Value of Professional Doctorates (w/Capstones)

Some might argue that the DNP is more appropriately categorized as a first professional degree. I would hesitate to call it a professional doctorate unless it culminated in a doctoral project comparable in rigor, scope, and impact to a dissertation. I'm in no position to judge whether or not it does.

 

Those people, as a group, know nothing about diploma mills.

 

Ah, but this is a faulty premise. The culmination of a professional doctorate IS research. But it is research applied to practice, rather than scholarship.

Scholarly doctorates prepare people to conduct research.
Professional doctorates prepare people to do research to conduct their practice.

 

This is true of thesis-based professional doctorates, 100%. (And I hope nobody thinks I am maligning any doctorates here!) But what about the degrees where a capstone is the goal? Perhaps I misunderstand the capstones. If they are research projects and just expressed in a different form, then we land back at "the goal of [most] doctorates are research" and I was just confused (with "first professional doctorates" like MD/DVM/JD the obvious exception).

I've always thought a capstone meant distinctly non-research activities, but maybe this is not the case.

 

I assert that they are.

I don't think so, but I can't say I've got covered the universe of these experiences.

Creating and conducting a program would be a project. Measuring its results and impact, and placing that project within the context of the field of practice (including prior research) would be a capstone project akin to a dissertation. The former is a thing. The latter is a complete thing.

But, again, I don't want to claim authority on "capstone" projects at the doctoral level.

 

Everybody is inventing doctorates to try and get customers in the door. When they come up with a Doctor of Professional Snackology I am in.

 

Alternate explanation: Greater recognition for the need for research-based (fact-based) knowledge and practice.

The vast majority of degree programs do little to advance professional practice or scholarship. The doctorate does that, and encourages the use of research and research methods in future endeavors.

A few decades ago, things were much different. Practice got advanced in two ways. First, the translation of empirical, scholarly research into theory, and theory into practice. This was a rough road seldom traveled. For example, I practiced human resource development for decades without realizing there was a foundational theory (Swanson and Holton) for scholarship in the field. Yet, once I learned about it (thanks, Leicester), it informed my practice from then on.

The second way practice got advanced with through good (and not so good) unfounded ideas implemented by the "great man" concept. Situational Leadership is an example of this. It is not based in scholarship, but it is a particularly good idea that managers find useful. (It is particularly resistant to empirical testing since its effects cannot be isolated.) A better example is the advice put forth in the best-selling One Minute Manager, which is also not based in research, but was driven, in part, by the co-author Ken Blanchard's reputation.

But today? Today we see an explosion of doctoral programs designed for mid-career professionals. Is this due to "credential creep," an increased demand for higher credentials (termed "Diplomaism by David Hapgood in 1971)? Oh, I'm sure that's part of it. But so what? It's also a splendid way to create thought leaders who are practitioners, not scholars. And if you want to get on top of your profession and be a recognized expert--a thought leader--in it, doing a professional doctorate is a good way to go about it. Do you have to do a professional doctorate to accomplish this? Of course not. All the old ways are still available and effective. This is just one more, and a path particularly suited to the purpose.

 

IIRC, Liberty had some valid concerns many years ago, leading them to get TRACS accreditation as a hedge against losing RA (I believe they dumped TRACS as soon as they were off probation with their RA). I recall a humorous phone call between Steve Levicoff and Jerry Falwell about the whole thing.

Many people in academia (including some members here) have the Irish Amnesia; they forget everything but their grudges.

 

My only concern about Liberty is the same one I have about the University of Phoenix: infamy.

Liberty is a pioneer in distance learning. But the attraction (distraction) to (from) the school by the Falwells' antics was always troublesome to the brand.

Similarly, UoP became the archetype for all grievances--real or (often) imagined--for two genres: distance learning and for-profit schools. I taught at UoP for 3 years, probably 30 classes or more. If you do a UoP degree, you've earned it; it's not easy. But again, the brand is tarnished (fairly or not) by issues not related to academic rigor.

 

Yes, it's frustrating to see terms like diploma mill thrown around about perfectly accredited, if unexceptional schools. Those adjectives describe every school I've attended and I've gotten a great education. Given their size, I'm actually shocked at how rarely I meet a UofP student/grad or professor. I've probably met a dozen WGU students just by happenstance, yet I know of only one UofP grad. Even on this board you don't see them. By the numbers they must be out there somewhere!

 

A DNP is very much a professional degree. In my opinion, the amount of rigor a PhD can not be equated to a professional degree. - In my opinion of completing a DNP from a national ranked nursing school and 90% complete in PhD program.

For example, my DNP had a whooping 30 references; I have over 145 references in my current dissertation draft. I was informed anything under 95 references is not well-researched.

 

They didn't use the term "diploma mill." Regardless of how you personally define what a degree mill is and whether you think the term is interchangeable with diploma mill, these aren't people lacking experience in academia who know nothing about assessing the quality of a doctoral program. As tenure-track professors, I would bet money that they've published more than just about everyone here and that they've been on more dissertation committees than just about everyone here.

 

Most capstones are research projects. Alternative culminating projects are rare. They're so rare, I make threads about them whenever I come across one.

 

Maybe it's because they have maintained a low graduation rate, and their enrollment numbers have dropped substantially over the past decade. Back in 2010, I frequently came across University of Phoenix students. At the time, UoP almost had a half a million students. Over time, students gravitated more toward Walden, Capella, Northcentral, and Strayer for graduate programs.

 

Given my work, I run into them more frequently. Had lunch with one yesterday. I'm coaching one currently as well.

 

The distinction I questioned was not whether it was a professional degree vs. a scholarly degree. Instead, I question weather the DNP is not actually a first professional degree as opposed to a professional degree.

 

Then you were misinformed. There is no such thing as an objective number of references that would be sufficient, just as there are not numbers of pages or word counts* that are objectively good. Each should be sufficient to meet the purpose of the artifact being produced.

I never counted the number of references for my thesis, but a quick look at the table of contents tells me there are 37 pages of them. Good? Bad? I don't know. Sufficient? I passed, so yes.

(*Word Count. Normally, when we see a word count associated with a doctoral thesis it is a maximum number of words allowed, not a minimum number to reach.)

 

The MSN is still the entry-level degree for nurse practitioners and not all DNP programs train nurse practitioners. There are DNP programs in leadership, informatics, nurse education, etc.

 

Agreed.

I taught for UoP online for awhile, the faculty training was absolutely top-notch (both initial training and continuing development), the course materials were excellent, and the rigor was absolutely there.

I don’t know where UoP got that reputation from, I’m guessing it’s just because they were among the pioneers of DL, and people tend to make fun of and/or demonize things they don’t understand.