I was asked what are the two most pressing issues in business phd education.
I paused before responding, bc I knew whatever I said would be controversial.
My first thought was we need to stop demanding PhD students produce papers early and often.
We are pushing students to commoditize ideas - before they even understand method and theory.
We need to put an end to the cult of producing papers for the sake of producing papers.
Students need more time to think and form their own research questions before being forced to write for publication.
While I recognize students need publications to secure jobs, they need time to think and process information.
Absent that, they won’t become deep thinkers.
Second, students are too focused on methods and not enough on the phenomenon.
I am tired of students picking papers apart for the method.
Too often, I hear students asking about the 30th robustness test and not asking about why we think the phenomenon exists or the explanation.
We are raising a generation of dustbowl empiricists who do not have the capacity to create theory or think innovatively about solutions to problems.
While I have a high regard for rigor, the apparent lack of ability to think about theory and the phenomenon is disturbing - bc that ability to craft narratives supported by data and logic are how we communicate what we know to the world.
So what to do?
Remember that research skills are more than methods.
First, while learning methods, students need to attend to learning how to craft narratives.
Method without explanation isn’t helpful for building or sharing knowledge
Second, rather than quick pursuit of papers, students need to invest in learning a literature or two.
Early career students should wait to play the n game after they learn a set of theories.
Third, as they learn method and theories, PhD students need to learn how to speak to not only academic communities but also students they will teach and practice.
We are not investing enough teaching students how to craft stories for the world.
Fourth, we need to better fund PhD students, so they have the time to become multi-faceted merhodologists, theorists and storytellers.
We can’t blame kids for focusing on what they think will land them jobs - and methods are one of the easier competencies to acquire - theory and storytelling take more time.
So let’s give the kids time.
By complementing methods with theory and storytelling, we will be better positioned to build stronger academic communities and change the world.
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