<p>This debate is very interesting. I’m a higher ed. administrator with a MS in CSCI who has worked in higher education for several years. I’m currently researching both EdD and PhD programs and am trying to determine the best option to meet my goals/needs, and at this point I’m leaning toward the EdD.</p>
<p>Based on what I’m seeing from this and other sources, a PhD is intended to be philosophically aligned with theory, and an EdD may be more aligned with practice (and thus why I am personally considering the EdD). However, both actually require a foundation of research, and at many schools the research required is virtually identical.</p>
<p>I do find it interesting that several responses have had some relatively negative wide sweeping implications toward a specific degree, or to a group of people holding a specific degree. At my campus, the institutional researcher (who holds a PhD) is utterly and completely useless when it comes to performing his job. Hes basically a six-figure vacuum. It’s ironic that a person who earned a doctorate in research can’t actually do research. If his ability were an implication of the entire body of people who hold PhD’s then I’d say the PhD has absolutely no value whatsoever. However, that wouldn’t really be very logical. He’s one guy. And while he really does suck, it would be incredibly short-sighted of me to think that his skill set represents every other PhD out there.</p>
<p>By the accurate admission of several members on this thread, there are a number of very prestigious institutions that only offer EdD’s from their Schools of Education. You may want to debate whether Harvard’s EdD really acts as a pseudo-PhD, but to me that’s kind of silly. At the end of the day the people who graduate from Harvard’s School of Education hold a piece of paper with an “EdD” stamped at the top of it. I’m guessing that if they’ve deemed the EdD as an acceptable category of degree, then it probably should pass our level of critique as well.</p>
<p>But what do I know? Much like our hero, the PhD-holding institutional researcher, I’m just one guy…</p>