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FINISH YOUR DISSERTATION, DON’T LET IT FINISH YOU! Joanne Broder Sumerson Author Photograph: Lisa Kitchen Cover Design: Wiley Cover Image: iStockphoto.com This book is printed on acid-free paper. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey.

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Description based on print version record and CIP data provided by publisher; resource not viewed. ISBN 978-1-118-41925-0 (ebk) — ISBN 978-1-118-41635-8 (ebk) — ISBN 978-1-118-13303-3 (pbk. Dissertations, Academic—Authorship—Handbooks, manuals, etc. Academic writing—Handbooks, manuals, etc.06'6378—dc23 2013020575 Printed in the United States of America 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 This book is dedicated to my loving and supportive husband, Jeffrey.

It would still be a bulleted list of ideas on a Post-it note without his daily inquiry, “When are you going to start writing that book already?” Contents Acknowledgments ix Introduction xiii CHAPTER ONE The Secret Handshake 1 CHAPTER TWO Breaking Ground on Your Study 13 CHAPTER THREE Anatomy of a Dissertation 29 CHAPTER FOUR Rolling Out the Red Carpet for Your Study: The Strong Introduction 39 CHAPTER FIVE Literature Review Made Simple 45 v CONTENTS CHAPTER SIX Data Scavenger Hunt: Methodology 57 CHAPTER SEVEN The Institutional Review Board (IRB) 83 CHAPTER EIGHT Making Sense of the Data Collection Scavenger Hunt: Results 91 CHAPTER NINE I Am Listening, Data: Discussion 107 CHAPTER TEN Your Data’s Next Chapter After the Dissertation Write-Up and Graduation 115 Appendix A Summary Chart of Statistics, What to Report, Abbreviations, and Suggested Syntax 127 Appendix B Anatomy of a Dissertation in Context 139 Appendix C Sample Dissertation Rubric 157 Appendix D The Juicers 163 vi Contents References 167 About the Author 171 Author Index 173 Subject Index 175 vii Acknowledgments Writing this book was a dream come true. Thank you, thank you, thank you to the following people for you being you and for all your support with this book. Words really cannot cap- ture my true appreciation, but I am going to try. I was very fortunate to work with a talented editorial team, Marquita Flemming, Senior Editor, and Sherry Wasserman, Editorial Program Coordinator, from Wiley.

Marquita lis- tened to my ideas and saw their potential for a book, which motivated me to turn this dream into a reality. Her feedback and suggestions were incredibly valuable and improved this book on many levels. I also thank Thomas Caruso, Rose Sullivan, and the rest of the production team who turned this manuscript into a book. I am blessed to have a network of brilliant colleagues who contributed their wisdom, expertise, and support.

Frank Farley, my former doctoral advisor, Dissertation Chair, and research professor, as well as forever friend and mentor, con- tributed to this book and taught me the nuts and bolts of solid, strong research practices. Felice Tilin, my colleague, men- tor, dear friend, and big sister shared her consulting model ix ACKNOWLEDGMENTS and helped me develop and think through some of these ideas. Susan Wheelan, my former professor and supervi- sor, as well as forever mentor and friend, shared her wisdom and allowed me observe those Group and Organizational Research Center meetings, which taught me a great deal about the dissertation process. James Kaufman, my col- league, co-editor, and newer friend who felt like an old friend the minute I met him, reviewed, advised, and provided guid- ance that always hit home.

My own dissertation experience was such a positive intel- lectual and personal journey that I had to write about it, which was partially due to my own committee members from Temple University, Drs. Joseph Ducette, Joseph Rosenfeld, William Fullard, and Trevor Sewell. Thank you to Jack Mayer and Philip Zimbardo, who graciously shared their cherished wisdom with readers. My students at Saint Joseph’s University from the Organization Development and Leadership Program give me the honor and privilege to teach and advise them through their thesis and capstone study projects.

In addition, I value the content feedback from my colleagues and peers, Dr. Aubrey Wang, Luis Constantino, Joseph Luther, Dr. Goali Saedi, Maritza Santiago, Melissa English Zachowski, and Rose Sutkowski. The need for Interpersonal Strength is applicable to all goals, and this book was no exception.

I am extremely appre- ciative to have a strong and supportive group of family and friends who are my rock, led by Jeffrey Sumerson, my lov- ing husband, for always making sure I get to write and go to yoga; my sons, Adam and Kyle Sumerson, are my loud- est cheerleaders who always keep me on my toes; Michael Broder, my father and colleague, for his love, feedback, review, mentorship, and making me really believe that I can do anything I set my heart on; Sharon Kaufman, my mother, x Acknowledgments for her unconditional and never-ending love and support that makes my life possible Arlene Goldman, my stepmother and colleague, for her feedback, love, friendship, and perspective; Ken Kaufman, my stepfather, who provides more comic relief than he realizes; and Hesh Weiss, my grandfather and num- ber one fan, for his pride and love, as well as providing me with a peaceful place to write this book while my office was under construction. In addition, I thank Rachel Zambrano, my unrelated sister, for her sisterhood and a lot of laughs; Pam Jenoff, my best friend for decades and rock-star author, for true friendship and constant inspiration; and Debbie and Harry Nerenberg; Scruft, Carrie, and Lindsay Weiss; Nicole and Adam Malamut; Jennifer Turchin; Toni Noto; Yulla Lamprou Vostaki; Kelly Quinn Sloan; Claire Jones; Sean Browne, Joey Burke; and the late Darryl Norem, as well as Helene and Jim Sumerson, for being there for me more than you know. xi Introduction I was not born an academic, but I somehow morphed into one. I grew up thinking that school was the ultimate torture chamber, a place that specialized in the long, hard, and pain- fully boring way to learn stuff that did not interest me.

I strug- gled to learn what seemed to come naturally to everyone else. As much as I hated school, I went to college because I had not considered doing anything else. I got through it because I was interested in psychology and needed at least a bachelor’s degree to enter the field for the lowest-level positions. I graduated from college and went straight to jail.

My undergraduate college internship at a prison led to a full-time counselor position. It was fun for a while, but I burned out after a few years. Every day, I heard the same story, whether it was from the same or a different inmate, and it got very old. When I tried to strategize my exit from jail, I was hit with the harsh reality that I needed a graduate degree or two or I would be listening to inmates’ problems for the rest of my career.

I started a master’s program at Temple University in Adult and Organization Development (AOD) and left the prison for another job as a corporate human resource xiii INTRODUCTION generalist. It was in the AOD program where I fell in love with learning. I was so excited to finally feel motivated to learn, as opposed to just getting through course material. In graduate school, the thought of a dissertation proj- ect truly intimidated me—every part of it.

There were too many bad ghost stories associated with the dissertation pro- cess. Not only did it seem like years’ worth of work, but the process seemed to make a lot of people anxious, depressed, and downright miserable. We all heard about (or knew of) people who never finished, had emotional breakdowns, and ended their relationships over their dissertations. According to Glenn (2010) there is a 30% attrition rate in doctoral pro- grams; people start doctoral programs, but do not complete them.

Being a part of that 30% was my worst nightmare. In addition, I did not want to spend multiple years on the dissertation. I had too many goals to achieve, none of which I was eligible for until I earned my doctorate. There were no professional opportunities below a doctoral level that seemed even somewhat interesting, so I felt like I needed to get the hell out of graduate school sooner than later.

Time management has always been one of my best survival skills. For better or worse, I have a perpetual habit of spreading myself very thin, so I never have extra time to waste. Thus, a great deal of my prac- tice in this book was developed through the lens of efficiency. Feeling anxious, depressed, and miserable was also not an option for me.

How can the dissertation be an intellectu- ally stimulating project that won’t break me? Answering that question was my unofficial research question. Consequently, I did answer that research question through trial and error and figured out what I needed to do to design and deliver a dissertation study—the simple, honest, and productive way— while feeling well balanced and happy. My entire dissertation process from when I broke ground on the proposal to the defense took one calendar year. xiv Introduction On a side note, I also heard horror stories about how so many relationships broke up because of the dissertation.

This scared me, too, but the dissertation did not get in the way of my relationship. In fact, it was the opposite for me because my husband, who was incredibly supportive, and I got engaged during my data collection phase, and our wedding date was set for 7 months after my oral defense. Here I am, many years later, as a professor, research advi- sor, research psychologist, journal editor, formal Research Review Committee (like an IRB) chair, program evaluator, and, of course, former student, to share the secrets I discov- ered from successfully navigating my way through the dis- sertation and thesis process while maintaining sanity and finishing in a timely manner.