Very good post, in my opinion. Only one small observation :  
that your concluding salvo is [ intentionally ? ] internally 
anachronistic ( in a way, even doubly so ).  Which didn't, I 
hasten to say, stop me from having a good laugh. Thanks 
for that -- and best of luck with your studies, Jonathan !

 - Laval Hunsucker
   Breukelen, Nederland



----- Original Message ----
From: "Jonathan Dorey, Mr" <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask]
Sent: Thu, April 7, 2011 2:38:20 AM
Subject: RE : Doctoral Expectations and Frameworks

If I may chime in with my personal experience and my personal opinion as a 
current doctoral student... and by personal I mean it is my own and not that of 
my school.

I am currently completing my first year of doctoral studies at McGill 
University. My research questions are still not fully clear yet, let alone my 
theoretical framework! However, as you pointed out (which is something that I 
hadn't really thought off in those terms, but agree with), the difference 
between a master's degree and a doctorate's degree lies in one's ability to 
ground and frame a research problem in past theories and practices to address 
current and future issues. At this point in time, I feel that current Ph.D. 
students should have enough literature, research, and expertise on which to base 
themselves. At the same time, the growing nature of our interdisciplinary fields 
forces us to borrow from other fields (hard sciences, education technologies, 
educational psychology, psychology, linguistics, etc.). If anything, this should 
provide ample opportunities to clearly state and "back" our own research by 
clearly addressing the theoretical framework question. Although this isn't the 
focus of the various courses I took, it remains a requirement and certainly a 
fundamental issue, at McGill anyway. At least this is my understanding of our 
internal requirements, as well as of what is expected from any Ph.D. in our 
field. So while I did not answer your question, I think this remains a central 
and fundamental point in one's education, research and dissertation.

Now, the "previous research" "thing". In my opinion, one (student or not) should 
go as far back as necessary to inform their research, to justify the need to 
research a specific issue or issues, and to properly show that well... you know 
what you're talking about! While setting a specific date to cover the literature 
in a field may be acceptable for a class paper, or preliminary research, doing 
so for an entire dissertation is, well, I don't think I need to say it. However, 
if this specific student is studying a very specific topic which did not exist 
prior to 2006 (I don't know, say a bibliometric analysis of Tweets reposts) 
where completely new models are proposed and completely data analysis tools were 
employed, there might be an acceptable justification in setting this arbitrarily 
2006 date. And then again... Why reinvent the wheel? Old solutions often apply 
to current problems with minor tweaks. Limiting my investigation of previous 
research was not a requirement in my program.

There are many different institutions out there, with many different 
requirements. Maybe the issues you are raising are only a mark of which 
programs/schools have higher expectations and which have lower expectations. Or 
maybe expectations were not clearly stated or misunderstood? That also happens.

On a much lighter note, if one plans on submitting a dissertation without a 
theoretical framework, I would expect the dissertation to be carved in clay 
tablets and defended in a cave. With a dinosaur bone in the hair or the nose!

Jonathan Dorey
Certified Translator, OTTIAQ
Ph.D. student – Information studies, McGill
MLIS – Archives, McGill
________________________________________
De : Open Lib/Info Sci Education Forum [[log in to unmask]] de la part de 
[log in to unmask] [[log in to unmask]]
Date d'envoi : 6 avril 2011 16:23
À : [log in to unmask]
Objet : Doctoral Expectations and Frameworks

Two incidents in the past month lead me to raise a question on this list about 
doctoral studies. I want to be very careful to frame the question so that it is 
clear that I am seeking to understand expectations not to criticize them.
At a recent doctoral student presentation the candidate was asked about the 
theoretical framework for the study. The response was that the institution did 
not require a theoretical framework (for some of us this is a distinguishing 
feature between master’s and doctoral work). Is this the case at your 
institution? Is this a change?
Today a doctoral student from another institution asked me about recent research 
in a specific area. The institution “requires that I use research no further 
back than the year 2006.” (I will set aside whether there is any relationship 
between the topic of study and the date prescription.) Again, is this the case 
at your institution? Is this a change?
I have not encountered these before and wonder if there are changes underway or 
I am less aware of expectations elsewhere or whether these are unique.
Thank you.
[cid:3384940994_50458785]
Ken Haycock
voice: 778-689-5938