Ryan P. Hudes, doctoral recipient, began his career as a Seton Hall student more than 15 years ago as an undergraduate. After successfully defending his dissertation “Student-College Match and Bachelor’s Degree Completion” in October, he will earn his third degree from the University later this month
“My dissertation investigated the prevalence of post-secondary student college match and its relationship with bachelor’s degree completion,” said Hudes. “The study differentiated itself from existing undermatch studies by examining alternative student-college scenarios – including undermatch, match, and overmatch and investigating the phenomena’s relationship with a student outcome. Using nationally-representative data, I found that 40.6% of students undermatched, 35% overmatched, and 24.4% matched.”
Hudes credits his dissertation committee, including Drs. Chen, Finkelstein, and Kelchen, for his success. “Each course within the program furthered my understanding of the discipline and helped me develop and refine my analytical skills,” he said. “Another highlight of my time in the program was working with Dr. Finkelstein as part of the Research, Assessment, and Program Evaluation track’s research practicum. Dr. Finkelstein afforded me a unique opportunity to collaborate on a research team for his recently-released book, ‘The Faculty Factor: Reassessing the American Academy in a Turbulent Era’, that expanded my analytic and data presentation skills.”
In 2001, Hudes started at the University studying communication for his B.A and M.A. “My M.A. coursework extended my study of communication and culminated in a thesis that used a survey to explore the relationship between Facebook and community building and student involvement within University residence halls,” said Hudes. “My master’s thesis peaked my interest in higher education and student affairs and I chose to pursue the Higher Education Leadership, Management and Policy Ph.D. program.”
While in the Ph.D. program, Hudes was a graduate assistant for the Executive Ed.D. program, a research and teaching assistant for faculty, and served as a HEGSA steward for three years. Today, he works as the Projects, Planning and Admissions Analyst for the Center for Graduate Studies, an area within the University’s newly-formed College of Communication and the Arts.
Hudes shared lessons learned and tips for success about the dissertation process with The Insider:
Having recently completed my dissertation and as a former HEGSA Steward, I thought it would be beneficial to share some takeaways and strategies that helped me though a portion of the dissertation process – particularly related to Chapters I-III, or the initial proposal.
Literature Review – Following the completion of the core coursework, I (quickly) identified a niche that I wanted to explore further. As a result, and where appropriate, I approached course readings and class assignments as opportunities to cultivate and consistently refine a cohesive body of literature related to my area of interest.After using the University’s library resources to assemble journal articles, book chapters, and other scholarly sources related to my area of interest, I coded and organized the literature by theme as part of an annotated bibliography. For readings assigned as part of courses, I identified pieces related to my topic and I added them to my annotated bibliography. (Try to develop a process that works for you to stay on top of this and add items as you read them – there’s nothing less defeating than getting back-logged in articles!). While coding each piece and modifying my annotated bibliography was occasionally time consuming, I developed a routine and it became second-nature. Eventually, the annotated bibliography streamlined the process of developing a conceptual schema for my literature review.
Problem Statement – Although it initially seemed counterintuitive (and it was often frustrating!), I was unable to effectively start drafting Chapter I without a solid understanding of the foundational concepts and current status of my area of interest. That is, without appropriately situating my topic in the current literature, I struggled to formulate a problem statement, articulate my study’s purpose and significance, and develop appropriate research questions.
By taking the time to refine my annotated bibliography and literature review conceptual schema prior to drafting Chapter I, the process of formulating a meaningful problem statement for me became significantly more focused, concise, and promising (and less stressful!).
Research Questions and Methods – As the faculty stressed in almost every class I took, your research questions are critical and dictate your study. In addition to guiding the research process, your research questions inform what literature should be considered (and what should be ignored!), and are arguably the most important element of the dissertation. For my quantitative study, I found Dr. Chen’s Applied Quantitative Analysis course very helpful as the overarching assignment included all elements of a small-scale study – including research questions, methods, analysis, results, and conclusions. By taking an advanced-level applied course, I learned strategies for developing research questions that could be answered using a range of analyses – including descriptive statistics to advanced inferential analysis.
While no dissertation is alike, I hope sharing these lessons and strategies that worked for me are beneficial to new students. In addition to these items, I recently discovered a new book (2016) that may be helpful ‘Destination Dissertation: A Traveler’s Guide to a Done Dissertation’ (2nd Edition) by Foss and Waters. Best of luck to everyone as you progress through your studies!