The Doctoral Choice

Learners who have decided to seek a doctoral degree in education must choose which terminal degree to pursue — the PhD or the EdD

Each degree represents a considerable body of knowledge and either will provide an academic credential with extraordinary career and professional ramifications. The chief differences between the two regard the doctoral dissertation and its constituent research. There truly is no right or wrong choice; the decision rests with you.

Happily, you do not have to decide at the time of admission. You have until you take your research courses to decide which will be your preferred path.

Factors you may wish to consider include: What is your ultimate goal? What does the degree designation mean to you personally? What are your professional aspirations?

The PhD dissertation is the capstone of focused research aimed at contributing to the body of knowledge–either by new research or by adding to research already done in the field. At NCU, PhD Learners must take ED5020 (Applied Statistics) as part of their program of study and an oral defense of the dissertation is required.

The EdD research focuses on solving a problem in the workplace or within the broadly defined professional field of education and results in a dissertation, but also produces a "product" or solution. Another significant focus of the EdDis on developing workplace leadership skills. The necessary statistics are covered in the RSH courses.

To say that the Ed.D. research is practical whereas the PhD research is scholarly would be an oversimplification. Nonetheless, many who aspire to the PhD are intimidated by the dissertation prospect. We understand this potential for anxiety—after all, we went through it ourselves—so NCU has developed the Dissertation Center to assist you in completing your dissertation.

The Dissertation Center, a part of the NCU Writing Program web, provides online and one-on-one support from choosing a topic to final review. Field-specific Faculty Mentor experts help provide this unmatched level of scholastic support.