The completion of the dissertation certifies the completion of the academic rigors of the doctoral degree and verifies the candidate's achievement of independent scholarship. The Carnegie Project on the Education Doctorate was a 5-year effort to define the distinct purpose of the Ph.D. and Ed.D. in education. The Carnegie Project sought to ensure that the academy moved forward on two fronts: rethinking and reclaiming the research doctorate, the Ph.D., and developing the distinct professional practice doctorate, the Ed.D. The project determined that there has been a blurring of the distinctions between these two degrees over the past half-century which invites examination of their purpose and their content. Given this, this qualitative study examined Ph.D. and Ed.D. dissertation abstracts to determine if abstracts differ in terms of these selected factors: research design, data analysis, use of theoretical frameworks, subjects or participants, the setting or context of the study, and to compare Ph.D. and Ed.D. abstracts to the abstract format recommended in literature to explore if there are differences in the abstracts and to determine to what extent abstracts in either degree are congruent with the recommendations. This study used a digital dissertation database to study 100 Ed.D. dissertation abstracts and 100 Ph.D. dissertation abstracts on the topic of higher education. The design was qualitative and used a frequency of terms and an accepted understanding of concepts between two researchers to reach a conclusion regarding the contents of the abstracts. Two researchers separately coded a selection of dissertations for each degree to establish an acceptable level of credibility for the coding of the abstracts. Multiple findings describe similarities and differences between these two degrees and the extent of the convergence of Ed.D. and Ph.D. abstracts with recommended abstract components in the literature. The study concludes that many dissertations do not include all eight of the criteria of an ideal abstract and many are not likely to include five of the items. Dissertation abstracts, as they currently exist, are not good tools for use of dissertations as a resource for ongoing research. The study recommends that a national norm for dissertation abstracts would be helpful in improving the ability to use dissertations as a resource for future research.

Background: Doctoral attrition has been the subject of significant research over the past several years (Bair & Haworth, 2004; Cohen & Greenberg, 2011; Gardner, 2008; Lovitts, 2001). Prior research on doctoral students has focused on substantive differences in the Ed.D. and Ph.D. in education degree programs, rather than on potential differences among the students themselves. Purpose: To assess whether there are baseline differences in motivation and subjective well-being among the three groups of doctoral students in education: Ed.D. and Ph.D. students, part-time enrolled and full-time enrolled students, and first-year and secondyear students. Setting: University of Central Florida, College of Education Subjects: First-year and second-year students drawn from all three doctoral programs offered in the College, including Education, Ed.D., Education, Ph.D., and Educational Leadership, Ed.D. Data Collection and Analysis: A 131-item electronic survey to assess student motivation and subjective well-being was distributed to all 142 enrolled first-year and second-year doctoral students, of which 28.2% responded (n = 40). Cumulative motivation and separate subjective well-being scores were calculated for each participant, and MannWhitney tests were performed to compare the distribution of student scores within each group (Ed.D. and Ph.D., part-time enrolled and full-time, and first-year and second-year). Findings: No statistically significant differences were found in motivation and subjective well-being among the three groups of students. However, some findings on measures of motivation did approach statistical significance between Ed.D. and Ph.D. students. iv Conclusions: These findings may demonstrate that relative well-being and similar levels of intrinsic motivation exist among several groups of doctoral students. Recommendations for future research include an increase in the sample size by expanding the study to multiple institutions offering doctoral programs in education, as well as a modification of the instruments from ordinal scales to Likert-type instruments

abstract: ABSTRACT This study identified the influences and processes of the dissertation completers, currently enrolled students, and non-completers of four cohorts (59 participants) in the Ed.D. administration program. The research questions sought answers as to why some students completed their dissertations and why some did not, the processes in completing a dissertation, and what should be included in a doctoral guide for completing the dissertation. The participants of this study were Ed.D. administration doctoral students in the field of educational leadership from a southwestern university. The job titles of the participants ranged from teacher to superintendent. The participants started the three-year doctoral program in the years 2004, 2005, 2006, or 2007. They were between the ages of 24 and 63. Survey Monkey provided the opportunity to request answers to different questions depending on the dissertation status—enrollee, completer, or non-completer. This study entailed interviewing seven doctoral completers, five enrollees, and four non completers. The significance of this mixed method study was to compare influences and processes to determine suggestions for a study guide that could be used by future doctoral students, chairs, programs, and universities to help students complete their dissertations and become successful graduates. Recommendations are made (a) to recruit more African Americans and men into doctoral programs and the education field; (b) non-completers be invited to finish their dissertations with interventions and an accountable chair; (c) chairs provide his or her best help to meet the student half-way; (d) the department and university provide accountability measures and incentives for both the student and the chair; and (e) provide specific lessons that include finding a topic, researching a topic, and interacting with the chair; and (f) it was determined that non-completers were not timid as suggested in the literature but were found to have either changed their desire or fulfilled their desire by obtaining a promotion. In summary, a nurturing chair and a strong support system were found to be two major factors in determining the difference between doctoral completion and non-completion. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Educational Administration and Supervision 2015