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Chapter One
The Secret Handshake
The dissertation process is a small period of your life for a lifetime membership into the Doctorâs Club. It can be challenging on all levels at times, so you need to be smart and strategic as to how you behave and treat people. Interpersonal relationships are such a crucial part of the dissertation process that they are the focus of the first chapter, specifically, dynamics with the Committee and pointers on proper dissertation etiquette. Remember that everyone in the Doctorâs Club conquered the same battles as you or they would not be members.
The Team That Will Make or Break You: The Committee
The primary purpose of your dissertation study is to fulfill the final degree requirement and satisfy the Committee; hence, it is not just about you or your study. It is also about the stakeholders interested in this study, such as the Committee. Members of the Committee are your programâs professors who mentor, haze, and scare you throughout the dissertation process. Your overall goal is to manage them and keep them happy enough to sign off on your work so you can be done.
You need their signatures. Trust me when I tell you to not even think about fighting or challenging them or the system because you will not win. If you feel that passionately about an idea they do not like, save it for when you get into the Doctorâs Club and shake the secret handshake, but in the meantime, bite your lip and do it their way. Aside from the hazing, Committee Members provide technical support by giving you direction with the study design, theoretical background, research questions, methodology, and data analysis.
The Committee Members invest a great deal of time and Energy by agreeing to work with you, so they obviously think you are worthy enough to be a member of the exclusive Doctorâs Club. They might not be all smiles and sunshine toward you, but they are in it for you to win it or they probably would have declined the invitation to serve on your Committee.
Each member should be a balance between a topical content expert and a professor with whom you work well, which, hopefully, you learned through coursework. Ideally, you know him or her well enough to confirm if there is a fit. For instance, if you took a course with a professor and it was a lower than neutral experience, do not put that person anywhere near your dissertation Committee. Save yourself from an unnecessary struggle!
Reality Check
Happy Committee Members sign forms, which turn candidates into graduates.
Typical Dissertation Committee Structure
Most Committees have three members: a Chairperson and two other members. Of course, this varies among universities and programs. The oral defense also includes an examining Chairperson, the person who facilitates the oral defense, and an external Committee Member, which is covered in more detail in Chapter 10. Of course, your Committee will have to approve the external Committee Member. This person can be another faculty member from your department, a colleague, or friend, but he or she is required to have earned a doctorate.
The Chairperson
As the important leader of the dissertation process, the Chair should share your sense of Passion for the topic and seem happy to work with you to design and deliver a great study. If all goes well, ideally, your Chair will collaborate with you on a journal article or conference presentation. Your Chair is typically your doctoral advisor and a professor in your program. It is essential that you have a positive dynamic with your Chair. If he or she is one of those professors who gets on your nerves, donât pick him or her!
As the one in charge of your dissertation process, your Chair should help you pick the other Committee Members, since it is essential they all have a sense of good group dynamics. I highly suggest that you ask your Chair with whom he or she would prefer to work on the Committee. You do not want to pick someone who has bad blood with your Chair. You do not want your study to become ammunition in their battle. The Chair also establishes the structure and protocol for all project phases, such as timing of feedback and when to share drafts with other Committee Members. The Chair is the content, technical, and process expert for the study, but not a part of your interpersonal strength. Remember, you have family members, friends, colleagues, pets, and other ABDs (all but dissertation) for that.
Effective conflict management skills are also very important at this stage. Dramatic conflict with your Chair could easily contribute to getting stuck and possibly not finishing. You do not want your dissertation to be at an impasse because of interpersonal issues.
I feel very fortunate to have worked with the worldâs greatest dissertation Chair, doctoral advisor, and professor. He was an incredible teacher and always gave valuable advice. Frank is my forever mentor, friend, and colleague, and we continue to work on projects and an executive board together.
General Committee Members
These are two or three additional professors who sit on the Committee, so you should know their interests and, evaluation processes and have a sense of what is it is like to work with them. Students love to tell war stories about professors, so remember to take their experiences with a grain of salt. Quite frankly, most candidatesâ negative experiences might have stemmed from not navigating the process effectively, such as not following directions or trying to fight the system, which can be an uphill battle. This is similar to the laws of driving, where not respecting the rules of the road and car could cause a traffic ticket, car accident, or damage to the car. Nobody wins in either situation.
In the dissertation process, not following directions will monopolize your time and tarnish your reputation. I knew someone who had trouble with her dissertation Committee because she did not apply their feedback. She did not follow their suggestions because she did not agree with them and was determined to follow her own research agenda. Since she did not listen to them, the Committee refused to sign off on any of her work; thus, she remained at an impasse and would not move forward until she made the changes recommended by the Committee. The bottom line is to just do what they tell you and they will sign the forms so you can graduate.
Do not pick a Committee Member if you can check off any of the following:
- You know he or she does not like you.
- You had a negative experience with him or her.
- You would rate him or her below a neutral on a course evaluation.
- Your colleagues had a negative experience with him or her that you find to be unacceptable.
- You get a bad vibe.
- He or she is known to not get along or work well with your Chair.
âEmily Postâ for Academic Research
The dissertation and thesis process is one that requires a great deal of lip biting, via emotional intelligence. Salovey and Mayer (1990) described emotional intelligence as being tuned into the emotions of oneself and others to maintain relationships. Candidates who have any negative dynamics with their stakeholders typically do not get their forms signed and their drafts approved. Poor etiquette will only hurt you. Rude people do not get prioritized. Learning to manage yourself and relationships is essential in great leadership (Goleman, Boyatzis, & McKee, 2002). Proper research etiquette is required for all dissertation candidates when interacting with research study stakeholders. Here are my rules for maintaining social and emotional intelligence in the dissertation context.
Top 10 Rules for Maintaining Emotional and Social Intelligence
1. Know your place. Although in the outside world you might be the boss, in this context you are an expendable student, another person and item on everyoneâs to-do list.
2. Be humble. Your Committee is a team of content experts who are all committed to your intellectual development through your dissertation and thesis study. Appreciate their time and avoid any drama. You can show this appreciation by always being prepared and polite. Act like an adult and soon-to-be colleague, never childish.
3. Kvetch to your Interpersonal Strength (see Pre-Study To-Do List, pp. xxiiâxxviii). Once again, do not even think about complaining to any of the Committee Membersâthey are not your friends and should not hear your angst. In fact, they might tell you about plenty of people who would appreciate your spot in the program if you are mindless enough to complain to them. They are busy, too, so for every minute you are complaining to them, you are annoying them and occupying time that is better used giving you technical support, which is their role. Itâs not that we are cold and heartless; we get it and went through it, too. However, we are busy and we are not your therapist. If you vent to the Committee about the process, you are making yourself look bad. Really, what can they do about it? You are not going to get excused from the dissertation and be granted an honorary degree, so save everyoneâs time and yourself some embarrassment and channel your frustrations elsewhere.
4. Respect and be very kind to university administrators. Do not even think about belittling secretaries, project assistants, information technology (IT) folks, and other university staff members, since these are the people who typically rule the roost. If you rub someone the wrong way, you are guaranteed delays because nobody wants to cater to every whim and demand of a pain in the ass. If you have bad blood with anyone in the university, put this book down and start damage control now.
5. Eliminate the word entitled from your vocabulary. Doctorates are earned accomplishments, not given to just anyone. You need them and their blessed signatures more than they need you and your attitude. Review Rules 1 and 2.
6. Stick to the facts when you have obstacles. If you are going to be delayed, just send an e-mail to your Committee Members to state the facts by telling them when they can expect your next draft.
7. Think before you speak. This is the essence of Emotional and Social Intelligence. Use your funnel and say what is appropriate, not what you are thinking and feeling. You cannot take back words and you do not want to put yourself in a bad place or start any drama, heaven forbid.
8. âThank youâ goes a long way. Remember, you are appreciative for all the feedback and insight, not disgruntled because itâs not what you want to hear or you have more work to do.
9. Be patient. Yes, it might be frustrating playing the waiting game, but you have no choice, so deal with it. There are always parts of the dissertation to be completed during downtime.
10. Make it logistically easy for Committee Members, the IRB, and stakeholders to review drafts. When resubmitting revised documents, include a memo that lists their suggestions for improvement, the changes you made, and the page number of where they can find the changes in the revised document. This gives the reader a quick and easy way to review the changes without having to search through the document. This saves time for everyone, which is what Covey (1989) would call a win/win situation.
Honesty Really Is the Best Policy
Dishonesty and a lack of Integrity can certainly finish you before you have the opportunity to finish your dissertation. Not only can it get you thrown out of your program and be on your records forever, it will likely make you a high-risk candidate for another program. Dishonesty will damage your brand, so stay on the straight and narrow.
Plagiarism is replicating someone elseâs work and not giving them the proper acknowledgment for it. It is direct use of someone elseâs words and claiming them as oneâs own. Most universities have academic honesty policies that discuss the consequences of plagiarism and other forms of cheating.
I do not look for plagiarized work, but I get âthat feelingâ when a studentâs work might be dirty. âThat feelingâ prompts an investigation, and 30 seconds later, the evidence is confirmed, since the Internet and plagiarism software make it very, very easy to catch plagiarists as well as help you not commit it.
Here is a checklist for keeping on the straight and narrow du...
