Academic Evaluation & Assessment

Key Points

There are general criteria and specific criteria to assess a Ph.D. Dissertation/Master Thesis. While the rule of the thumb is in terms of presentation, language and clarity, there are other aspects of evaluation that may spread from structure, coherence, content of the literature review, the formulation of the research problems and questions. Aspects of evaluation are often quantitative and qualitative in nature and may consist of marks and professional expert opinions pertaining to the research field.

In a bigger picture, academic evaluation and assessment for the Ph.D. work are unlike a coursework program that is determined by grades, but more towards the novelty and contribution to the body of knowledge. In the section of epistemology and ontology, I have explained about how and why scholars continue to expand human conscience and consciousness by putting little bits of research findings (like a jigsaw puzzle) to form a bigger and larger understanding on their reality. Therefore, when scholars are engaged in academic debate, they are not just arguing that they are right and others are wrong, but instead, it is a process of uncovering what they are wrong in and what others are right too.

Thus, the body of knowledge will continue to be stored, changed and built for human civilization to progress on that are dependent on their context and time of living. If one is embarking on a Ph.D. study, it is important to note that there is never a perfect dissertation as the academia will continue to move the goalpost in terms of evaluating and assessing a Ph.D. work. Take, for instance, the research methodology in terms of quantitative and qualitative have also evolved so much that now requires scholars to learn, unlearn and relearn how to analyze data that is more complicated and voluminous. With the emergence of internet of things, big data, artificial intelligence, and 5G, more and more technology has to be created, improvised and deployed to analyze these complex data.

Last updated 10.9.2019

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REFERENCES

1. Clinton Golding, Sharon Sharmini & Ayelet Lazarovitch (2014) What examiners do: what thesis students should know, Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 39:5, 563-576, DOI: 10.1080/02602938.2013.859230
2. Sharmini, S., Spronken-Smith, R., Golding, C., & Harland, T. (2015). Assessing the doctoral thesis when it includes published work. Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 40(1), 89-102.