Tomorrow's Professor Msg. #145 WHY STUDENTS DON'T COMPLETE THEIR DISSERTATIONS

Folks:
In his book, "Successful Dissertations and Theses, A Guide to Graduate
Student Research from Proposal to Completion," David Madsen talks about the
reasons students don't complete their Ph.D. dissertations. The factors include
leaving the university early, too much enthusiasm but too little focus,
being too hard to please, too casual in your approach, too compulsive, too
much of a procrastinator, having too much independence or too much
isolation and having too little appreciation of the scholarly tradition.
Here is an excerpt from his chapter, Starting and Completing the
Dissertation, on two of these factors.

Regards,
Rick Reis
Reis@cdr.stanford.edu

UP NEXT: Further Comments on Numerically Scored Student Evaluations of Faculty

------------------------ 1,031 words ----------------------

WHY STUDENTS DON'T COMPLETE THEIR DISSERTATIONS

From: D. Madsen, "Successful Dissertations and Theses, A Guide to Graduate
Student Research from Proposal to Completion," 2nd edition, San Francisco,
CA, Jossey-Bass Publishers, 1992, pp. 5-7 sand 10-11. © 1992, ,
Jossey-Bass Publishers

A.B.D.s, or "The Schubert Society"

In Great Britain, I am told, students who have completed all the
requirements for the doctorate except the dissertation are sometimes said
to be members of "The Schubert Society," a wry characterization inspired
by that composer's Symphony No. 8 in B Minor, the "Unfinished." Students
fail to complete the dissertation for a number of reasons: money runs
short; ennui sets in; illness, marital discord, and other personal problems
make concentration difficult; the dissertation topic proves elusive or
unmanageable; enthusiasm wanes. Granted, some students make an honest and
realistic appraisal of their interests and talents and conclude that the
game is not worth the candle. In most cases, however, the explanation is
not so straight forward, and other reasons must be sought, often in the
student's personal makeup. In the next few pages, we shall consider some
of the characteristics or circumstances that can impede progress toward
completion of the degree. The cases in point are the ones most commonly
encountered; undoubtedly, the list could be expanded. Ponder the following
descriptions carefully: does any strike a familiar cord?

TOO SOON ADIEU. Were I obliged to limit myself to a single bit of advice
to a graduate student, it would be this: If you can possibly manage to do
so, remain at the university until the dissertation is finished.

Many forces will conspire to send you out of the academic environment
before your task is done. Economic necessity: it's hard to ignore a
depleted bank account. An irresistible job opportunity: your every
instinct tells you to seize it. Boredom or a sense of stagnation: the
first fine careless rapture is gone; maybe a stint in the outside world
will help restore your jaded intellectual appetites. Besides, you tell
yourself, a full-time job will absorb only part of your waking hours,
leaving plenty of time and opportunity to finish the dissertation.
Unfortunately, things seldom work out as we expect them to. The
distractions of a new job and new surroundings can siphon off energy that
should be concentrated on the dissertation. And the entire project may
seem less urgent, even less significant, than it did while you were on
campus. Somewhat less difficulty is reported by students who have found
employment in academe. Even as full-time teaching or research assistants,
most are able to devote some time each day to completing the thesis,
perhaps because the ambiance is more conducive to intellectual effort than
is the office or marketplace.

If you cannot remain in a residence while finishing the manuscript, make
every effort to get as much done as possible before you depart. Once away
from the campus you will have to summon up all your reserves of
self-discipline to keep at the task. At least five days a week without
fail, try to do some writing on the dissertation. (Many students find
early morning the best time to work uninterrupted.) Even if you can spare
only thirty minutes a day, you will see slow but sure progress toward your
goal. At all costs, resist the temptation to shelve the thesis temporarily
when other more enticing prospects intervene. Never attempt to assuage
your guilt with the promise "I'll get back on track right after the
holidays (or next summer, or next year…)."
----
TOO MUCH INDEPENDENCE. One reason some students never finish the
dissertation stems from the structured nature of the academic environment
itself. These students do not finish precisely because the process demands
a high degree of independence and self-motivation. Unfortunately, formal
schooling, which advances according to schedules and deadlines, does not
necessarily foster qualities such as independence or creativity. For the
students' first twelve years of schooling, most of it compulsory,
everything is arranged. Classes meet according to the clock, terms begin
and end according to schedule, course work must be completed within fixed
deadlines, and examinations are taken at stated intervals.
It is not until the scholar reaches graduate school that the burden of
this schedule is partially relaxed. How disconcerting, then, at the end of
years of formal schooling to come abruptly to the doctoral dissertation.
Except for the usual time limit for its completion, there are few
instructions, few deadlines, few strictures, and sometimes only a modicum
of active encouragement from others. Many students thrive under this new
freedom; they take on the assignment with relish, complete it with
dispatch, and cast about for new independent research tasks to accomplish.
Yet for those who have been conditioned to rely too heavily on schedules
imposed on them by others, the dissertation work may drag along until they
have exhausted their sources of financial support. When that occurs,
graduate study often must be abandoned altogether.

Unfortunately, there is little agreement in the matter of how much
independence graduate students should be granted. Some authorities would
allow wider latitude in choice of dissertation topic (Heiss, 1970, pp.
286-287; Mayhew, 1972, p. 181; Harvey, 1972, p. 64). On the other hand,
exhortations on behalf of greater guidance, sometimes from the same
sources, are plentiful: "Maximum guidance for the student in the choice of
his topic and the design of his research should be afforded by dissertation
advisers. At the same time, the student's right to choose his own topic and
to conduct his own research in his own fashion should not be threatened"
(Harvey, 1972, p. 64). Surely there is a paradox in the concept of maximum
freedom with maximum guidance.

In an unusually interesting study, Friedenberg and Roth (1954, p. 71)
report that successful graduate students have "coherent, personal,
intellectual purposes which they conceive as goals and actively seek. They
use the university…as an institution which will help them get where they
wish to go - where they wished to go before they had ever heard of the
university and would wish to go whether or not the university existed."
These students, they assert, "employ [the university] at their convenience,
for purposes of their own, which are consistent with, and related to, its
function." Not every student is as well motivated as the subject of the
Friedenberg and Roth study; nonetheless, everyone can benefit by
approaching the dissertation with some of the same intensity and
single-mindedness they demonstrated.