FULL REPORT
Background
Previous research and writing on professional doctorates has either focused on the specific characteristics of these programmes in comparison to more conventional PhDs (e.g. Maxwell & Shanahan, 1997, 2001; Bourner et al, 2001) or has taken the growth of professional doctorates as an indicator of a shift in modes of the production of knowledge (e.g. Lee et al, 2000). The empirical components of such studies have taken the form of either a survey (Maxwell & Shanahan, 1997, for example, investigated the balance between taught and research components of EdD programmes in Australia) or the selection of particular cases to support an argument or exemplify a position (Lee et al selected two Doctor of Business Administration programmes in order to explore differences in the nature of knowledge produced within professional doctorate and conventional PhD programmes).
The study of pedagogical, organisational and knowledge-development strategies presented here differs from previous work in two key respects. Firstly, an attempt was made, by looking in detail at three different professional doctorates (in Engineering, Business Administration and Education), to identify similarities and differences within and between different forms of professional doctorate. Secondly, for each of the cases studied, a variety of data representing different perspectives and positions was collected (including documents relating to the programmes and interviews with tutors, participants, graduates and their workplace colleagues). Whilst previous studies have tended to homogenise professional doctorates, this study is able to present both the distinctive character of the professional doctorate and to explore differences within and between particular domains of practice in relation to both the institutions, forms of partnership and academic disciplines involved, and the characteristics, motivations and workplace circumstances of the participants.
The aim of the research was exploratory; to provide new insight into the nature of professional doctorates and their relationships with the workplace. The aims of the research were addressed through the following four key questions:
1. How does the professional doctorate in education, engineering and business administration influence participants’ professional lives and act to develop professional knowledge and improve practice?
2. What is the impact of the development of professional knowledge on the employment culture of the students?
3. How do universities organise doctoral level programmes that facilitate professional learning and development, and what pedagogical and organisational strategies are used?
4. What is the most appropriate relationship between professional and academic knowledge, and how can universities develop practice which best reflects this?
Methods
The adoption of a case study design allowed a multi-site examination of different programme types and an analysis of the pedagogical and workplace context of the professional learners. The principal methods of data collection were individual and group semi-structured interviews with the key stakeholders - the professional doctorate participants (current students and graduates); the participants’ professional community (employers, professional colleagues); and the professional doctorate tutors (programme directors, module leaders, student supervisors). Case study visits were made to twelve universities, which covered four exemplars of each of the three programme types (DBA, EdD and EngD). Interviews were carried out with key informants; these were followed up by telephone interviews with programme participants and graduates. The interviews were recorded and transcribed. Fieldnotes provided additional contextual detail. The project also collected programme materials, which included promotional
literature and pedagogic resources used by tutors. These and the interview transcriptions formed the main data-sets for the analysis.
The main focus was on understanding the three types of programmes and their relationships with professional practice from the various individual and group perspectives. Having originally proposed two distinct phases for the research, this became logistically difficult to achieve as data collection had to take place on a ‘case by case’ basis as relationships with individual institutions developed. Although all of the planned data collection activities was carried out, in practice data collection for Phases 1 and 2 usually took place at the same time.
Results
The results are presented under the headings of the four main research questions.
1. INFLUENCE ON PRACTICE
The way that the professional doctorate influences participants’ professional lives and impacts on practice depends on their motivation, stage of career and reasons for undertaking the doctorate. Thus different motivations for undertaking professional doctorate study will impact in different ways on the professional practice of the participant. Furthermore, rationales for undertaking study of this type change at different points in the process and effects on practice cannot easily be read off from either student intentions or post-hoc rationalisations of impact on practice. However, fundamentally, students are positioned by other people and by institutional interdictions in relation to knowledge modes and theory-practice relationships, and this has a major influence on how they develop professional knowledge and change their practice.
The influence of professional doctorates on participants’ professional lives varied both within and between different programme types (EdD, DBA, EngD) at the twelve institutions. This influence varied because of the wide-ranging profile of participants. Key variables in this diversity were: the age of the participant whilst engaged in doctoral activity, and the point at which the doctorate intersected with the participant’s career. These variables produced four models of choice that characterised the different
reasons and expectations participants had for undertaking the three types of professional doctorate (Thorne et al, in preparation).
Choice Models
The first model, Extrinsic Professional Initiation, is characterised by the student who identifies their doctorate directly with career development. Typically the student will be in the early stages of their career with some, albeit limited, professional experience. For this student, the professional doctorate presents four key attractions: accelerated promotion; management training; acquisition of experience; and financial support. The EngD was particularly chosen by students in this category.
The second model, Extrinsic Professional Continuation, shares the extrinsic notions of external rewards and achievements as direct consequences of engaging in a particular activity as seen in model one. But in contrast to this, the ‘model two’ student is reasonably established in their professional field and therefore has some professional experience. Motivation for the doctorate is principally governed by further developing their professional career either in line with existing work, or by providing new opportunities for diversifying career options. Some DBA students were identified with this model.
Although there was no clear alignment between the final two models and programmes, there was clear evidence that individuals could be described within these models. The third model, Extrinsic Professional Alteration, differs from models one and two in that the student will principally be concerned with using the doctorate as a vehicle for changing or affecting an aspect of their practice. A key characteristic of this model is therefore concerned with making a contribution to practice.
In model four, Intrinsic Personal/Professional Affirmation, students may identify intrinsic factors that could broadly be described as cognitive (a keenness to maintain attention to something interesting, to develop meaning or understanding or to solve a problem) while others are affective and focus on pleasure or enhancing self-esteem.
This model is characterised by an emphasis on intellectual stimulus and personal fulfilment.
2. Impact on Employment Culture
The impact of the development of professional knowledge on employment culture varied considerably; for EngD participants there was a major impact, whereas for those on the DBA, the impact was often more personal, developing and enhancing individual consultancy skills; for EdD participants, there appeared to be little impact on employment, though frequently considerable impact for the individuals themselves (Lunt et al, in preparation). These findings were linked to the very different employment cultures of participants on the different professional doctorate programmes, and to differences in the profile of the participants themselves. While the participants on EngD programmes tended to be young and either already employed within the engineering industry or seeking employment in that professional area, the age and employment context of those on DBA and EdD programmes differed significantly. Despite the current lack of uniformity in the EdD and DBA profile, the professional doctorate often constituted continuing professional development rather than explicit career progression, the latter being more closely associated with the EngD student. It was also apparent that many of the EdD students were employed within the public sector, while a majority of DBA students were frequently located in a range of private sector organizations, or operated as independent consultants.
Thus, for EngD participants, the impact of the professional doctorate on their employment culture appeared frequently to take the form of enhanced employment opportunities, particularly through the acquisition of employment-related or transferable skills such as industrial project management, presentation and communication skills. Since the professional doctorate incorporated industrially-based research with university based work, both the interaction between academically-orientated and practice based knowledge and culture, and the impact of one upon the other were strong.
The impact of the DBA on participants’ employment culture varied considerably because of the diverse backgrounds, employment contexts and reasons for doctoral study. In general however, the DBA appeared to be able to shift practitioners from a focus on ‘action’ to one of reflection and more conceptual thinking. A number of participants considered that the DBA had enabled them to have a major impact on their
work as change agents, by providing a space to reflect and to develop research-based interventions. For some DBA students, the DBA provided a constructive community of practice separate from that of their workplace.
Although the EdD programmes also varied, there was less evidence of the EdD having a tangible impact on the employment culture of students or graduates. This may have been, in part, because of the nature of their employment, and the fact that a number of EdD participants had used the professional doctorate to provide space to develop outside their employment setting. There was, however, evidence that EdD students and graduates (many of whom are senior professionals already) had indirectly used the EdD as an opportunity to reflect on their practice, and to further develop professionally relevant knowledge, which in turn had an impact on their employment.
3. Pedagogical and Organisational Strategies
Admissions and MarketingWhilst the programme literature mentioned a refiguring of the conventional relationship between academic research and professional practice, and frequently invoked some form of partnership between universities and institutions, or sites of professional practice, control of these programmes remained clearly with the university. In all cases the university set admissions requirements which, at least formally, equalled or exceeded those for PhD admission. Courses were presented as a means of addressing an industrial need for highly competent research engineers with good personal and professional skills, and experience in management (EngD), or to produce management knowledge and to enable programme participants to acquire the capability to conduct applied research and produce ‘real world’ knowledge and the development of 'high level meta-cognitive and intellectual skills' (DBA), or to enhance general career development (EdD)
The orientation of these professional doctorates towards the development of professional practice and the production of professionally relevant knowledge through practitioner research clearly differentiates these programmes from conventional PhDs.
While the EngD programmes were full-time only, the majority of DBA and EdD programmes were mainly part-time, intended for experienced professionals to study alongside their work.
The structural feature that most clearly differentiates professional doctorates from the PhD is the inclusion within the programme of a substantial taught or directed study component which is formally assessed and which counts towards the final award of the doctorate. There is variation between the programmes in the relative weighting of taught and research components, the distribution of taught and research components through the programme and the content of the taught components (in particular, the balance between substantive content and research training). In the EdD and DBA programmes studied, the taught component and the research based component were sequential, with progress to the research component being dependent, at least in part, on successful completion of the taught component. EngD programmes are by design multidisciplinary and bring together research training in a specialised area of engineering with management education and the acquisition of a range of generic skills. For most EngD programmes, the research component of the degree ran in parallel with the taught components, In addition, there was an interweaving of the university and workplace components and of the engineering, management and generic skills taught components of the EngD programmes. Thus, although these components were delivered by different departments or units within the university, a strong sense of the inter-relationship between academic research in engineering and practice in industrial and commercial settings was achieved (and reflected in the comments made by programme participants and graduates).
The delivery of the taught components of the programmes was in all cases segmental, that is content was divided into small units. The size, duration and mode of delivery varied greatly across the programmes. In one EdD programme, for instance, each unit comprised two consecutive days input, with few interdictions on the order in which participants took the units. Other modes of organisation included intensive one week blocks distributed across the year bringing together a geographically dispersed group of participants. Variation in the form of organisation of the content of the courses had implications for the cohesiveness of the programme, the extent to which participants
felt themselves to be part of a cohort and the manner in which university based work could be related to day-to-day professional practice.
Pedagogic Modes and Relations
Across the programmes there were a number of explicit and tacit assumptions about the manner in which professionals learn. Generally, clear learning outcomes were stated for each element of the programme and deadlines set for submission of and feedback on assignments. Of the three programme types, the EngD courses had the most explicit and detailed outcomes (in relation to technical expertise, professional competence and managerial skills) and the tightest pacing. Amongst the DBA courses, greater stress was placed upon meeting participant identified needs, for instance, in one programme through the construction of a Competence Development Plan in which participants related choices to be made within the programme to their own particular professional needs. Paradoxically, least explicit attention was paid to pedagogic issues in the EdD programmes.
There were also clear differences between the programme types in the positioning of participants and tutors. DBA participants were presented as being senior practitioners for whom the acquisition of research expertise together with enhanced academic and practical knowledge of contemporary management would have tangible career advantages; the advantages of networking with other practitioners in the same field were also highlighted. The tutors were in most cases presented as having specific expertise in the area of research combined with specialised knowledge of particular areas of management theory or practice within a particular commercial sector. Their role in relation to the participant was framed as facilitating critical reflection on practice and guiding the development of research drawing on their expertise as supervisors and as experienced researchers.
The participants in the EdD programmes were identified as ‘mid-career professionals’. The value of the programmes to career development and advancement were presented in diffuse terms, for instance, as providing opportunities to better understand their own professional contexts and individual practices, and to remain abreast of current
educational issues. Whilst one programme claimed that many participants had gained promotion as a result of participation in the programme, the relationship between the content and process of the programme and career advancement was not clearly marked out. One key feature of the EdD programmes was that the cohort of participants was seen as providing support and opportunities for collaboration, and as acting as ‘critical friends’ to each other. In a similar fashion to the DBA, EdD tutors were presented as providing opportunities to reflect through ‘high-quality research-led teaching’.
A key issue regarding the relationship between participants and tutors was the manner in which professional practice and academic study and research were related. The EngD was presented very much as a preparation for professional practice with enhanced career opportunities. This preparation involved specialised input from engineers from university and industrial settings and from management school staff. This in turn involved a demarcation of expertise and an academic and practical division of labour. The production of the ‘research engineer’, as programme participants are called, thus involved an engagement with and movement between distinct communities of practice under the guidance of expert practitioners, and required recognition of the different interests of those communities. Participants in the DBA and EdD programmes were themselves presented as ‘expert practitioners’ in their own right on entry to the programme. Their tutors have research-based knowledge of a specialised field within education or business administration, expertise as a researcher and experience in the supervision of research. In the DBA programmes engagement of tutors with professional practice was additionally through consultancy and through partnerships between business schools and specific companies. The dominant partnership, and conduit for engagement with professional practice, in both DBA and EdD programmes was, however, between tutor and participant, particularly at the thesis stage. Rather than the production of an expert identity, these programmes were involved with facilitating a transformation in identity brought about by bringing together the domains of research and professional practice and enabling their mutual scrutiny. Central to this was the rhetoric of critical reflection and attendant pedagogic practices. Whilst stress was placed on self-identification of needs and critical reflection on practice, there was perhaps some tension between this orientation and the ultimate examination of the
outcomes of the programmes (coursework and theses) against largely, if not exclusively, academic criteria.
Assessment
The division of the programmes into taught and research-based components and the segmental organisation of the taught elements of the programmes has led to a marked similarity in the formal assessment requirement across the programmes. Most commonly in the DBA and EdD programmes, each formal element of the taught programme was examined by submission of an essay (range 4000-6000 words). In one EdD, a consolidated report of 15,000 words was required as assessment of the taught component and in one DBA a working paper of publishable standard and a research proposal were required. The research-based components of the courses were generally assessed by a thesis (range 40,000-50,000 words) and viva. In one DBA programme, two research reports of 20,000 words were required rather than a thesis. The EngD courses also required both short assessments of taught components and a research-based thesis (in one case a portfolio containing an ‘innovation report’ which could take the form of a ‘mini thesis’). Given the range of types of taught input, there was a greater variety in the forms of examination (including formal tests, technical reports, reflective accounts and oral presentations). Whilst all programmes studied emphasised the importance of the production of professionally relevant knowledge through the research, it was only amongst the EngD programmes that practitioners were involved in examination of the thesis (for instance as members of an assessment panel for the thesis). Overall, a clear impression was given that ultimately academic criteria over-ride other considerations. In most cases it was difficult to see how judgements of professional relevance and the potential to transform practice, much valued in the content and delivery of the programmes studied, could be incorporated into the predominantly conventional modes of examination adopted.
4. Professional and Academic Knowledge
Analysis of the three different types of programme in the twelve institutions showed great diversity in the articulation of the relationship between professional and academic knowledge. This diversity
enabled the development of a typology of knowledge creation (Scott et al.) , which comprises a number of ideal types that do not fit exactly with programmes or institutions. Institutions have conflicting aspirations (expressed in course regulations and in course brochures), and professional doctorate coordinators expressed either conflicting rationales for their courses or hybrid rationales in which they sought to reconcile different forms of knowledge. Furthermore, knowledge construction may take a different form at the instructional level and in the activities and understandings of the students. Thus at different points and in different places courses operated through different modes of knowledge.
The typology presents four modes of knowledge creation: disciplinarity, technical rationality, dispositionality and criticality. Disciplinarity is characterised by an indifference to the practice setting. The practice setting is understood as the source for reflection, but not the arena in which that theorizing takes place. Students are initiated into academic practices that have their own set of rules, and their task is to imbibe the culture of the new setting into which they are being initiated. Technical rationality, on the other hand, is characterized by a view of knowledge that prioritises outsider knowledge over practice-based knowledge, and the practitioner acts in a technicist manner. Dispositionality identifies certain virtues, an example of which is a capacity to engage in various forms of meta-reflection about practice and identity, which enable the practitioner to go on in the practice and embrace change. The fourth mode of knowledge is criticality, and here the student-practitioner develops the capacity to reflect critically on the working practices of the institution of which they are a member, with the intention of changing them.
What happens in practice is that these modes of knowledge are compromised in various ways, with these integrating tendencies taking a number of forms. The first is adaptation, where the different knowledge modes are represented in the aims of the course and an attempt is made to meet all their requirements, even if at different times on the course. This is only possible where the different practices have evolved so that the tensions between the different modes of knowledge have been partly or fully resolved and therefore do not threaten the coherence of the partnership activities. For example, a discipline may have evolved so that relations with the practice setting are implicit within its rules of operation; or critical or dispositional modes of knowledge are gradually re-defined so that either they are an implicit part of the practice setting
and thus do not act to threaten its integrity, or built into the practice setting is a set of mechanisms which allow it unproblematically to absorb knowledge which is critical of previous practice-based knowledge. One of the consequences of this is that weak boundaries are established between the academy and the practice setting. The EngD more closely aligned itself with this model.
On the other hand, there are forms of integration which are more problematic, and where tensions are present between these different modes of knowledge. One such form is colonization where a mode of knowledge is so powerful that it effectively subsumes other modes of knowledge. Here, the student undertaking professional doctorate study is required to put to one side their ways of working and assume those that characterize another mode of knowledge. Disciplinary practices sometimes act in this way so that the student is required to conform to the rules which underpin it, regardless of their current orientation. The academy acts to colonize the practice setting and impose its ways of working on the workplace. Here strong boundaries are maintained between the different practices. The EdD and the DBA at times displayed these colonizing tendencies.
A third form of integration is where the practice setting becomes the dominant partner in the relationship and is not only understood as the source for theoretical development but as the arena in which this activity takes place. The role of the university is confined to the development of appropriate dispositions, but even here identification of those dispositions is understood in terms of relevance to the practice setting. Universities are therefore as players in the game required to move much more into the territory of the practice setting and adjust their way of working so that knowledge is produced which has practical applications, whether that knowledge is dispositional or technical in character. Here, a form of colonization (reverse colonization) takes place but works in the opposite direction to the form expressed above. The DProf which is offered in at least one UK university more closely conformed to this model.
There are a number of implications. First, students undertaking professional doctorates were expected to conform to different programme and institutional requirements and as a result were being inducted into different and at times conflicting forms of knowledge. Second, impact on practice varied between programmes, institutions and students. Students, for example, operating through technicist forms of knowledge were producing outputs that allowed them to develop technical knowledge about the practice setting and make it a more efficient and effective workplace. On the other hand, students who operated through forms of disciplinary knowledge were finding
that their work on the professional doctorate had little impact on their professional lives or the workplace in which they were located. A form of compartmentalization took place, as professional development and academic development were treated as separate activities. Third, there are a number of tensions yet to be fully resolved (though these tensions were less evident in the EngD programmes) between the academic and practice settings. One form these took was in relation to the assessment of their work, where academic criteria were seen to conflict with criteria for good practice within the workplace. These tensions were present in most of the programmes examined in this project.
Conclusions
The twelve case-study institutions revealed considerable diversity of practice, both within and between programme types. The impact of the professional doctorate on careers was most clearly evident for research engineers, participants on EngD programmes; the programmes were clear as to the purpose and the desired outcomes of the programme, and participants had a clear reason and motivation for participation. The impact was much less clear for senior professionals engaged in DBA and EdD study, where the impact was often at an individual level and enhancing individual skills or professional development. Professional doctorates have emerged as an alternative to the PhD, and for many programmes this has implied a hegemony of the academy over the practice setting and some tensions in the relation between academic and professional knowledge. The strong influence of the EPSRC and the professional engineering community over the development of the EngD has enabled the development of a more distinct identity and purpose. With a more diffuse professional community and until recently no interest by the relevant research council, the DBA and the EdD programmes have developed rapidly in response to universities’ expansion. Professional doctorates have existed in this country for only ten years, their number and scope have increased very rapidly, and the present research highlights issues which can contribute to the further coherence and integrity of their contribution to practitioner knowledge.
ACTIVITIES
The project and its findings have been presented at the following conferences: • Australian conference on Professional Doctorates November 2002 • UKCGE workshop on Professional Doctorates December 2002
A network has been established based on participants in the research who will receive copies of the project report as well as publications arising from the research. The following activities are planned:
• Invitational conference is planned for spring 2003 to present the findings of the project
• Presentation at Network of EdD programme Directors April 2003 • Presentation at LTSN conference April 2003.
• The project findings will be presented in a paper for the ESRC Postgraduate Training Board
• Presentation at BERA, September 2003
A research proposal which develops some of the findings from the project has been submitted to the TLRP Phase 3
Outputs
• Thorne, L.E., Brown A., Lunt I., Scott D. ‘Student choice and the marketing of professional doctorates: issues in recruitment, retention and career development’. Paper in preparation for Studies in Higher Education.
• Scott, D., Lunt, I., Brown, A. and Thorne, L. ‘Integrating Academic and Professional Knowledge: Constructing the Practitioner-Researcher’, paper presented at 4th
Biennial Conference on Professional Doctorates, Brisbane, Australia, November, 2002.
• Lunt I., Brown A., Scott D., Thorne L. The impact of professional doctorates on practice. Paper presented at UKCGE conference, December 2002.
• Scott, D., Brown A., Lunt, I., and Thorne, L. Book Contract ‘Professional Doctorates in Higher Education: Fusing Academic and Professional Knowledge’, The Open University Press, due for publication November 2003.
This one year project has had a short time to demonstrate impact, yet there has been considerable interest in the project; there has been expressed interest from universities offering professional doctorates, and those considering their development, from UKCGE, from universities in other European countries with an interest in non-traditional forms of doctorate, and from professional bodies.
The network mentioned above comprises professional doctorate participants and their colleagues working in a range of professional settings and staff in higher education institutions responsible for designing and delivering these programmes. These groups offer the potential for further research and for outcomes to be applied directly back into practice in the future development of professional doctorates.
Future Research Priorities
At a time when there is both a rapid growth in the number of professional doctorates in an increasing range of professional fields, and a growing interest in the relevance of doctoral education, there is a need for further research which covers other professional fields and which enables more systematic consideration of the processes of higher professional learning and the impact of professional doctorates over time. Professional doctorates have only existed in the UK for just over 10 years, and there have not been many programmes with graduates; this is changing rapidly with the expansion of programmes, and further study both of graduates and of their employers will illuminate the processes and products of higher professional learning.
REFERENCES
Bourner, T., Bowden, R. & Laing, S. (2001) ‘Professional Doctorates in England’, Studies in Higher Education, Vol. 26 No. 1, pp. 65-83.
Lee, A., Green, B. & Brennan, M. (2000) ‘Organisational knowledge, professional practice and the professional doctorate at work’, In: John Garrick & Carl Rhodes (eds) Research and knowledge at work: Perspectives, case-studies and innovative
Lunt I., Brown A., Scott D., Thorne L. The impact of professional doctorates on practice. Paper presented at UKCGE conference, December 2002.
Maxwell, T. W. and Shanahan, P. J. (1997) 'Towards a reconceptualisation of the Doctorate: issues arising from comparative data relating to the EdD degree in Australia'. Studies in Higher Education 22 (2), 133-150.
Maxwell, T.W. and Shanahan, P. (2001) ‘Professional Doctoral Education in Australia and New Zealand: reviewing the scene’, in Green, B., Maxwell, T. and Shanahan, P. (eds.) Doctoral Education and Professional Practice: the next generation? Armidale: Kardoorair Press.
Scott, D., Lunt, I., Brown, A. and Thorne, L. ‘Integrating Academic and Professional Knowledge: Constructing the Practitioner-Researcher’, paper presented at 4th
Biennial Conference on Professional Doctorates, Brisbane, Australia, November, 2002.
Thorne, L.E., Brown A., Lunt I., Scott D. ‘Student choice and the marketing of professional doctorates: issues in recruitment, retention and career development’. Paper in preparation for Studies in Higher Education.
