Saturday, February 25, 2012

It Takes a Village to Raise a Doctoral Graduate

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Community Matters
The thesis/dissertation journey can be very lonely. There seems to be an expected solitary nature of the dissertation process, involving long periods of work by yourself, often accompanied by distance from friends and family, and sometimes unsociable behavior. The attitude is often “don’t call me, don’t ask me to participate in church, don’t make any demands on my time because am waaaaay too busy writing this monster”. Living further away from campus, which is the new norm with the doctoral programs that employ online/blended learning formats, and experiencing challenging life events during the candidature period can contribute to delayed completion. Further,  the transition from coursework to independent study can be stressful and lead to delayed completion.
I am suggesting then that when coursework is done, and/or you life further away from campus, and when ‘life happens’ (which it probably will), the best way to get through and make it to completion is through community. The doctoral researcher needs the support of colleagues for brainstorming sessions and support networks, other people including community and/or organizational liaisons to initiate access to data collection sites, and familial support. The norm of solitary writing cooped up in a library carrel or your home study really ought to be balanced with social, emotional, and spiritual support of others. Sometimes it may require doctoral candidates to create intentional community with other students including those from their own institutions, and those from other institutions to offer each other the intellectual and emotional support necessary during this phase of doctoral work. I know the benefits of such community first hand, having experienced it with several fellow sojourners in the academy. We would check on each other periodically, celebrate when each one completed the journey, and now we offer each other professional support through the job search, tenure, and promotion process. In other words, the doctoral students with whom you travail through that doctoral journey are likely to become life long professional colleagues.
A second form of community that is imperative for success is familial community. Having family members who can take over child and elder-care responsibilities for periods of time so that you can focus on research and writing is very important. This is particularly true of the kind of doctoral candidate entering our institutions these days – mid career professionals who have work, family and community responsibilities. When doctoral researchers are able to renegotiate some of those responsibilities and roles, they are then freed up to spend the quality and quantity of time necessary for timely dissertation completion.
Community is important for success in this journey; multiple communities play different roles in helping us survive and succeed in the journey. Harnessing the strength, support and spirit of your community/communities could thus enhance your dissertation research journey. The academic/intellectual community of fellow doctoral sojourners offers the support and accountability you need to complete your dissertation. The extended family offers support to manage your home responsibilities. For those who are also working as employees or employers, renegotiating some of their responsibilities at work (such as reduced travel expectations) and/or delegating responsibilities to others would ensure you not only complete your dissertation, but that you keep your job, if that is one of your goals. In the final analysis, am convinced that it is important to harness the benefits of the community/communities of which you are a part to help you reach completion and do it sooner. The doctoral journey ought not be a lonely and lonesome, antisocial journey. And, its unlikely that you can do it all alone. It ‘takes a village’ to raise a doctoral graduate.


Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Developing a Scholarly Identity

When I first embarked on graduate studies way back in the year 2000, I wasn't clear on what I wanted to do with that degree...that is, beyond doing what I was already engaged in, but better. But you know, life happens! The 'doing what I was already engaged in' part of my story unraveled rather fast. And I found myself with a masters degree but without a job. However, in my two years in that graduate school, I developed a strong desire to study leadership, inspired by events in the school, in my local church, and in my previous work experience as a school teacher.

Even though my job unraveled, I was able to 'reposition' myself by going for further studies, this time traveling abroad to the middle of the cornfields of Ohio to start graduate studies in leadership and organization development. And once again, I had no clear goal in mind as to what I would do with the degrees once completed. All I knew was that, this was the next step to take. It didn't take too long though to start figuring out what ought to come next.

In August 2004, a friend invited me to accompany her to the Academy of Management annual meeting which was being held in New Orleans. This was my first ever academic conference, and though I was not presenting any papers there, I learned a lot about the options for graduate students and the culture of academe. I made friends with a student from New York, and another from Switzerland, and with my friend, we became four women graduate students supporting each other until all of us graduated. We are still friends and still support each other in our professional development. As I soon learned, this is one of the advantages of attending academic conferences.

I have been to many academic conferences since then - University Council for Education Administration, American Educational Research Association (AERA), Eastern Academy of Management International (EAMI), International Leadership Association, even one African Studies Association meeting. Yes, I am unapologetic in my transdisciplinary orientation, (though these days I can only attend one conference either AERA or AOM, in addition to ILA, partly because I needed to define my academic home more closely, and partly because the money to attend more conferences simply isn't available). I have even been to a few National Communication Association annual meetings- my first year there, I spoke with a  SUNY Press acquisitions editor about my book idea, and the rest, as they say is history (they published my book in 2010). Well, she was the 4th or 5th acquisition editor I spoke to at that conference, all the rest rejected my book idea. Yes, rejection is part of academic culture too...you just dust yourself off and move to the next editor/journal until you find one that will publish your work.

Attending academic conferences and presenting papers (conceptual, empirical, your developing research, your research reports, literature reviews), are one of the most important ways to develop a scholarly identity. A lot of the publications you see as books and articles quite possibly began life in the marketplace of ideas as academic conference presentations. So I want to encourage you to look for at least one academic conference in your discipline that you will make your home, and make an effort to attend the annual meetings. In the US, there is always the option of attending the regional meetings of the national associations, which are likely to be closer to your geographic location and cheaper as far as registration costs and hotel accommodations. For example, this year Eastern Academy of Management  annual meeting will be in my hometown of Philadelphia in May, so though I missed the deadline to submit a paper, I plan on attending. After all, it will only cost me the registration fee. I might also attend African Studies Association since their meeting is also in Philadelphia.

I cannot possibly overemphasize the need and urgency of becoming a member and attending these disciplinary professional association meetings/conferences. From them, you will receive mentoring into the profession,  and join a community of like-minded individuals who can be co-researchers, critical readers of your work, and even your future employers. All the academic professional associations offer programming specifically aimed at meeting the needs of graduate students - from feedback sessions on dissertations, to advise on the job search process, to training in research methods and directions on how to get published. Most include not just scholars, but reflective practitioners invested in their continuing professional development with whom you can network. You would get to meet with graduate students from not just other institutions, but other countries too, who can become part of your network of co-researchers, conference co-presenters, and who would offer you the support you will surely need to complete your dissertation, and later if you join the academy, to survive the tenure track.

I recognize that all the conferences I have mentioned have their 'home base' in the US. However, there are conferences taking place in Europe, Australia/NZ, Asia, and even my home continent of Africa all the time. For example, in January 2013, Academy of Management will hold its first Africa conference in South Africa. The International Congress of Psychology will hold its 2012 conference in Cape Town, South Africa in July 2012. The International Congress of Cross Cultural Psychology will hold their bienniel conference in Stellenbosch, South Africa also in July 2012. And these are just the ones I am aware off, there are probably many more such conferences happening in other parts of the continent and for a variety of disciplines/professional associations. Furthermore, apart from these kinds of international conferences, universities host smaller localized conferences to which you can either submit or attend as audience member, that would also be good opportunities for networking and getting involved. Whatever your geographic location, I would recommend that you find out what is happening around you and beyond, see what you can afford to attend (some conferences will offer free registration to graduate students willing to serve in the conference), and get involved. You will be glad you did.

Monday, February 13, 2012

What is the Purpose of your Study?


It is not worthwhile to go around the world to count the cats in Zanzibar (Maxwell 2005, citing Thoreau)

It is important to be clear about the reason why you are undertaking your study. An unclear purpose will result in a muddied up process, and therefore, results that may not be either credible or valid. The purpose statement is the central controlling idea in a study (Creswell, 2009, p. 111).

Maxwell (2005) “Qualitative Research Design” recommends that researchers write regularly and systematically about their research for the researchers own consumption, as well as for discussion with others. In his very helpful chapter 2, he discusses goals of research leading with the following question: Why are you doing this study?

The point is that you need to be clear on the purpose of your study, and that purpose has to lead to a question/questions whose answers are worth knowing. Clear goals serve as a guide for your study= goal here includes desires, motives and purposes, whatever is leading you to want to engage in your study.

Maxwell reminds us that goals a) help to guide your other design decisions to ensure that your study is worth doing, and b) they are essential to justifying your study.  It is likely that you have personal, practical and intellectual goals for you study. Personal goals motivate you to engage in the study but may not be of much value to others (e.g. need to advance your career, desire to change a situation). Often, personal goals influence your choice of dissertation topic, and are likely to impact your motivation (and persistence) through the dissertation process. More often than not, personal goals remain unstated – however, it is helpful to be clear on what your own personal goals are even if you will not discuss them in your study. Off course if you engage in qualitative, there is room to indicate the personal goals that are impacting your choices. For example, one of my mentees chose to study successful African immigrant faculty in US institutions, one because she is an African immigrant, and two, because as someone who desires to enter the professorial ranks, she is interested in learning how they ‘made it’. Another chose to study long term health care because this was his industry for many years as owner of nursing homes, and he consults to nursing homes today – thus his study would help to improve his consulting work. Being clear about your personal goals also enables you to be reflective of your subjectivities – it helps you beware of looking only for the answers that fit your presuppositions.

Practical and intellectual/scholarly goals are important to you as well as to other people. Practical goals focus on accomplishing something, meeting a need, changing a situation, achieving a particular objective; intellectual goals focus on understanding something, often filling a gap that other research has not adequately addressed. The second student (now a newly minted PhD) mentioned above, aimed at improving his own consulting practice by gaining a better understanding of leadership praxis within the long term health care industry. His study was endorsed by one of the industry professional associations in recognition of its practical utility.

Generally, the intellectual/scholarly goal of your study is framed in terms of ‘purpose statement’. This begins with a sentence such as:

The purpose of this study is to…(a verb here, such as evaluate, explore, explain, describe, determine, examine, etc. You then expand on that purpose in several sentences/a paragraph. 

Your practical goal is framed in terms of the “Significance of the Study” where you talk about the relevance or practical utility of your study to practitioners – teachers, administrators, managers, pastors – the ‘second’ audience of your study. Your significance section also discusses further your scholarly goal by discussing how your study will expand our understanding of a particular area of study. In qualitative studies, you would need to discuss your personal goals, either in chapter 1 or chapter 3 (Introduction, or Methods) with a sub-heading such as ‘role of the researcher’, ‘researcher presuppositions’, ‘researchers predilections’, ‘how I came to this study area’…etc.

Both Maxwell (2005, chapter 2) and Creswell (2009, chapter 6) offer helpful templates for constructing your purpose statement. Maxwell offers templates/exercises for constructing a purpose statement for a qualitative study. Creswell offers templates for qualitative, quantitative and mixed methods designs. Both provide excellent examples of well crafted purpose statements.


Maxwell, Joseph A. 2005. Qualitative research design: An interactive approach. 2 ed. Thousand Oaks: Sage. (3rd Edition will be published by June 2012).

Creswell, John W. 2009. Research design: Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approaches. 3rd ed. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications.

Sunday, February 5, 2012

The Relational Nature of Research

This week I spent several hours working on a manuscript with a colleague, constructing a paper on relationships and communities in research. In the process of writing, I also ended up doing a lot of reading, trying to get clarity on issues such as power differentials between researchers and participants, vulnerability, reflexivity, and other topics related to autoethnography/qualitative research design. I came to the realization that, some of the issues where researchers use their authorial power to represent participants the way they want to, without caring how such participants would feel about how they are represented, is perhaps a failure to recognize the human dignity of 'others', and perhaps not a very good use of researchers power.

Reflecting on this failure - of recognizing the human dignity of others - whether marginalized or not, made me realize that, part of what I enjoyed doing in my own dissertation work, was choosing to keep the confidence of my participants. This was a dialogic process, where I was open to hearing about anything and everything, but also told them that, they were free to tell me what they would rather I kept just between us (Ngunjiri, 2007, 2010). I endeavored to give [most of] them transcripts of our interviews, so they'd add/subtract whatever they saw fit. For a few, it was logistically impossible since I transcribed the interviews after my return to the States.

You see, even though I haven't seen most of those women since I collected my data in the summer of 2005, I believed then (and now) that "brief encounters do not necessarily mean superficial connections...[I] see relationships as more than vehicles for data gathering, more than points of access. [I] see then as central to the empirical, ethical, and humanistic dimensions of research design, as evolving and changing processes of human encounters" (Lawrence-Lightfoot and Davis, 1997, p138, 139). Obviously, this is mostly true of qualitative research designs, where relationships are/ought to be king.

Authentic relationships that engender reciprocity and symmetry, that encourage skepticism and appreciation, and that are built on trust  (Lawrence-Lightfoot and Davis) can help us in achieving our research goals, while also building/rebuilding the communities we purport to represent. I may not have seen the participants from my study in the seven years since, I may never meet with them again; however, I hope that when they read what I said about them, how I interpreted their life stories, the way I constructed their narratives, and celebrated their achievement as women, leaders, Africans, and human beings, they will always feel affirmed and will recognize the essence of who they are in my work. They do not have to agree with all my interpretations, but I do hope they see themselves even more clearly through my portraits. That is what it means for me to engage in research, while keeping "relational concerns as high as research" ( Ellis, 2007, p. 25). Think about that as you engage in designing or undertaking your own research. What is your relational responsibility - or, what do the relationships developed through your research require of you?


Ellis, C. (2007). Telling Secrets, Revealing Lives: Relational Ethics in Research With Intimate Others Qualitative Inquiry, 13(1), 3-29. doi: 10.1177/1077800406294947

Lawrence-Lightfoot, S., & Davis, J. H. (1997). The art and science of portraiture. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Ngunjiri, F. W. (2010). Women's spiritual leadership in Africa : Tempered radicals and critical servant leaders. Albany: State University of New York Press.

Ngunjiri, F. W. (2007). Painting a counter-narrative of African womanhood: Reflections on how my research transformed me. Journal of Research Practice, 3(1), article m4. Retrieved from http://jrp.icaap.org/index.php/jrp/article/view/53/76