The Role of the Dissertation in Music Education Doctoral Programs

This survey study was designed to determine attributes of, and attitudes toward, the doctoral dissertation. Of particular interest was music education faculty awareness and implementation of project-based dissertations as alternatives to traditional dissertations. Respondents, music education program heads at doctoral granting institutions (N = 46, 85% return), agreed strongly that the dissertation should make a contribution to knowledge and that the outcome of doctoral programs should be skilled researchers, but indicated that less than half of recent graduates published a research or practitioner article based on the dissertation. Only eight participants responded that their students had an option for completing their doctoral dissertation in any format other than the traditional dissertation. Only 53% of respondents were familiar with the project-based doctoral dissertation, which may explain the relatively neutral responses to questions related to the appropriateness of this format. Faculty were only moderately interested in the format, but almost all estimated stronger interest on the part of their doctoral students.