Doctoral Journey

Thinking about my Doctoral Journey

Reading through some recent posts in the "University of Phoenix College of Doctoral Studies on FaceBook" thread reminded me of some open secrets for succeeding in the "doctoral studies," worth sharing: a) Learning to use reference managers and engaging one or more and b) Going the extra mile to learn how to effectively manage qualitative studies using a tool like NVIVO/ and quantitative statistical analyses using SPSS.  

While my mind was made up to do a quant study, I prepped myself to handle a qualitative study, just in case. Always ahead of the game.  Not fun: I did not have a clear idea of what exactly I would do for the dissertation until nearly the very end. It was not funny. Looking back, I really should have spent more time finding the study as early as RES/709. Not kidding! That is how early I should have. Instead, I was on my way to collect data when it finally dawned on me the exact focus of my research. 

Having a great dissertation chair was absolutely invaluable, someone quick to remind me where gaps remained and then also ready to give me protection from eroding influences. I was very focused on doing things right I overlooked doing the right things... stepping in the right places over finding the right direction to step into.