| Scope and method of study. The primary purpose of this study was to determine if there were viable alternative research strategies, other than the traditional doctoral dissertation, which would be more beneficial to future doctoral graduates in order to compete in their future professional roles in an information intensive society. A secondary purpose, to complement the primary purpose, was to discover research competencies and/or research experiences that will be required of doctoral graduates in order to compete in their future professional roles in an information intensive society. Two approaches were used in this research to investigate viable alternatives to the doctoral dissertation and future research needs: the Delphi method and semi-structured interviews. The two methodologies were chosen because of their appropriateness to the research questions being asked. A survey was sent to 384 members listed in the 1995 membership directory of the American Vocational Education Research Association (AVERA) and 191 members listed in the 1995 membership directory of the Commission of Professors of Adult Education (CPAE). All members from the United States were sent the survey. The combined 575 person membership were asked to identify individuals whom they considered to be on the cutting edge of research. A purposive sample of 22 expert panelists were chosen based on the number of votes they received. The sample was evenly divided with 11 of the experts representing the AVERA and 11 of the experts representing the CPAE. The 22 panel members were asked to fill out a demographic data sheet and at the bottom of that sheet they were asked to identify mavericks in the field who had successfully challenged the traditional doctoral dissertation by adapting an alternative strategy. From those suggestions, four individuals were chosen to participate in a semi-structured interview. As a result of the interviews with the mavericks, a fifth person was interviewed.Findings and conclusions. A synthesis of data from both methodologies resulted in a list of viable alternatives to the traditional doctoral dissertation, a list of future research needs, and recommendations from those experts whose institutions have successfully implemented alternatives to the traditional doctoral dissertation. In analyzing the transcriptions from the interviews, categories of words were identified and major issues emerged from those categories. The mavericks identified ten recurrent themes: (1) dissertations are culminating projects or experiences, (2) the culminating project or experience maintains the rigor of research, (3) there are no model dissertations, (4) dissertations are very political, (5) the traditional research paradigm leaves little room for change, (6) committee members work with and for the student, (7) written documentation of research fosters accessibility, (8) non-traditional programs nurture non-traditional dissertations, (9) non-traditional programs require the support of ones' colleagues, and (10) non-traditional programs are similar in design. |
