How long does a dissertation take?

One of the most common questions I receive is "how long will it take me to do a dissertation?" Of course, my answer is it is very individual, it depends on how good of a writer you are, the type of study you do, and what problems you encounter. 

Let us go a little deeper. Some students become convinced they should be done with their dissertation within the program stated requirement. However, this number has little to do with reality; it is simply the academic requirement. Dissertations do not go according to schedule; it will take however long it takes. Yes, I have seen students finish in one year, but I have also seen others take 2-3 years.  

Why does it take so long?? There are a number of reasons. (a) Students may not write well, requiring many revisions and they must work with an editor. (b) There are many waiting times; each person who reviews your paper must be given a reasonable amount of time to complete it. Therefore, if you have to do many revisions, the time adds up. (c) Different research methods take different time periods. The fastest is doing an archival (a data set previously collected in the past) or secondary data (data collected by someone else, may be from an institution or organization) analysis. Probably qualitative and mixed methods take the longest. (d) Problems arise; in fact, expect them. You may not be able get the required number of participants, your computer crashes, you or family members get sick, or your boss insists you work overtime. Things happen, which delay the process. (e) Chair or committee issues, sometimes personalities clash, committee members get sick or even die. There is no way to predict such things and they too slow you down. 

What are characteristics of students who are done quickly? They tend to be excellent writers, work every day on their paper, and the dissertation gods grant them minimal outside problems. Promise yourself today, however long it takes, you will keep working on it. That will get you done. 

Next time, I will consider being one of many. Do you have an issue or a question that you would like me to discuss in a future post? Would you like to be a guest writer? Send me your ideas! leann.stadtlander@waldenu.edu