KU joins national study of dissertation standards

Ten departments at KU will participate in a national study examining standards for evaluating dissertations.

“Making the Implicit Explicit: An Approach for Assessing the Outcomes of Doctoral Education” is directed by Barbara Lovitts, a research scientist at the University of Maryland. The project’s premise is that there are no written standards or criteria for evaluating dissertations, though most faculty have implicit standards or criteria.

At KU, four to six senior faculty members from biology, physics, mathematics, economics, psychology, sociology, English, history, philosophy and electrical engineering will serve in the focus groups.

Diana Carlin, dean of the graduate school and international programs, will coordinate the project. Lisa Wolf-Wendel, associate professor of teaching and leadership in the School of Education, will conduct the KU focus groups that will meet this semester.

“A chief concern for those of us involved in graduate education is the time it takes a student to complete a degree,” said Carlin. “The dissertation can add several years to the process if students do not have a clear understanding of expectations. The results of this study should help those of us who direct dissertations to assist our students better in completing their projects while maintaining academic rigor.”

Members of the focus groups will talk about the purpose of the dissertation, the characteristics of a quality dissertation, and the meaning of original and significant contribution to a field. After the data are gathered from the participating universities, a report will be printed and posted online and an article will be submitted to journals on higher education.

A presentation on the study will be given at the American Association of Higher Education’s Assessment Conference in June in Denver.