Interdisciplinary Dissertation Research Among Public Health Doctoral Trainees, 2003-2015

Given the call for more interdisciplinary research in public health, the objectives of this study were to (1) examine the correlates of interdisciplinary dissertation completion and (2) identify secondary fields most common among interdisciplinary public health graduates. METHODS: We analyzed pooled cross-sectional data from 11 120 doctoral graduates in the Survey of Earned Doctorates, 2003-2015. The primary outcome was interdisciplinary dissertation completion. Covariates included primary public health field, sociodemographic characteristics, and institutional attributes. RESULTS: From 2003 to 2015, a total of 4005 of 11 120 (36.0%) doctoral graduates in public health reported interdisciplinary dissertations, with significant increases observed in recent years. Compared with general public health graduates, graduates of environmental health (odds ratio [OR] = 1.74; P < .001) and health services administration (OR = 1.38; P < .001) doctoral programs were significantly more likely to report completing interdisciplinary dissertation work, whereas graduates from biostatistics (OR = 0.51; P < .001) and epidemiology (OR = 0.76; P < .001) were less likely to do so. Completing an interdisciplinary dissertation was associated with being male, a non-US citizen, a graduate of a private institution, and a graduate of an institution with high but not the highest level of research activity. Many secondary dissertation fields reported by interdisciplinary graduates included other public health fields. CONCLUSION: Although interdisciplinary dissertation research among doctoral graduates in public health has increased in recent years, such work is bounded in certain fields of public health and certain types of graduates and institutions. Academic administrators and other stakeholders may use these results to inform greater interdisciplinary activity during doctoral training and to evaluate current and future collaborations across departments or schools

2014 – 2015 DOCTORAL DISSERTATION FELLOWSHIP

Lake Institute on Faith and Giving at the Indiana University School of Philanthropy will offer a one year doctoral dissertation fellowship of $22,000 for the academic year 2014-2015. This doctoral dissertation fellowship will be given to a scholar whose primary research focus is in the area of religion and philanthropy or faith and giving. The fellowship is intended to support the final year of dissertation writing. The fellowship stipend will be paid in three installments:$10,000 at the beginning of the 2014-2015 academic year; $10,000 at the mid-point of the 2014-2015 academic year;$2,000 upon the successful completion of the dissertation

Fundamental Researcher Attributes: Reflections on Ways to Facilitate Participation in Community Psychology Doctoral Dissertation Research

As novice researchers, Community Psychology doctoral students encounter fresh challenges when they attempt to facilitate participation by members of the community in their dissertation projects. This article presents the merit in adopting fundamental researcher attributes, which have been described in published academic literature as personal characteristics that facilitate participation by members of the community in research studies. The value of these researcher attributes is exemplified in the discussion of one of the author’s experiences in the early stages of his dissertation research process. This article also presents new researcher attributes for facilitating participation by community members that the author recognised after critical reflection on his experiences during the same research process. Cultural humility, shared vulnerability, reflexivity, methodological flexibility, academic assiduity and creative resourcefulness are researcher attributes doctoral students should consider adopting and developing if they intend to facilitate participation by members of the community in their dissertation projects

A Wikipedia Literature Review

This paper was originally designed as a literature review for a doctoral dissertation focusing on Wikipedia. This exposition gives the structure of Wikipedia and the latest trends in Wikipedia research

Some Temperance on the Doctoral Studies and On-Line Education

Toward the goal of doctoral studies, it is necessary to combine two basic characteristics of independent study. I like to call it an independent study, which would be partial to capture the whole of graduate studies. As for its high honor, the title page of dissertation in vast of universities usually use the phrase “...submitted for the partial fulfillment of doctorate degree...”. That phrase implies that the completion of dissertation would be a major part of doctoral studies, but should be partial depending on some of additional factors. Idealistically, that could be the whole quality as an independent researcher or investigator, and possibly the kind of human paradigm as a prospective teacher. In any case, we would not be incorrect if we see our principal work at the graduate level learning the ways of independent scholar. In this context, I would propose some of elements to be addressed in the end to guide the paradigm of doctoral studies and especially involving the e-age

Improving Doctoral Candidates’ Persistence in the Online Dissertation Process

Variables associated with doctoral attrition and distance education attrition are academic, social, and emotional. Thus, methods chosen to support doctoral students in the doctoral journey, and more specifically, the dissertation process, should take into account doctoral students needs on both an academic and social/ emotional level. This article examines the use of a collaborative technology, Microsoft Office SharePoint, and its ability to support distance doctoral candidates both socially and academically in the dissertation process in comparison with traditional dissertation facilitation methods

Surviving the Doctoral Dissertation Experience: The N.W. Sisters’ Study

The purpose of this year-long study was to examine and describe both the individual and shared experiences of a group of four women as they went through their Doctor of Education (Ed.D.) program. The main research question was: What do you perceive as the factors that were integral to your achieving success in the doctoral program? Data from this qualitative case study were gathered through group interview sessions. Subsequent analysis of interview transcripts revealed the following factors that were integral to achieving success: sense of humor, family values, empathy, perseverance, spirituality, accountability to the group, collaboration, good advisors, ability to rebuild after setbacks, having role models, group support, and seeing the benefits of obtaining the doctorate. The goal of this study is to encourage other women to overcome the ABD (All But Dissertation) hurdle by giving them some tools to help complete the journey

Don Patinkin's Ph.D. dissertation as the prehistory of disequilibrium theories

Abstract: In the opening sentence of Money, Interest, and Prices, Patinkin noted that his book was the outgrowth of ideas first presented in his doctoral dissertation. This claim has attracted the attention of most scholars who wrote about his works in recent years. As shown by Boianovsky (2006), Merhling (2002) or Rubin (2002), reading Patinkin's doctoral dissertation shed new light on his major work. However, these articles only contain partial presentations of the thesis. This essay contributes to fill in this gap. It offers a detailed presentation of the second part of Patinkin's Ph.D and claims that this document foreshadowed the research programs of disequilibrium theorists of the 1970's.Patinkin, disequilibrium theory, history of macroeconomics, microfoundations, Keynesian theory.

On Gauss's first proof of the fundamental theorem of algebra

Carl Friedrich Gauss is often given credit for providing the first correct proof of the fundamental theorem of algebra in his 1799 doctoral dissertation. However, Gauss's proof contained a significant gap. In this paper, we give an elementary way of filling the gap in Gauss's proof.Comment: 9 pages, 1 figure. To appear in American Mathematical Monthl