REALISING A RESEARCH DEGREE OF QUALITY: A NEW STRUCTURED PROFESSIONAL DOCTORATE

REALISING A RESEARCH DEGREE OF QUALITY: A NEW STRUCTURED PROFESSIONAL DOCTORATE Terry Evans Faculty of Education Deakin University Research and the University It is regarded as axiomatic that research is the distinguishing feature of the modern university in comparison with other educational institutions. Research is seen not as a discrete entity pursued by (some) staff as (part of) their work, but rather as something which runs through the fabric of university life. The research culture is held to involve not just a valuing of research in terms of its activities and products, but to encompass a commitment in scholarly life to critique, debate, inquiry and impartiality. In this sense, research and teaching are intertwined in universities through the values they share and draw upon for their practice. Research and teaching are also intertwined through the universality of the policy and administrative practices of universities which embed research and teaching together (for example, academic boards, libraries, computer centres etc, each have teaching and research functions). In many respects the doctoral degree has represented the pinnacle for the interrelatedness of teaching and research. Doctoral degrees are seen as research degrees, which means ostensibly that there is no curriculum or teaching. But this is rather like saying that there is no research in coursework degrees. Supervisors are teachers in some respects, and the curriculum can be seen as research (methodology and practice) as well as the substantive field of enquiry. Administratively, supervision counts as teaching load and is funded accordingly (indeed, it is funded at a higher rate than coursework in any given discipline area). In other respects, the products of the doctoral work (theses, articles conference papers, etc) are counted as research; in the calculation of DEET research quanta and other measures of research performance. However, while the traditional approach to doctoral degrees in Australia derived from the British colonial heritage is that they are entirely research degrees, in other parts of the world, for example North America, the traditional doctorate had been one of coursework and research. Australian traditional doctoral students are generally on-campus, full-time, and have recently graduated with honours. There have always been part-time candidates for doctoral degrees in some (in) formal ways. For example, some university staff members have worked full-time, but also been doctoral candidates at their university. However, in the past decades, and especially in more recent years, there has been a marked expansion in the opportunities for part-time doctoral study, and of the numbers of people who have seized these opportunities. In addition, for some years, both on-campus and dual mode (on-campus and off-campus) universities have been dealing with increasing numbers of part-time students who complete more of their research off-campus. In Australia a 100% in higher degree by research enrolments is expected for the period 1990-1997. Within this expansion, doctoral students in Education are expected to increase by about 120% (Arts 100%, Science 87%) and one can expect that the bulk of this will be in part-time enrolments. In contrast, undergraduate enrolments in Australia are expected to increase by 20% for the same period. Despite the selection filters which apply to postgraduate research students entering universities, this broadening of the part-time student enrolment means that a Quality in Postgraduate Research: Is it happening? 18-19 April 1996, Adelaide Australia 1

greater diversity of student needs, interests and contexts now prevails. This is especially the case where the forms of entry and forms of supervision are opened to allow students with a broader range of qualifications (often requiring professional experience) and a broader range of social, economic and geographical circumstances. In postgraduate research, supervisors may no longer find themselves supervising young students, who are fully committed to their research while they eke out their scholarships until graduation. It is now more likely that they will be dealing with students as old or older than themselves, who juggle work and family commitments alongside their research, and may well earn more than their supervisors. The shift in perspective required of supervisors is quite significant and means dealing with students more as colleagues than as students. It also means dealing with some different candidature-orientations to the doctoral credential and to the research they wish to do. The potential for high quality postgraduate research, which both draws on the richness of the students contexts and also seeks to address research questions and issues in those contexts, seems substantial. A new kind of research degree It is at this point that the Deakin EdD can be brought into the discussion as an example of staff, and the University more broadly, adjusting to the new demands and orientations for doctoral programs. Drawing on a previous paper (Evans and Green 1995), the EdD is distinguished from other similarly-designated doctoral programs by its distinctive character as a research-oriented degree. It combines a structured sequence of units (Phase 1) designed to inform and lead up to the presentation of a proposal document at a formally-constituted colloquium, with the development of a Research Folio (Phase 2). It differs from other higher degree research work, such as the PhD, by the distinctive nature of the Folio as an organised collection of original productions, as contrasted with the single document of the PhD dissertation. As well, the EdD involves a different understanding of research, its nature and purpose(s), and rather than directed towards making a significant contribution to knowledge itself, is intended to contribute to and enhance both knowledge and practice in regard to the professional (educational) contexts of the candidates. In addition, the nature of the research project which characterises traditional postgraduate research work is necessarily different in the case of the EdD. Rather than focussed on, or addressed to, a research topic, in the conventional academic-intellectual sense, it is tied more directly to a specific place or site of educational-institutional work and its associated needs or problems which research can inform. Brennan and Walker (1994) have discussed the origins of the EdD program and discussed the implications for matters such as supervision of the new program and its students. Subsequently there has been a considerable amount of development, refinement and elaboration of the program as the experience unfolds. For example, recently the first two candidates presented for examination. This prompted further policy elaboration of the Folio and related examination issues, which serves to clarify and consolidate the distinctive nature of the EdD. A significant part of this elaboration has concerned the nature of the research, and its relationship to the candidate s professional practice. At a conference in 1995 several of the staff involved in the program provided papers and presentations which reflected on various aspects of the EdD development (Evans & Green, 1995; Jeans, 1995; Reid, Stacey & Henry, 1995; Walker & Henry, 1995). This paper is part of a continuation of that project and deals with the issues of making the EdD a research degree, rather than a coursework plus research degree, which is the traditional form of EdDs nationally and internationally, and for professional doctorates generally. In a previous paper Evans and Green (1995, pp 5-6) argue: Quality in Postgraduate Research: Is it happening? 18-19 April 1996, Adelaide Australia 2

A central claim in developing and defending the Ed D has been that it serves to challeng [e] understandings of supervision in postgraduate studies (Brennan & Walker, 1994: 226). There are several aspects of this. Firstly it is highly significant that the focus of the work done towards the degree is on the specific albeit changing nature of the educational workplace, essentially one s own, at least professionally. That is to say, the emphasis is on educational practice, both as (and within) an organization and as (and within) a form of work. This means, further, that it is likely to be much more communal and collaborative than is the usual case with higher degree research, which tends to occur away from the worksite as such, or indeed the research site. By definition, students are likely to have more knowledge and experience regarding their own site(s) or work/research than is the usual case for postgraduate students, as well as in relation to their supervisors. Finally, given the differentiated nature of the Folio it may well be that a student works with several minor (or local ) supervisors in the course of completing the degree, albeit under the general coordination of a major (or global ) supervisor. What this means is that the relationship between student and supervisor(s) needs to be understood and indeed reconceptualised more in terms of negotiation rather than direction, and moreover as less private and privatised than is the usual case in postgraduate studies, which is a less hierarchical and more reciprocal structure of authority (Brennan & Walker, 1994; 227). These observations are not just ones which have internal consequences within the program, indeed they were preceded by a range of academic and bureaucratic hurdles within Deakin University concerning the establishment of the EdD as a research degree. Prior to the EdD becoming formally recognised in 1992, the University s principal doctoral program was the PhD; the PhD was, and remains, a research degree of the traditional Australian kind outlined previously. In order to be established as a research degree the EdD needed to be accepted by the research decision-making structures of the University as being based on research and also, in effect, being equivalent to the PhD. Although there was considerable support for the University developing professional doctorates, it was not expected that they would be research degrees, but rather coursework degrees. The distinction was further sharpened by the DEET guidelines over the classification of such awards. The approval process unfolded as a rather protracted and contradictory affair. Faculty members who represented the case at various University meetings and committees formed the view that the structure and principles behind the EdD were very warmly received, but making the final decision to classify the degree as equivalent to a PhD seemed too courageous at the tine. Although the EdD was accepted, it was initially classified as coursework despite the fact that it did not have any coursework requirements and was clearly seen by those organising the program as being a research degree. In 1995, the program was officially reclassified within the University as a research degree without a quibble. There is an emerging view within the Faculty amongst those closest to the program that the EdD program is superior in quality to the PhD program, not just in terms of the carefully structured research experiences, thinking and debate which the students encounter, but also in terms of the quality research outcomes in professional contexts. However, an emerging issue has been the name of the degree. As was mentioned previously, EdDs are generally seen as coursework degrees, there is now a concern that the degree should be retitled as something which signifies its research nature. Suggestions such as Doctor of Educational Research or Doctoral of Educational Research Science have been made. This is becoming more of a problem as the program is offered internationally where the status of coursework vs research degrees seems more crucial. Quality in Postgraduate Research: Is it happening? 18-19 April 1996, Adelaide Australia 3

The naming of the degree is not just a matter of status, indeed for the course team and supervisors it is more a matter of ensuring that the distinctiveness of this research degree is appropriately designated, not just in relation to EdDs in general and other professional doctorates, but also in relation to PhDs at Deakin and elsewhere. A key distinction comes from making a virtue out of the professional and work contexts of the students. The workplace of the student is often the site of the research, or it is related to the research. This means that some of the resources required for the research are provided by and through the employer, rather than the university. The task is to blend the requirements of the degree with the needs or requirements of the workplace. The advantages in terms of relating research, theory and practice together are substantial. In this respect new forms of research degree might well be required more broadly that just in Education. The traditional PhD is often said to be a dust-collector in a library collection. While this might not be entirely fair, there is an element of truth in the claim. What the EdD seeks to do through its portfolio is to include research products which have, or will have, an effect in the professional context or workplace of the candidate. This is something that the examiners are asked to address and, indeed, one of the three examiners has to be an appropriately qualified person from the broad professional context of the candidate. For us this relationship to practice is an important component of the EdD research program. It seems potentially more worthwhile for us than the coursework degree such as those which several universities are considering of have implemented, However, for Deakin the coursework option was difficult to pursue for another quite practical reason. If there is one lesson which distance education has taught Deakin University and the distance education community over the past two or three decades, it is that quality course material development is expensive and only becomes feasible if there are sufficient numbers. Coursework Doctoral degrees in Australia have most (entirely?) been on-campus, part-time courses. Yet as we have seen, the major need is for courses which relate to the needs and contexts of professional people and this usually means that forms of regular on-campus study are impractical for most. (Summer schools and other occasional on-campus encounters are usually less of a problem, and have some distinct advantages). So the advantages of offering research degree courses off-campus are obvious; however, the relatively small numbers of students (in comparison with undergraduate courses) and the diversity of the research interests makes it unlikely that developing good quality course materials will be viable. This problem is further exacerbated by the fact that the research field in any discipline is arguably where the cutting-edge changes occur and so any course materials would need to be in a form where they can be revised readily; again this reduces the viability. Therefore, the task becomes one of not developing coursework components, but rather to structure a research program in ways which enable the students to complete their portfolios. In this sense there are resource materials for the EdD in the form of collections of readings on research methodology or guides to particular stages in the research. Progressively, more of this resource material is being provided on Interchange the University s computer-mediated communications system (which is covered in Elizabeth Stacey s paper in this symposium). This not only increasingly provides for scholarly (and not so scholarly!) discussions, but it is likely to provide an avenue for collaborative research activities consistent with the EdD approach. Concluding comment In a recent article (Evans 1996) I have argued that postgraduate research can be seen to be opening-up many possibilities for the future of Australian universities. As noted at the outset, it is often argued that the fundamental distinction between universities and other educational institutions is their involvement in research. However, the expansion in the Quality in Postgraduate Research: Is it happening? 18-19 April 1996, Adelaide Australia 4

number of universities, and the demands for accountability of public expenditure, means that universities entitlement to research funding id being challenged. Postgraduate research, especially of the find which is related to professional and industrial contexts, holds out the prospect of universities sustaining their case for research funds. Not only can they argue that they are contributing to research and research training which is proving to be professionally and industrially beneficial, but they are also likely to develop a sympathetic and well-placed alumni lobby group from their postgraduate students. The EdD program provides an example of one such venture where a new kind of research degree is unfolding. References Brennan, M. & Walker, R. (1994) Educational research in the Workplace: Developing a Professional Doctorate. In Burgess, R. & Schratz, M. (eds), International Perspectives in Postgraduate Education and Training, Innsbruck: Austrian Academic Press, pp 220-233. Evans, T.D. (1996) Postgraduate research supervision in the emerging open universities. Australian Universities Review. in press. Evans, T.D. & Green W.C. (1995) Dancing at a distance? Postgraduate studies, supervision, and distance education. Australian Association for Research in Education Conference. Hobart. Jeans, B. (1995) The professional doctorate: exploring best practice? Australian Association for Research in Education Conference. Hobart. Reid, J., Stacey, E. & Henry, C. (1995) The getting of information: Integrating CMC and postgraduate education. Australian Association for Research in Education Conference. Hobart. Walker, R. & Henry, C. (1995) Reconstituting the concept of taught courses in the context of doctoral studies. Australian Association for Research in Education Conference. Hobart. Quality in Postgraduate Research: Is it happening? 18-19 April 1996, Adelaide Australia 5