Along with Michael, I add my agreement with the view Chris provides of the
professional doctorate. It is quite similar in the United States. There
are no "doctor of design" programs that I know about.
I will add that in the 1970s there was an effort to create a "Doctor of
Arts" that focused on educational technology and the so-called
"multi-media." Some remnants of that degree remain, but it has largelly
fallen away. I note also the recent creation of a PharmD degree--doctor of
pharmacy. It has gained popularity among pharmacy schools, but for reasons
that are not entirely clean. It ostensibly emphasizes clinical consulting
in the practice of pharmacy. Many view it as pretentious and concerned
more with status than substance. I do not know which view is true.
Richard Buchanan
--On Thursday, February 20, 2003 10:01 PM +0000 "Chris RUST(SCS)"
<[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> From time to time there is a call on this list and elsewhere for a
> discussion of the professional doctorate. The question is often raised in
> the context of our old friend, the practice/research conundrum (no please
> let's not do that one). Ken Friedman has called, more than once, for some
> consideration of professional doctorates as part of the doctoral
> education in design debate.
>
> I have always resisted this as a topic as I felt that there was a job to
> do in developing research degrees and the professional doctorate was
> often presented as an award for the most advanced practice. However I
> have been interested to find out more about these degrees recently and
> would like to offer a few comments, not least because they might dispel
> some of the preconceptions.
>
> I don't want to discuss practices in other countries but I would like to
> mention what happens in the UK and, particularly, in my own university.
> Here, the professional doctorate (DBA, EdD etc) is framed as a research
> degree which advances knowledge in the arena of practice. There is
> usually some taught curriculum and students are likely to be part of a
> clearly defined cohort but their teaching includes the full ration of
> research methods, they pass though similar refereeing stages as their
> research proposal develops and their thesis is comparable to a research
> degree thesis.
>
> The main differences are that the research is likely to be closely
> aligned to the agendas of the department they study in - the taught
> curriculum draws heavily on the interests and research of the staff -
> and student's projects are based in their workplaces, dealing with issues
> that are directly relevant to their professional roles. This has a
> benefit of enabling students to complete their studies more quickly than
> for a PhD (4-5 years part time) since they face fewer problems of access
> to people and materials and are able to use working time and resources to
> advance their research, It has also been found that the cohort experience
> enables students to maintain a higher pace of study and support each
> other pro-actively.
>
> These observations are mainly from finding out about Doctorates here in
> Sheffield but it can be seen that similar conditions apply elsewhere in
> England. Bourner et al (2001) provide a detailed review and describe the
> professional doctorate as conforming to the OECD)/Frascati definition of
> applied research
> as ?an original investigation undertaken to gain new knowledge and with
> practical aims and objectives?. They state that "Whereas the ?traditional?
> Doctor of Philosophy degree is intended to develop professional
> researchers, the professional doctorate is designed to develop
> researching professionals."
>
> I thought this was interesting as it rather confounds any idea that there
> can be a doctorate for research and another for practice. Any attempt to
> introduce a DDes qualification in this system would soon lead to the same
> debates about the inadmissability of professional practice as such and
> the importance of the "practice of research".
>
> Of course, other people, in other places, may have different models or
> ideas to offer.
>
> best wishes from Sheffield
> Chris Rust
>
> Bourner, T. Bowden, R. Laing, S. (2001) "Professional Doctorates in
> England" Studies in Higher Education Volume 26, No. 1, 2001
>
>
> *******************************************
> Professor Chris Rust
> Art and Design Research Centre
> Sheffield Hallam University UK
> www.shu.ac.uk/design
>
> [log in to unmask]
> tel +44 114 225 2706
> fax +44 114 225 2603
> Psalter Lane, Sheffield S11 8UZ, UK
>
|