master’s degree versus doctoral degree…

“Doctoral program are not like Master’s programs; they are not designed to lead to “mastery” per se.  Doctoral programs, ideally, should help individuals understand that “mastery” may be applied to only a very narrow subject area or professional field.  Doctoral programs should help to make participants aware that the more one learns about something, the more questions are created. And that these questions are more nuanced and deeper than the cause-and-effect or how-to questions typically encountered in prior learning experiences.  At the Master’s level, we hope those completing such programs can diagnose and repair problems.  At the doctoral level, we hope those completing the program can analyze, from a variety of perspectives and in some substantive depth, problems by taking into account the complex reality within which they are embedded.”

—John R Goss III, Cohorts as Intentional Learning Communities