Accountability

It is easy to blame others when things go wrong, isn’t it? Your chair is compulsive about APA…. The URR is mean and impossible to please. However, today I want to remind you how important it is to be accountable for your own actions in general. Part of being a professional is recognizing that you make your own choices, and ultimately there really is no one else to blame. Accepting your own responsibility that contributed to a problem is part of your growth. No one expects you to be perfect, it is ok to say that you messed up and you will try to correct it.

Let me give you some examples. If you are having many problems with a committee member, perhaps there are communication issues and you each are not expressing yourself clearly. Try other forms of communication such as the phone. If this doesn't work, you must accept that it is your responsibility to do something about the situation. Contact your coordinator or program director and lay out the issues as neutrally as possible. Admit that you are probably equally responsible for the problems, but you would like some help in resolving it.

Why should you take responsibility? First, it shows maturity and professionalism to understand that both parties contributed to a problem. Second, when students start playing the blame game, whining, and complaining, it comes across as the student is probably the real source of the issue- is that what you want?

An illustration:

Dr. Stadtlander,

I need your help! My URR is being totally unreasonable, she wants me to rewrite my paper again for the third time. I have so much going on in my life, I simply do not have the time to respond to her OCD problems. Please how can I rid of her??

Compare the above to this one:

Dr. Stadtlander,

I need some advice, please. My proposal has been rejected by the URR now for the third time. I accept that my writing may be at issue; however, I am not sure how best to resolve the problem. I have spoken to my chair and he acknowledges there are still issues in the paper but is not sure how I can best address them. Do you have any suggestions?

The second student is obviously open to suggestions and will be willing to follow through with them. The first one does not come across as recognizing that he/she could be part of the problem and will probably fight any suggestions I make. 

Finally, I want to remind you that being accountable gives you back control. When you recognize that you are part of the problem you can then become part of the solution. Next time I will begin a series interviewing Walden psychology mentors. Do you have an issue or a question that you would like me to discuss in a future post? Send me an email with your ideas. leann.stadtlander@waldenu.edu

Getting Feedback

From Paula: I do not understand why on this level (Ph.D.) – you do not get any feedback about the content of your paper. I am very passionate about my dissertation topic, but no faculty member/committee member ever commented on the subject. For me this was/is weird. I do not advocate for more feedback, but it would help to know this in advance and to understand the reasons for it.

Interesting issue, Paula, I had to stop and think about it for a while. I think there are a number of factors involved. First, unless you just happen to have a chair or committee member very knowledgeable about the topic (I have only a couple that I can think of), the faculty may not know a great deal about the subject. This means that their comments will tend to be related to the logic of the arguments you make and if you appear to have covered the necessary literature.

A second factor is that there is an underlying assumption that you are an expert in the area you are addressing. As a committee member, even if I know something about the topic, in all likelihood I have not gone into a great deal of depth in the literature of your specific subtopic. As someone reading the paper, I will look for the student's understanding of the areas that I do know. I will also look at the type of references used – are they primarily books or textbooks? This shows the student has not dug deep enough into the literature.

A third comment, I know for me (and probably most faculty) I tend to be a generalist in my knowledge, I seem to know a little about many topics and a great deal about some narrow ones. After teaching many different psychology courses over the last 25 years (icky to realize that!), I have learned quite a bit about most areas of psychology. This means I can generally judge if the content seems adequate or if the student has misunderstood something important. Also, I find most faculty will ask questions of the student in the paper rather than make comments on what is written- the idea is to make you think it through not to provide the answers.

A final observation, in general I think what I look for in content is a logical argument. If you think back to the posts, where I discussed writing from broad subjects to narrowing it to the subtopics, this makes sense. An example, if John sends me a draft of his proposal, examining the elderly's opinion of their medical care, there are certain content areas I expect to be addressed. He should discuss aging in general, aging and medical care, patient satisfaction, etc. I want to be educated on the topic/ subtopics, if I don’t feel like I really understand the rationale, there is something missing in content.

Next time we will look at being accountable for your actions. Do you have an issue or a question that you would like me to discuss in a future post? Send me an email with your ideas. leann.stadtlander@waldenu.edu

Tables and Figures

Recently a student asked me "how many tables and figures should I have in my dissertation?" This is another of those tough questions for which it is hard to provide a firm rule. The APA manual states that you should "limit the content of your tables to essential materials" (section 5.07). This means you should only include information that is cumbersome or confusing if written in text. A couple of examples are demographics and correlation tables, which are often clearer in table format than explained in text. Below is an example of a demographics table from a dissertation (Clark, 2013).

Table 1. Summary of Demographics

Demographics

Participants	Gender	Age	Time attending community college
Participant 1	Female	62	3 years
Participant 2	Female	57	1 online class
Participant 3	Female	55	4 classes
Participant 4	Female	54	2 years
Participant 5	Male	50	2.5 years
Participant 6	Female	52	3 years
Participant 7	Male	51	1 year
Participant 8	Female	59	4 years
Participant 9	Female	59	3 years
Participant10	Female	62	7 years
Participant11	Male	58	2 years

Note. The mean age of the participants was 56.2 years.

  

What about figures (graphs)? These should be used very sparingly. The only time I recommend the use of a figure is for a quantitative study that had an interaction effect, it is typically easier to understand if presented in a graph. Here is an example from Stadtlander, Giles and Sickel (2013, p.128).

As shown in Figure 1, there was an interaction effect (F [1, 14] = 13.25, p < .01), whereby the lab group showed a greater knowledge gain over the four periods as compared to the comparison group.

Figure 1: Research Knowledge Test Scores Interaction Effect for Lab and Comparison Students

Next time I will examine the issue of feedback on the content of papers. Do you have an issue or a question that you would like me to discuss in a future post? Send me an email with your ideas. leann.stadtlander@waldenu.edu 

Clark, L. (2013). Older Adult Community College Students' Perceptions of Readiness for Learning Online. Walden University Doctoral Dissertation.

Stadtlander, L., Giles, M. & Sickel, A. (2013).  The Virtual Research Lab: Research Outcomes Expectations, Research Knowledge, and the Graduate Student Experience. Journal of Educational Research and Practice, 3(1), 120-138.

Pain vs. passion

Students are often told to choose a dissertation topic that they "feel passionate" about. Such a recommendation is logical in that you will be working, reading, and writing intensively on the topic for a year or more. Caring about the topic makes sense. However, today I want to caution you against choosing a topic that has impacted you or a loved one and that affects you emotionally. Let me give you an example, if your parent, who you were the caregiver for, died of cancer- choosing the topic of cancer caregiving may be too close. Notice your body's responses when you consider the topic, if you feel that you are withdrawing from the topic, as evidenced by not wanting to read about it or write about it, that is a warning. Yes, you may be passionate about it, but do not put yourself through the continual pain and frustration of working in that area.

Many students who disregard this advice find themselves dropping out of dissertation, having bouts of frustration, anger, and self-doubt. Think about it, if you were required to do a difficult task in which every time you started to do it you were hit in the stomach, you would very soon rebel against it. This is exactly what is happening on an emotional level when you choose a tender topic.

So what can you do if you the topic you are passionate about brings you pain? Consider a related, but different topic. For example using the cancer caregiving example, you might look at caregiving in a different disease or context, maybe with dementia patients, multiple sclerosis, heart disease, etc. Alternatively, you could look at a different aspect of cancer, perhaps resilience in adolescent cancer patients. Again, pay attention to what your body is telling you, if it feels too close, it should be changed.

What do you do if you are already in the midst of your dissertation study and realize that the topic is causing you a lot of emotional pain (some symptoms: avoiding writing, sleepless nights, depression, anxiety). I suggest talking to your chair and discussing the situation. See if you can come up with a shift in topic that will allow to work without the pain.

Take care of yourself; listen to your body and the emotional evidence. The dissertation should be challenging but also interesting, it should not be painful.

Next time we will look at finding a topic for your dissertation. 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

What are you going to do with your doctorate?

Many of the readers of this blog are either health or general psychology students. What can you do with your doctorate in these fields? First, it is important to understand that you cannot be licensed as a psychologist with a degree in these fields. To be licensed, you would need to be in counseling or clinical psychology. So what can you do with it??

Many of our students go into academia and work as instructors or professors, conducting research and teaching. What would your professional life be like as a professor? It depends a great deal on whether you have a full time or a part time position.  Many beginning faculty members have one or more part time positions, particularly if they are working online. They may be teaching at multiple colleges or universities and teaching several courses at once. This would mean that you would be online responding to discussions, grading papers, and interacting students for many hours each day.

If you had a full time position, whether online or in person, you would be expected to teach 2-3 classes a term, conduct research (or teach additional classes), and do committee work for the college/ university. If you do research, you will be expected to include students, which means mentoring them in how to conduct reach projects.

What can you do now to prepare for such a position? Get some experience teaching. With a master’s degree you are qualified to teach at a junior or community college (no license is required). Another alternative is look at professional schools, as a grad student I taught an intro to psych class at a paralegal school. The important thing is to get experience in front of a class. Save any teaching evaluations you get, this is proof of your ability as a teacher. Consider getting a certificate in online teaching at Walden, it will teach you some valuable skills that will make you an asset to organizations.

Also, consider getting experience with research. Sometimes there are volunteer research assistant positions at Walden, but also consider applying for volunteer ones at any local colleges or universities. You will get valuable experience, and may get the opportunity to be an author on posters or publications.

Plan ahead for your future.

Next time we'll take a look at pain vs. passion. 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

Finding a topic

I am often asked- how do I find a topic for my dissertation? This is a difficult question to answer. What are you interested in? Make a list- what topics have you written papers on during your education? What intrigues you? Take a look at your bookshelves, what topic areas keep reappearing?

Once you have a list of several topics (use a research journal, so you can keep track of your progress) then go to the Walden library and start doing some searches in these areas, include the search term "review". You will bring up some literature reviews in the area. Locate the most current ones and read these. What sounds interesting? Which topics suggest areas that need more research?

You should now be narrowing your subject. Go back to the library and see what has been done on these topics. Also, take a look at Amazon or other book site and see what books have been written in these areas.

Now stop and just think about each of the areas you have identified. You should now have a pretty good idea as to what needs more research and the areas that sound interesting. My advice is to pick one and start digging into the literature, look for studies that are related to the area that you identified as needing more research. As you read, think about how you could address this need. Write down ideas.

Keep playing with the ideas and reading literature. Talk to some faculty and/or experts in the field and run your ideas by them. Listen to their input, what are they identifying as problems? Write them down. Talk to faculty about issues that they foresee with the IRB (ethics board), you can even write the IRB an email outlining your ideas and get their input <irb@waldenu.edu>.

No, you cannot escape reading literature. It is an essential part of research and you must understand the background and history of the topic area. You can do this, relax and don’t put pressure on yourself. Take it one step at a time, keep good notes, talk to people. You are not alone and there are many people willing to help. 

Next time we will consider – what are you going to do with your doctorate? 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

What is a dissertation?

Recently, a faculty member made the comment to me, "I don’t think some students understand what a dissertation really is." I thought it might be interesting to explore this – what is a dissertation, and why is required to get a Ph.D.?

It might help to take a step back and consider, what is a Ph.D.? This is a Doctor of Philosophy; it is a research degree, meaning that during the process of getting the degree you were trained as researcher. Your dissertation is therefore the demonstration of your ability to conduct research and to write professionally. It is considered the terminal (or highest) degree in your professional field. Receiving the degree places you in an elite group (less than 4% of the US population has a professional degree), and it is evidence of your professionalism and learning.

Why are you required to do research to show you are a professional? Conducting a research project shows your persistence and ability to complete a large project. It integrates all that you have learned in your education and shows that you can formulate new questions for future learning. Most degrees simply show learning; however, a PhD also shows your ability to go further and explore unknown areas, to develop research that answers questions. It shows that you are a logical and critical thinker; you can synthesize ideas, data and information, and write in a technical and professional manner. Research also shows that you are able to sift through information to find the current thinking in the field; as well as able to apply theory to your thinking, practice, investigations, and current events. The dissertation is considered the first step in your future research plan for the rest of your professional life. Will you have to stay in this topic area? No, but you will have the ability to plan and execute future studies.

At the completion of your project, you are assumed to be able to teach in your areas of expertise – both content and method at a college or university level. No licensure beyond the doctorate is required to teach in post-secondary institutions.

Is the dissertation "just another paper to write?" No, it really is much more than that; it is a very formalized document that demonstrates your expertise in your chosen area of interest. Once you have completed the project, you are considered an expert in this area. The paper will eventually be published in the dissertation databases, and will be a part of the professional literature. Other researchers and graduate students interested in your topic will read it in the future.

There are a number of implications of these issues. (a) Your literature review must be correct and as complete as possible, both to demonstrate your expertise and also for future researchers. (b) Your research methods must be as accurate and complete as possible, so others know exactly what you did in your study. Consider the future researcher who does a study similar to yours but gets different results. He or she will want to be able to compare the two samples and methods to determine why the difference occurred. (c) Your paper must be written in the format required for publication, and the formatting will be checked before you are allowed to defend the final draft. (d) This paper will follow you forever. Any future employer or colleague will be able to look up this document. (e) For many students, your dissertation will be your first published work. Think of it as your first child, yes, you will make mistakes, and when you look back at it years later, you will see things you should have done differently. For your future self, make it as elegant as possible and something of which you are and will be proud.

Next time we will consider pain vs. passion in dissertation writing. 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