Doctorate in Business Administration (DBA) Start dates: April 2014, September 2014, February 2015 and June 2015 Part-time study Work-based learning
What s unique about this course? The philosophy underpinning this course takes a new perspective on how learning relates to practice. It is designed to facilitate and enable you as a professional to consider the questions of importance in your setting, and build capacity in you as a professional and researcher to enable you to answer these pressing questions in your workplace. The course is designed to support you to reflect at an advanced level on your profession and develop new, original ways in which you can contribute to the professional knowledge base in your area. The course is layered to enable you to engage with understanding traditional research methods and new pragmatic methods of research which can be used to conduct research in the professional setting. This course is somewhat different from many other doctoral programmes out there. The learning in this course is designed to be directly applicable to your workplace. The uniqueness of this course is in the systematic approach it takes to enabling you as a student to answer the questions you need answered for your professional position, then supporting you to develop your research and writing skills. This enables you to produce an original contribution of knowledge to your professional area. What s in it for me? There are a number of benefits of doctoral level study for professionals. It generates a researchbased approach to solving problems. It builds capacity in a systematic way of collecting evidence and encourages an independent and open mind for analysis and interpretation of evidence. The traditional PhD has a strong theoretical emphasis but a narrow focus in the topic area of the thesis. Such doctorates can be very useful for those seeking to undertake a career as an academic researcher. However, for professionals in the workplace, the traditional doctorate can seem a daunting prospect. In fact, very low completion rates have been reported for part-time mature students. The Doctorate in Business Administration (DBA) is designed to provide you with an advanced level of research capability and knowledge that is directly tied to your profession and applicable in your organisation. What will I do? The content of the programme will be individually driven by you and your supervisors dependent on your specific area of interest and professional setting. However, all students will undertake a taught component, which will include research methodology, reflection on your practice, business innovation and development of your knowledge of business and research in work. You will be supported to explore your own research questions and supported to begin to write academically about your professional practice and research area. How is the course structured? There are a number of stages you will move through to support your doctoral work to completion. The course supports you to develop your ideas, create a research proposal outlining your ideas, to create a more detailed research plan of what and when you will do things, building your capacity towards conducting your doctoral research project.
What happens if something goes wrong? You will register as a Doctorate in Business Administration student, but if something happens and you are unable to complete the full course there are exit points. This means that if you complete the first year but are unable to continue you will be able to come away from the first year of the taught modules with 60 and a Postgraduate Certificate in Methods. If you complete the second year of taught modules you would have 120 and could exit with a Postgraduate Diploma in Methods, or depending on your circumstances you might choose to use the writing you ve already done during the course (10,000 word report, 3,000 word essay) and write a 20,000 word thesis to exit with an MPhil (or Master of Philosophy). However, these exit points are only used if something goes wrong and it is hoped you will progress to complete your doctoral thesis and gain your Doctorate. The figure below shows the pathways you will take towards your doctoral thesis: Innovation OPTION 20 CORE MODULE Methods 20 CORE MODULE Evaluating Professional 20 CORE CHOICE Business Innovation YEAR 1 20 CORE REQ Core skills essay 3,000 words 40 CORE MODULE Methods for Professional CORE REQ Transition Report 10,000 words EXIT POINT: PgCert YEAR 2 EXIT POINT: MPhil CORE REQ Thesis 30-40,000 words YEAR 3-5(+) LEVEL 8 EXIT POINT: Project and thesis
When can I start? You can start the course at three points during the year, September, February and June (please note that during 2014 we will start the cohort in April instead of February). The modules will be running throughout the year and you will join the next module coming up. The diagram below demonstrates how this might work: SEPTEMBER Methods FEBRUARY Evaluating Professional JUNE Business Innovation What kind of workload will I have? In the first two years you will be asked to undertake taught modules, these are work-based learning modules and will be relevant to your professional practice. You will be asked to attend workshops, probably once a month and to hand in assignments for each module. In a list form the modules are as follows: Module Credits Description Methods Business Innovation Evaluating Professional Advanced Clinical Skills Methods for Professional Core skills essay 20 The scientific method, theoretical approaches, traditional research methods. 20 Innovation in professional practice, examining innovation in service, product, process and developing an innovative mind set in professional practice. 20 Negotiated work-based learning, tailored to context, reflection and enhancement of professional practice. 20 Critical evaluation of evidence-based practice and implementation. 40 Pragmatic research methods including improvement science, action research. 20 A research essay, supported by your supervisors to begin writing about your area of research. Option 20 from selected list. Project 60 Doctoral thesis - 40,000 words.
You have the option to take an extra module, if this will help you to advance your knowledge in your professional area and to help you to prepare to successfully complete your research thesis. You can choose from the following list of modules: Module School Code Level Evidence-based Implementation of Improvement Methods Engaging Others in Improvement Project Strategy Advanced Methods College of Nursing, Midwifery and Healthcare College of Nursing, Midwifery and Healthcare The Claude Littner Business School School of Psychology, Social Work and Human Sciences Please visit uwl.ac.uk for an up-to-date list of options available on this course. NS70082O 7 20 NS70080O 7 20 TBC 7 20 SS70003E 7 20 What will the student journey look like for me? When you start the course you will be enrolled on the university systems, given access to the extensive library and academic resources. Students will be assigned a university based supervisor who will meet with you within the first few weeks of the course to discuss how you plan to develop your learning to support your doctoral thesis. You will begin taking the taught modules and alongside this will begin to develop plans for your thesis. Your university supervisor will co-ordinate with you on finding and arranging a work place supervisor who will be experienced in your area and able to mentor and support your work-based project (upon which you will write your dissertation). The structure of the course allows you to slowly build your capacity and knowledge about research and evidence based practice. Each module will have assignments, which are designed to help you develop and refine your ideas for your thesis. At the end of the first two years, as you finish the taught component of the course, you will be asked to write a report which will become the basis for your thesis. Your supervisors will be there to support and guide your development as you move through the programme.
What assignments will I have to do? The assignments you will be asked to complete as part of the course are all designed to help you towards building your project and your thesis dissertation. You will be asked to submit a research proposal and research plan. All students will have to go through a process of approval from the Degrees Committee (who review all doctoral students in the university). All of these pieces can be used to support and develop your final thesis. RESEARCH METHODS research proposal research plan Evaluating professional practice professional portfolio CORE OPTION Business OR Clinical THESIS oral presentation dissertation Core skills essay Methods for professional practice portfolio transition report Your thesis Your project (upon which you write your thesis) will be related to your work, so you may be able to undertake your dissertation as part of your normal working duties. You may also wish to do your dissertation on a topic aligned with work, and therefore may need to agree with your line manager time for you to work on your project and write up your dissertation. To find out more about Inspire uwl.ac.uk/inspire Contact us research.degrees@uwl.ac.uk
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