I am now ABD: All But Dissertation, and a doctoral candidate, which is an upgrade from doctoral student. Let me tell you, the relief is immeasurable.
What Is a Proposal Defense?
In order to do the research required for a doctoral dissertation, a doctoral student has to create a full research proposal and pitch it to their committee. This is the proposal defense, not to be confused with the dissertation defense, which is when you have done all the research, written the dissertation, and you are now presenting your research. A successful proposal defense is the green light from your committee to actually do the dissertation research.
The doctoral proposal is really the first three chapters of your five-chapter dissertation. It describes the research you are going to do, in detail, and why you are doing it. Chapters four and five are the actual research and its results.
Building My Committee
I assembled my committee last semester (love them!). Doctoral students in my EdD program are assigned a chair, but we have to recruit a second and third committee member ourselves. The second must be ASU faculty, but the third can be anyone (with a doctorate!). For my second, I chose a professor that is an AI expert and one of my former professors, and for my third, I chose an educational psychologist/instructional designer that is a colleague of mine at University of San Diego. The committee structure is intended to provide both support and guidance for the doctoral student, as well as provide feedback on research and ultimately decide whether or not the student deserves that doctorate!
The Preparation Journey
Finalizing my committee and figuring out what I was doing for my research was wildly stressful. I had no idea how much I was going to miss taking regular classes, with their discrete assignments and clear deadlines. The dissertation is more like a choose-your-own-adventure, and I feel like I’ve died a couple of times choosing the wrong path.
I have spent hours upon hours this semester (and last) working on my proposal. I wrote at least two, if not three, separate proposals, only to end up going another direction. (There have been tears. Yes, there is crying in doctoral studies). Every weekend for the last several months has been devoted to writing, at the expense of family time, a social life, and exercise. The stress meant I constantly had a cold. I had laryngitis multiple times. And of course, the stress of being sick and unable to work as hard as I wanted only made me more stressed.
I scheduled my proposal defense weeks ahead of time (getting four people in the same Zoom room at the same time is very difficult). My chair was iffy about my research, and had me schedule a meet-and-greet with my committee ahead of the proposal, where I pitched them my research (I was shot down, but gently. My research took a right turn).
The Defense Day
The proposal defense itself is two parts: a 30-minute presentation of your proposal to your chair and committee (they got my final written proposal two weeks ahead of time) as well as an oral exam. For my program, the oral exam is three questions about program content that I received a week ahead of time (not allowed to share the questions, sorry! But they were not difficult – more like job interview questions).
I nailed my presentation, in time at least: I ended exactly on the 30 minute mark (all those webinars I do have been great practice). The next 30 minutes were questions and feedback from my committee (I’m so grateful for their expertise!). Then, I answered the oral exam questions, I sat in a breakout room for about ten minutes, and then received my fate.
The Good News!
My proposal defense was successful! Knowing that my project is now nailed down is incredible (though I have a few minor tweaks to make per committee feedback). I have gone in circles and circles, and circles within circles, with absolutely no idea what I was doing. But now I know!
My Research Focus
Ultimately, what I’m doing is more of a traditional doctoral dissertation than a classic action research dissertation, which is what our program directs us to do. I’m not testing out an innovation and measuring its efficacy, I’m collecting data on how doctoral students are using generative AI as part of their academic studies. I’m focusing specifically on doctoral students enrolled in doctor of education programs that are members of CPED: Carnegie Project for the Doctorate (my own program at ASU is a member). The goal for my research is to better understand how students are using generative AI in order to inform both policy and training.
What’s Next
Because you’ve made it this far, dear reader, I will share my full proposal with you, including my one-page handout and slide deck. Here are my proposal documents.
For extra credit, watch the recording of my proposal defense:
Next up is my IRB paperwork, then my actual research, which I will conduct over summer and early fall! Fingers crossed, I will be done and written up by end of spring 2026!