Three Dissertation Pathways
Choose a method that fits your expertise
Personalized Focus
Address a problem of practice within your sphere of influence
1:1 Support
Work alongside experienced faculty throughout the process
At St. Bonaventure University, the Doctor of Education dissertation is not simply a final requirement—it is the centerpiece of your doctoral journey. Designed with working professionals in mind, our dissertation process emphasizes practical impact, scholarly exploration, and individualized faculty mentorship.
When you reach this stage, you will draw on everything you’ve learned in the program to identify, study, and address a problem of practice within your professional setting. Whether your passion is improving instructional practices, shaping policy, or testing theories of leadership, you will find a pathway that aligns with your career goals.
Dissertation Pathways
For you to properly address a specific problem of practice, it is essential that you have the flexibility to design your research around an approach that makes sense given your area of focus.
As opposed to a one-size-fits-all solution, SBU’s Ed.D. program has designed its dissertation with this principle of flexibility in mind. It allows you to address your research in a way that makes sense to you and your sphere of influence while still ensuring your dissertation adequately reflects the key principles addressed within the program.
You will choose from three unique dissertation pathways. Each dissertation method is designed to help you demonstrate applied research competencies while addressing a meaningful educational challenge and problem of practice."
Dissertation in Praxis
- Bridges theory and practice, testing how an educational theory or model works in a real-world context
- Candidates apply a theory or model within their sphere of influence, studying how well it explains or improves practice.
- Results contribute to both the refinement of theory and the generation of practical insights for leaders and practitioners.
Dissertation in Planning
- Focuses on policy or programmatic planning, producing a detailed, research-based informed proposal for change.
- Combines literature review, empirical data collection, and applied analysis.
- Results in a plan designed to inform decision-makers and stakeholders, addressing both local needs and broader educational challenges.
Dissertation in Practice
- Centers on action research – identifying an authentic problem of practice in your educational setting and applying research-driven solutions.
- Involves an iterative, inquiry-based cycle: define the issue, implement an intervention, collect and analyze data, and reflect on outcomes.
- Emphasizes sustainable improvement and practical application that benefits both your immediate context and the broader educational community.
Problem Based Dissertation (PBD)
While each of the three pathways focuses on the intersection of theory, research, and practice around practical problems of importance to yourself and the field, they do so with different emphases on:
- Research ←→ Practice
- Wider World ←→ Immediate Context
- Scholarly Literature ←→ Empirical Data
Regardless of the type of dissertation you choose, every dissertation method in our program reflects key themes that run throughout the Ed.D. experience:
- Applied research: Turning evidence into action to address problems of practice.
- Systems thinking: Recognizing educational organizations as complex, adaptive systems.
- Ethical leadership: Grounding inquiry and recommendations in the Franciscan values of compassion, wisdom, and integrity.
Through applied research, the PBD will address how to improve practice or policy on a specific issue within your sphere of influence. It will do so with an awareness of the ways in which individual and organizational learning can be linked to promote mutual growth, and how leaders can gather and process information to increase situational understandings and help organizations make more adaptable and wise decisions.
Dissertation Timeline
Once the dissertation method is selected, the typical timeline to completion is as follows:
- Semester 5: Begin writing dissertation proposal and form committee.
- Semester 6: Finalize and defend proposal with Chair and a small group of students.
- Semester 7: Conduct applied research. Collect and analyze the data.
- Semester 8: Complete and defend dissertation (extension available if needed).
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Next Term: Summer 2026
Start Date: May 18, 2026
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Student Spotlight
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