Ed.D. Versus Ph.D.: Whats the Difference? Northern Illinois University offers the Ed.D.

, or Doctorate of Education, in Educational Psychology. Perhaps it has been suggested to you that you should pursue the Ph.D., or Doctor of Philosophy, instead of the Ed.D. so that you will be more employable. So, you may well be wondering, what is the difference between a Ph.D. and an Ed.D.? The Ph.D. degree in the United States was modeled after the German university model. The first Ed.D. degree was granted atwhere else?Harvard University in 1920. It was awarded in response to an expressed need for more educators to have the doctorate. The theoretical distinction between the two degrees has always been that the Ph.D. is researchoriented, whereas the Ed.D. has been directed towards educational practice and the application of theory and research. The Ed.D. was originally conceived of as equal in rigor, but different in substance to the Ph.D. In the academic world, however, the distinction between these two degreesand in the kinds of doctoral dissertations completedhas not always been so clear. A content analysis of doctoral dissertations (Nelson & Coorough, 1994) found few differences between those written for Ed.D. and Ph.D. programs. Generally, Ph.D. dissertations in the social sciences (including education) tend to be experimental and quasi-experimental studies, and use multivariate statistics, have somewhat wider generalizability, and are more concentrated in some areaseducational psychology, for example. Ed.D. dissertations, on the other hand, contain more descriptive research, such as surveys. Most Ed.D. dissertations concern local and regional populations such as area schools and institutions, and the subjects of study tend to be students and/or teachers. Ph.D. dissertations in the social sciences often, but not always, use college students as proxies for other populations. What about Northern Illinois Universitys Ed.D. program in Educational Psychology? While the majority of our educational psychology faculty hold the Ph.D., we believe that our Ed.D. program is equal in rigor and substance to the graduate programs from which we all cameBrown, Harvard, Stanford, Northwestern, UCLA, Wisconsin, and Michigan. Many of our graduate students are practitioners and they understand and appreciate the need to learn how to conduct original research to inform and improve their practice. Still others are interested in careers as community college and university faculty. Our Ed.D. program offers great flexibility to students which can help facilitate the accomplishment of their career goals. Many of our Ed.D. recipients are teaching at colleges and universities, in public and private secondary schools, are administrators, evaluators, and assessment specialists for various educational programs, community agencies, and businesses throughout Illinois and the midwest.