The Investigating Quality (IQ) Project was conceptualized as a multiple systems approach to transforming early childhood education, care, and development (ECE/ECD) in British Columbia, Canada. Those ...systems extended from provincial government to local programs, from innovative policies to new approaches to practice. Fortunately, the tenure of the IQ project (16 years in 2021) allowed time for research and scholarly work to take place that ranged from comparative policy analysis to analyses of frontline practice authored by practitioners as well as academics, and from innovations in ECE post-secondary education to the study of environmental and equity issues within the Anthropocene. The IQ project's publication outlets included international scholarly journals as well as provincial and national ECE association journals. Among the scholarly works were many that commenced as master's theses and doctoral dissertations, themselves opening up new avenues of study. While key inspirations for the IQ Project (including Indigenous initiatives in Canada) predate and lie outside the initial, early 1990s foci of the U.S.-initiated ECE Reconceptualist movement (RECE), later international RECE, as well as Reggio-Emilia, Swedish/Reggio, and Aotearoa/New Zealand Te Whariki scholarly literatures, are kindred spirits for IQ articles, chapters, and books.
In this thematic issue, we examined Doctoral Students' (DS) perspectives on six topics: (a) dissertation, (b) teacher training, (c) research training, (d) advisors, (e) doctoral program and ...department, and (f) career perspectives (past DS). Each topic was viewed through three lenses: (a) status (past and current DS), (b) gender, and (c) sub-disciplines (SBS and HS). We offer the following recommendations: (a) align program requirements with skills and knowledge needed for success after graduation; (b) develop mentoring programs that address research, teaching, and service to prepare DS for life after the degree; (c) intentionally add DS voices to the conversation about doctoral studies and other professional debates; and (d) develop questions and select criteria for potential DS, so they have the necessary information to make an informed decision about a program that fits their career goals.
Purpose: It is unfortunate yet true that in India, research starts and ends with a Ph.D. The steady decline in the quality of doctoral research has been an articulated concern among Indian academics ...at a time when research and innovation should be a priority. One of the feasible ways of resurrecting or reconstructing Indian research is to open up to examine contemporary international trends. Against this backdrop, the study aimed to make a comparative analysis of doctoral research in education in top-ranking international and top-ranking Indian universities. Design/methodology/approach: Adopting a comparative education methodology, this paper examines 100 doctoral dissertations from the top 10 international universities as per Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) ranking and 100 doctoral theses from the top 10 Indian universities following National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) submitted in the past decade. Four significant issues were investigated during the comparison--topic, procedure, presentation, and dissemination--based on the premeditated Research Quality Relevance Metrics (RQRM) designed by the authors for quality improvement of research. Findings: Findings revealed stark differences between two trends in all four domains. The top international universities focus on the contemporariness scattered across diverse issues while Indian studies continue to engage on a few archetypal conventional issues with dreary reiterations. The newness of thought is rare in Indian research, while the interdisciplinary mixing of methods and practices had been the hallmark of its international comportment. Practice orientation has been a unique research attribute found in the top 10 international universities. The methods applied have attempted to reduce the age-old gap between educational research and practice. Methodological innovativeness, structural orientation, readability, and dissemination of research were also exemplary in those international theses, whereas Indian theses are still reeling under orthodox surveys with hesitant reporting. Research limitations/implications: This study put an exclusive mirror in front of Indian doctoral research on its current state in respect of international standards. At the same time, it upholds a framework to promote research quality and impact. Dimensions of research quality relevance matrices and recommendations for effective doctoral research are two vibrant contributions to the intelligentsia in general for bringing Indian research out of its cocoon to make it internationally comparable. Originality/value: It reports a study conducted by the researchers and the write-up is based on the empirical findings only.
This paper presents a discussion of an experimental, innovative course in corpus-informed EAP for doctoral students. Participants were given access to specialized corpora of academic writing and ...speaking, instructed in the tools of the trade (web- and PC-based concordancers) and gradually inducted into the skills needed to best exploit the data and the tools for directed learning as well as self-learning. After the induction period, participants began to compile two additional written corpora: one of their own writing (term papers, dissertation drafts, unedited journal drafts) and one of ‘expert’ writing, culled from electronic versions of published papers in their own field or subfield. Students were thus able to make comparisons between their own writing and those of more established writers in their field. At the end of the course, participants presented reports of their discoveries with some discussion of how they felt their rhetorical consciousness was raised and reflected on what further use they might be making of corpus linguistics techniques in their future careers. This paper gives an overview of how this course was structured, presents the kinds of discoursal and other linguistic phenomena examined and the sometimes surprising observations made, and reports on the pluses and minuses of this corpus-informed course as a whole, seen from the point of view of both learners and instructors.
Overlooking the conceptual framework Leshem, Shosh; Trafford, Vernon
Innovations in education and teaching international,
02/2007, Volume:
44, Issue:
1
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
The conceptual framework is alluded to in most serious texts on research, described in some and fully explained in few. However, examiners of doctoral theses devote considerable attention to ...exploring its function within social science doctoral vivas. A literature survey explores how the conceptual framework is itself conceptualised and explained. Drawing upon experience of conducting programmes for doctoral candidates and supervisors, field-tested models illustrate how conceptual frameworks may be devised and used.
Although literature on participatory and action research approaches is increasing, little is published specifically about using such approaches as part of the doctoral dissertation in Geography. The ...dissertation process and its requirements are different enough from other research endeavors that it is worthwhile focusing specifically on the challenges of conducting a Participatory Action Research (PAR) dissertation and, most importantly, how to navigate these challenges. This article helps to fill this gap by exploring the impacts of PAR constraints on our dissertations, the factors that contributed to the success of our projects, and the benefits (both academic and non-academic) based on our experiences from the student perspective. We build on what others have written about PAR adding specific examples of how we negotiated some of the traditionally perceived challenges to provide a resource for other Geography students applying PAR in their doctoral dissertations.
The purpose of this research study was to explore dissertation chair experiences and current practices for meeting with and providing feedback to doctoral students pursuing a scholar-practitioner ...terminal degree in an online doctoral program. A qualitative methodology using an exploratory design was employed to interview 11 participants using semi-structured interviews. The findings included the importance of providing frequent feedback through various modes of communication, emphasizing a tailored approach to the students' needs. Timely, thorough feedback was supported, stressing effectiveness and relevancy, which was most commonly achieved through one-on-one communication. Additional considerations focused on trust building and caring behaviors; individualized coaching and guidance; and balancing institutional requirements and student needs.
Doctoral faculty have long advocated for writing support for doctoral candidates during the dissertation stage. However, schools of education often fail to provide organizational supports to assist ...struggling dissertators. EdD students in CPED institutions may need additional supports due to shorter time-to-degree programs and full-time work commitments. This paper reports how one PhD student in a CPED institution acted as a dissertation consultant for 35 EdD dissertators and successfully guided them through their dissertations. The author examines how her background in composition, experiences in education research, and willingness to address socio-emotional needs contributed to this success and argues that PhD students with similar backgrounds can take up dissertation consulting work in schools of education as an organizational support for EdD dissertators. The mutual benefits of engaging in this work are discussed as is the potential for school-university partnerships stemming from PhD-EdD student collaboration during doctoral study.
This qualitative research is a descriptive study aiming to analyze the graduate studies in different disciplines prepared for music evaluation and to reveal the current situation in Turkey. The ...sample of the study involves 25 graduate theses in different disciplines which are in the database of the National Thesis Center and defended in line with music education field. These theses were examined with content analysis and 10 criteria as follows: thesis type, its university, recearcher's gender, publication year, title of advisor, its institute, its department, research area, research model and research class. The findings were interpreted in tables by calculating the frequency and percentage. The findings reveal that 76% of the examined theses in the scope of this study are master's (MA), 20% doctorate (PhD) and 4% specialty in medicine theses. Most of the MA theses were prepared in Hacettepe University, and most of the PhD theses were prepared in Ankara University and the specialty in medicine thesis was completed in Gaziosmanpasa University. In addition, most of these theses were written by female researchers and the number of theses in different disciplines prepared for music education in Turkey is not numerous. Music education and preschool education were associated, and most of the PhD theses had equal distribution in the fields of Education Policies, Preschool Education, Mathematics Education, Empathic Skills and Sociology. Lastly, it was revealed that most of the theses were prepared based on descriptive model and quantitative approach.
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