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
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