Thanks.
What's the difference between a thesis and dissertation?
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In short, a thesis is something one completes to earn a masters degree. A dissertation is something one completes in earning a doctorate. There is also often a difference in scope and completion time, with the dissertation being a bigger undertaking.
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This. Although I will say that I've had doctoral students in other disciplines (e.g., math, engineering) refer to their doctoral project as a "thesis." They generally didn't complete theses (they went through comps instead), so I'm not sure if it's a departmental thing, or if it's a language/translation issue (many of my non-psych doctoral student friends are international students).
Yeah, I was confused because when I looked online, it mostly said that dissertations are completed earlier in an academic program.
Can you clarify what you mean by scope? I get the idea - but what does it really entail? Of its broader in scope, is data still original? Or can you use data already available. How do you approach it when it is broader in scope?
Please forgive any grammatical or spelling errors - I am typing this on my phone.
Can you clarify what you mean by scope? I get the idea - but what does it really entail? Of its broader in scope, is data still original? Or can you use data already available. How do you approach it when it is broader in scope?
Please forgive any grammatical or spelling errors - I am typing this on my phone.
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My general experience has been that with the thesis, which occurs earlier in the training process, it's more about "getting your feet wet" and getting some direct exposure to conducting your own research project beginning-to-end than it is the breadth and end results. That is, it's more about the process than the product.
A dissertation, on the other hand, is about proving to your committee that you're capable of conducting a scientifically-meaningful and viable study, and more generally, that you're capable of scientific thought as a whole. You can come up with useful/insightful questions based on existing literature, you can determine how to answer those questions via the scientific method, you can plan for what to do when (not if) things go wrong, and you know how to competently summarize your findings (which includes addressing shortcomings and indicating the "next step" for future studies).
The data itself can usually be archival (depending on your advisor, committee, and program), but generally, you'll likely have played some role in gathering/entering/etc. the data at some point (e.g., it was gathered at a clinic where you worked, and contains data from clients you saw), or it will at least have been gathered somewhere related to you program. Although again, that can differ by program.
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Programs will differ somewhat as to what they require. Likewise, archival data isn't all created equal. For example, I would imagine that most places would let you use data from a giant, grant-funded longitudinal study. However, many programs will not allow you to simply use the data from 90 college students that a labmate collected the year before. I would imagine they would want to see a little more effort than that.
This will also vary quite a bit. Some students may be handed a dissertation topic by their advisors (although I think this is relatively rare). In general, conceptualizing a study from scratch can take several months of planning, reading, and writing. This is a significant chunk of the whole process.
What others have said, though I will also add that this varies by country (i.e. I believe the UK, or at least the folks from the UK I've met, do their "Doctoral thesis"). In the US, it seems pretty consistent that thesis = master's, dissertation = doctorate.
As others have said, details of scope, etc. depend heavily on program, advisor, etc. Professional schools often let their students write a qualitative review paper and call it a dissertation. We are expected to do original data collection for experimental laboratory studies to even get a master's in our lab, though other labs here aren't quite that rigid.
As others have said, details of scope, etc. depend heavily on program, advisor, etc. Professional schools often let their students write a qualitative review paper and call it a dissertation. We are expected to do original data collection for experimental laboratory studies to even get a master's in our lab, though other labs here aren't quite that rigid.
No wonder folks get confused and the words are used interchangeably! I guess the model is that you do a master's level research project enroute to the doctorate and combine the research with higher level analysis for the doctorate. This does happen in many academic fields but is not so often true in clinical psych: Found the following online:
"In a masters thesis or dissertation you have to conduct research on a specific topic to present your point. In a PhD thesis or dissertation you have to conduct original research, and add novel findings to the already existing literature. Summary:
1. A thesis is submitted at the end of ones masters degree, and a dissertation is submitted at the end of a PhD.
2. For a thesis, you have conduct original research, while for a dissertation you have to synthesize already existing literature.
3. Thesis analysis is added to the already existing literature, while dissertation is an analysis of the existing literature."
/language/difference-between-thesis-and-dissertation/#ixzz1rsKnS9Qk
"In a masters thesis or dissertation you have to conduct research on a specific topic to present your point. In a PhD thesis or dissertation you have to conduct original research, and add novel findings to the already existing literature. Summary:
1. A thesis is submitted at the end of ones masters degree, and a dissertation is submitted at the end of a PhD.
2. For a thesis, you have conduct original research, while for a dissertation you have to synthesize already existing literature.
3. Thesis analysis is added to the already existing literature, while dissertation is an analysis of the existing literature."
/language/difference-between-thesis-and-dissertation/#ixzz1rsKnS9Qk
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In the UK, Australia, New Zealand and many other places formerly part of the British Empire, one does a master's dissertation and a doctoral thesis.
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No difference except one is for MS and other is for PhD. Most PsyD programs do Clinical Research Projects or CRP. I have done three thesis for my two MS degrees and one EdS degree. Most PsyD programs have the MA degree but it does not require a thesis. My first Thesis was 346 pages long and my CRP at this point is 44 pages long so length does not determine the difference.
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Just to avoid any confusion (or perhaps cause some), I want to point out that the MA/MS designation is largely based on the university/department (and seems fairly arbitrary at times), and not on how the degree was acquired. Our program (and many others I've seen), for example, awards an MA while requiring a thesis.
Length is going to vary significantly by department and advisor. History and lit students, for example, regularly seem to have dissertations in the 100-200+ page range (at least the ones I've looked through, anyway); conversely, a friend with a PhD in math had his come out to around 50, I believe, because of the differences in formatting (mostly formulas/graphs rather than words; fewer citations needed) and what not. I can say with absolute certainty, though, that if I turned in anything to my advisor that was 300+ pages, they'd disown me
I agree, though, that length doesn't determine the difference.
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Yeah, I have an MA and an MS. Both degrees required an empirical thesis (about the same length, scope, etc). The only difference was what letters the university decided to award.
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Yep. Here's a somewhat-related example of the potential arbitrariness of the _A vs. _S decision: my grad school initially offered both a BA and BS in psychology, depending on the types of science classes taken (makes sense). However, they decided one day to combine the two and only offer the BA, but I believe they incorporated the science requirements of the BS.
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I'll see your example and raise you one. As an undergrad, I majored in theater and earned a BS. Friends who majored in sciences like biology, chem, and physics earned BA degrees.
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Ahh, the joys of university politics and vestiges of possibly-antiquated traditions.
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I know social science students who've ranged between just over 20 pages and over 500 pages for an MA thesis. (These two people are in the same department!).
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Some students do a MS thesis and then add on groups or expand their thesis for their PhD dissertation I checked our CRP's in the library for a PsyD clinical psychology department and one CRP was only 32 pages long. Basically it was a ten question survey of parents having children with low-birth rate. Another CRP was 245 pages long.
