Practitioner Doctorate vs PhD — What’s the Difference?

By Brian Fairbanks

If you’re thinking of going back to school to get an advanced degree, it might be to either compete for a new position or pursue a leadership or teaching role in your field. Or perhaps you are simply a lifelong learner. Whatever the case, when considering a PhD or a practitioner doctoral degree, the question inevitably arises: What’s the difference between them?

Both offer real-world benefits, and both can help distinguish you as a highly disciplined, trained and knowledgeable graduate. Of course, both also require a lot of time and effort to study, research, write and possibly even publish your work.

With a PhD, graduates work toward scholarly publication and usually a role in academia. The focus is on basic research, writing, publishing and potentially teaching.

A practitioner doctorate, on the other hand, is ideal for people who want to be experts in their fields and seek to contribute to new, innovative industry solutions. Their research focuses on applied problems instead.

The difference between basic research and applied research lies in their respective aims:

• Basic research is aimed at acquiring new, fundamental knowledge and theoretical understanding about basic human and other natural processes without any particular application in view.
• Applied research is also conducted as an original investigation to acquire new knowledge, but it is primarily directed toward practical objectives to provide relatively immediate solutions.

What is a practitioner doctoral degree?

As U.S. News & World Report writes, “A doctoral degree is a graduate-level credential which is typically granted after multiple years of graduate school, with the time-to-degree varying depending on the type of doctoral program. Earning a doctorate usually requires at least four years of effort and may entail eight years of work, depending on the complexity and onerousness of a doctoral program’s graduation requirements.”

While the commitment is substantial, Hinrich Eylers, vice provost at University of Phoenix, points out, earning an advanced degree can help graduates to pursue additional opportunities in their careers.

“All our practitioner degrees prepare students for leadership roles in general and in the area of their programs,” he says.

If you’d like to distinguish yourself in your career, a doctoral degree may be an important first step. Available in both in-person and online formats, doctoral degree programs can help you achieve your educational dreams.

There are several major types of practitioner doctoral degrees, all emphasizing career expertise. A Doctor of Business Administration, for example, is perfect for a businessperson looking to innovate within the field of business and learn how to solve organizational challenges. A Doctor of Education might focus on how research might impact current educational issues.

If you’re thinking of getting a doctoral degree, consider going with an online program, which offers a more flexible schedule, a potentially lower overall tuition cost and potentially a shorter time frame for completion.

What is a PhD?

“PhD” is short for “Doctor of Philosophy,” but don’t be fooled by the word “philosophy.” Many PhD programs have nothing to do with philosophy as a subject, per se. Rather, a PhD is more about taking the wisdom you’ve achieved and sharing that with others, usually in a formal educational setting.

PhD graduates typically complete a dissertation, which is a kind of long-form essay (roughly the length of a slim book) on a subject chosen by the student that is relevant to their field of knowledge. Writing a dissertation takes discipline, good research skills, strong writing skills and time — candidates usually complete two to four years of study in their field before tackling this project.

A PhD helps prepare you for a wide range of careers and professions, especially in research. The career options are too numerous to list comprehensively here but can include roles as a research associate, teacher, dean of students, copywriter, curriculum designer and many more in a number of fields.

Differences between a practitioner doctoral degree and a PhD

According to U.S. News & World Report, there are fundamental differences between a practitioner doctorate and a PhD.

Doctor of Philosophy degrees, or PhDs, are also commonly referred to as “research doctorates,” helping people get ready to work in the research field, either for a private company (such as a pharmaceutical firm) or in the public sector (in a government position or at a college/university.) These programs typically focus on educating students how to research and “discover new knowledge within their academic discipline,” and generally prepare students to compete in technical fields like mathematics or engineering, as well as sociology or philosophy. If you’re looking for a tenure-track college career, U.S. News suggests getting a PhD as a way to qualify for more jobs available within the university system.

Today, a doctoral degree is also becoming more of a pathway for people who know which industry they want to be in and envision themselves in a leadership role.

University of Phoenix focuses on online practitioner degrees, as they “align much better with our mission to enable students to develop knowledge and skills necessary to achieve their professional goals, improve the performance of their organizations, and provide leadership and service to their communities,” writes Eylers.

Practitioner doctoral degrees at University of Phoenix

At University of Phoenix, five available practitioner doctoral degree programs focus on big-picture skills and strategies within their respective fields. They are also aligned with real-world skills and outcomes so that, upon matriculation, graduates are prepared to advance within their profession.

The primarily online school offers “four practitioner doctoral degrees that are similar in design in the College of Doctoral Studies and one in the College of Nursing [Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP)]. The DNP degree program does not require a dissertation, but an applied project must be completed,” says Eylers.

The five doctoral degree programs are:

• The Doctor of Business Administration (DBA) degree, which focuses on solving organizational problems, becoming a business subject matter expert, learning how to design and conduct research studies in the field, and developing innovation.
• The Doctor of Management degree is designed to cultivate tomorrow’s leaders. This program emphasizes the development of such skills as critical and creative thinking in the arena of managerial issues, the development of new business systems and processes based on organization theory, and how to make ethical decisions.
• The Doctor of Education (EdD) degree does not lead to licensure or certification. Instead, it focuses on issues such as how to address legal, regulatory and compliance issues within educational organizations and how to evaluate current research and statistics to solve educational issues.
• The Doctor of Health Administration degree is designed for health professionals interested in shaping policy and administration. Graduates learn how to improve care by analyzing the components and subsystems of the healthcare system and how to make sense of the economic and regulatory factors that impact healthcare sustainability.

The above doctoral degree programs all require two 8-week, online symposia, take a minimum of 38 months to complete and are fully online.

With a variety of online doctoral programs available, the path to leadership in your chosen field is clear. It’s just up to you to take the first step.

Wondering how With five real-world programs at University of Phoenix, earning your doctorate starts here. online college works? Read all about it on our blog!

Originally published at https://www.phoenix.edu on July 12, 2021.