Question

Often, doctoral learners mistakenly believe that a feasible research project can be developed based on personal experience or an attempt to solve a problem that is personal to them. Although, passion for the project is important to the impetus of the discovery process, ultimately a dissertation topic must emerge from problem spaces that exist in an empirical research literature. Why do you think this is the case?

Answer 1

The correct answer to this open question is the following.

I think this is a recurrent issue because doctoral learners are driven by a passion for a specific topic that fulfills their constant desire to know more.

They want to know that their projects can be developed based on personal experience that can solve a problem of personal interest.

However, when we are talking about a doctoral project, there are other important elements involved in the process.

As a requirement to start a valid research project, there should be a dissertation between a group of experts that can validate the purpose of the research and the sources that will support the process.

This is the case because we are talking about an academic degree that requires empirical background to support the purpose and the length of the research using the proper tools and sources needed to obtain a doctoral degree.

The thesis statement has to be supported by literature, sources, and references of a diverse group of authors that had studied similar phenomena in the past and could serve the actual project to elaborate from them.