Ed. D vs. Ph. D

Someone in my current program told me the Ed. D is inferior to the Ph. D. I immediately asked why and he said that from his experience they are categorized as the Ed. D being more practice oriented and the Ph. D being the "true doctorate" and being more research/theory based.

Honestly....and this is just me looking into programs early on....it seems to me as though the Ed. D fits what I would like to do more but I don't want to choose the degree that is deemed "inferior".

Have any of you ever heard this?

Re: Ed. D vs. Ph. D

funny that you should bring this up, because i was talking about this to my dh and he said the same thing, that Ph.D was looked more favorably on.

Ph.D, Psy.D and Ed.D, really does it make a difference?

Re: Ed. D vs. Ph. D

Ph.D's are looked at as "better." I'm by no means saying they are. It all depends on what you want to study and how you want to study it. Ph.D's are more research based. Ed.D's are more practice based. I have spoken to a few Ph.D's who look down at people that have Ed.D's. In my opinion, bottom line, both are doctorates. Both mean you are an expert in whatever your studied. You should choose the program you want to be in. Eventually, I will be going into an Ed.D. program. Any person that I will be dealing with in relation to my degree will hopefully understand that they are both doctorates. Just my opinion.

Re: Ed. D vs. Ph. D

I am working on my dissertation for my Ed.D. right now. I do think there is a bias toward the PhD if you want to pursue a career in research or academia - however, if you want to pursue a career in administration, the Ed.D. will be more helpful with practical classes in addition to the theory and research classes.

In my opinion, I still needed to complete a good number of research and stats courses - and I am still conducting independent research - so I feel like I've got a grasp of the research skills that I would need if I wanted to conduct research after I'm done with school. I've also made my desire to continue researching/writing known to my advisor so I'm hoping that will help if I decide to make the transition to the faculty side of things at some point.

If you have any questions, please let me know.

Re: Ed. D vs. Ph. D

Message edited 5/8/2009 4:45:30 PM.

Re: Ed. D vs. Ph. D

As PP said, an EdD is more of a practitioner based degree, a PhD is more research based (although I still need to complete research in order to be awarded my EdD).

If you are planning on working in administration in the school system (K-12), I don't believe that a strong bias exists in preference. Out of my 3 admins, 2 are EdD and 1 is PhD. In my doctoral program, 2 of the full time staff in my department are EdD and 2 are PhD.

To me, the quality of the university from which you get your degree is more important than the title.