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Abstract
More than half of all graduate students drop out before graduation. Doctoral students often become mired in the “all but dissertation” (ABD) phase of the process. This grounded theory study focused on the perceptions and experiences of doctoral students in an educational leadership program, who were ABD, regarding their participation in a dissertation-focused intensive writing course called the Dissertation Boot Camp (DBC). Findings revealed participants had particular challenges with time, writing, and advisement. The DBC attended to many of these challenges by providing time, structure, encouragement, and support. Results of the study led to the development of a conceptual framework, which helps to better understand the complexities involved in a student’s pathway to ABD status.
Keywords
Graduate Students, Dissertation, Graduate Attrition, All But Dissertation, ABD
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank Dr. Juan Carlos Cervantes for his critiques and assistance with early versions of this manuscript.
Publication Date
9-9-2016
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 4.0 International License.
DOI
10.46743/2160-3715/2016.2167
Recommended APA Citation
Locke, L. A., & Boyle, M. (2016). Avoiding the A.B.D. Abyss: A Grounded Theory Study of a Dissertation-Focused Course for Doctoral Students in an Educational Leadership Program. The Qualitative Report, 21(9), 1574-1593. https://doi.org/10.46743/2160-3715/2016.2167
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Educational Administration and Supervision Commons, Educational Assessment, Evaluation, and Research Commons, Educational Leadership Commons, Higher Education Commons
