Davé's Dissertation & Thesis Tip
by Ronda Davé, PhD
Is Your Dissertation a Good Idea Gone Bad?
For more than 30 years I've provided
graduate students with dissertation support--directly as a faculty
instructor and research consultant--and indirectly as an author and
forum moderator. My attitude has always been that "If you start
a dissertation, you finish it." My thinking was based on my assumptions
that:
1. Doing a dissertation is something most PhD candidates can do. You
wouldn't have been admitted to the program or to candidacy if you
didn't have the right stuff to finish a dissertation.
2. Most dissertation problems are people-related: you lack motivation,
time, or energy; or you don't have proper guidance or support.
3. Most problems can be overcome given sufficient guidance and support.
4. The grief of not finishing is worse than the grief of finishing.
ABDs feel they've failed or they made a mistake trying something too
"big."
So I egged graduate students on, come hell or high water.
Admittedly over the past 30 years I've seen many instances where a
student didn't seem to have the intellectual capacity or language
skills to do a decent dissertation. But even some of these "unlikely
sorts" went on to finish--albeit--not masterpieces. They simplified
and scaled down and plodded on as best they could, but managed to
finish.
I understood that the "lame brains" were allowed to finish
because their getting a doctorate might mean something to those for
whom they became a model. "If poverty stricken, half-witted Aunt
Gilda can finish a dissertation--I can do a dissertation." Although
my personal bias was against giving doctorates to people without standard
qualifications, I could sympathize with those university programs
that gave their social mission priority over their academic mission.
But having personally witnessed some of these "lame-brains"
graduate, I had little sympathy for most students who had the talent
but didn't finish.
Today, however, I admit I've changed my attitude. I've come to realize
we all take on projects to prove ourselves. Sometimes we meet, sometimes
we exceed, and sometimes we don't measure up to our own expectations.
But most of us continue to take on challenging projects all of our
lives--by choice or by force.
And sometimes we realize while we’re in the midst of a project
that we're not doing what we want to do with our lives. If you realize
this while working on a work project, you might look for another job.
If you realize this while working on a personal relationship, you
might disconnect from the other person. If you realize this while
working on a dissertation, you might decide to become ABD.
What I've realized over the years is that our values change. Life
is short. We need to be doing something all the time that makes our
life meaningful. We need to do things we can look back on with satisfaction.
We need to do things that lead our lives in the way we want to go.
We need to constantly reassess what we're doing with our lives to
decide whether to keep doing what we're doing or not. Hence, I now
believe there are some times when abandoning a dissertation is not
only justified, it's the smartest thing you can do.
This is not to say that I've changed my mind about the value of doing
a dissertation. I still believe that if you've made it all the way
to candidacy, you've probably got the talent to finish and should.
But I now acknowledge there may be reasons to abandon the dissertation
for something more important in your life.
A dissertation isn't a "sentence;" it's an opportunity.
Opportunities are there for us to CHOOSE. If we decide against choosing
one opportunity because another seems to be more valuable or meaningful,
that's a perfect choice.
If your dissertation has become a "bad idea" in your life,
maybe it really is time to explore a different goal. I can't see dropping
a dissertation in order to spend more time watching TV; but I can
see moving to a different more meaningful activity if your dissertation
is a good idea gone bad.
