) and the education doctorate (EdD). Examining Professional Doctorates makes an important contribution to this neglected area of research. Essential reading for policy makers in higher education and anyone interested in professional doctoral study.

The book explores and analyses, from a variety of conceptual perspectives, the encounters with self and others that professional doctorate programmes in education both necessitate and enable. It documents the ways in which professional identities, bodies of knowledge and practices are thereby challenged, renegotiated and strengthened. It comprises 14 chapters written by academic staff engaged in professional doctorate programmes in education and by professional practitioners who have undertaken doctoral study. The volume is both useful and provocative, offering insights to colleagues who design and deliver EdD programmes in thinking through some crucial conceptual and practical issues. It will also help existing and potential EdD students to assess what they can gain from, and contribute to, doctoral-level study and their professional contexts.

"Achieving your Professional Doctorate is a stimulating and very useful book for professional doctorate students, their tutors, researchers and practitioners interested in this form of doctorate and all those with an interest in doctorate education. Nancy-Jane Lee manages to combine a deeply scholarly approach with a highly readable text, setting professional doctorates in their historical context, and seeing the doctoral project from the point of view of the student. She has identified some of the strengths and challenges of professional doctorate study, such as the nature of professional knowledge, the importance of a reflective approach to practitioner research and some of the ethical challenges.Professional doctorate students from all professional backgrounds will find this a useful and reassuring text at whatever stage of their doctorate. I would also suggest that it has a wider audience of doctoral students and that PhD students in professional domains would find considerable interest in the book. I welcome the publication of this book as an important addition to the growing literature in this area of higher education." Ingrid Lunt, Professor of Educational Studies, University of Oxford What is the difference between a professional doctorate and a PhD? How would a professional doctorate help my career? When and where can I start? If these are the questions you have been asking, then help is at hand. This comprehensive text is designed to meet the needs of professional doctorate students from diverse subject disciplines. It contains analysis of the issues that may be encountered when developing research in a professional practice setting as well as outlining the process of doctoral study for professionals. Practical activities and exercises are used throughout to help students plan the professional doctorate journey. Snippets from actual student experiences as well as case studies are used to illustrate the rewards and challenges of professional doctorate study. The text also draws on the author’s experience of leading a professional doctorate programme and supervising professional doctorate and PhD students. In particular, it explores: The origins and characteristics of professional doctorates Expectations of professional doctorate study Advanced study skills; managing time, good writing style, personal and professional development planning Balancing the roles of professional practitioner and researcher Leading research in professional practice The ethics of practitioner research Tips for successful writing and completion of studies Career options following completion of a professional doctorate Achieving Your Professional Doctorate is key reading for professional doctorate students as well as PhD, DPhil, MRes and other master’s students who may be considering current or future study options.