Choosing a Dissertation Topic You Can Actually Finish

Choosing a dissertation topic can feel overwhelming. I certainly felt like I had to get it exactly "right".

In this episode, Dr. Tim Newman and I move away from the pressure of finding the perfect topic and instead explore how to choose one that can actually carry you through the doctoral journey. We talk about alignment, purpose, feasibility, and why your “why” matters more than anything else.

This conversation is for you If you’ve been stuck, second-guessing, or waiting for clarity. Hopefully it will help you think differently about what it really means to choose a dissertation topic.

Transcript

Welcome to Dissertating in the Trenches and Behind the Scenes. Let's be honest, choosing a dissertation topic can feel a bit paralyzing. This is because we want it to be meaningful, we want it to be impressive, and really, we want it to be right. And because of all of that, many learners stay stuck, revising, second-guessing themselves, or waiting for clarity that never quite comes.

Today, we're going to cut through all that. I am joined today by Dr. Newman, who brings both academic experience and real world perspective to this question. What actually helps you choose a dissertation topic and stick with it? What I appreciate about this conversation is that it moves us away from the idea of finding the perfect topic. And instead,

It invites us to think about alignment, purpose, and sustainability. This isn't about choosing something that sounds good. It's about choosing something that you can carry and actually finish.

Dr. TiffianyAnn (01:19)
Hello there, Dr. Newman. Welcome to Dissertating in the Trenches and Behind the Scenes. Can you tell our audience a little bit about who you are, what you do?

Tim (01:29)
Absolutely, but Tiffany before I get to that I need to thank you for inviting me in to share with the Dissertating and Trenches community. I think what you're doing is phenomenal and it's you know, we talked about how sorely this is needed, you know across the country, but you know for your audience I'm Dr. Tim Newman. I call myself a recovering college professor. I help people become powerful communicators and leaders.

worked in higher ed for close to 30 years and it came time to, I think I'm starting to serve people better on this side of the aisle as opposed to actually being in academia with some of the things that were going on and some of the trends, all the way from undergraduate education or public education all the way through doctor education, I think needs to be revamped and I think that I can serve better.

here and affect more people on this side. I will tell you one thing, I've been not teaching for a year and I miss the students. I miss them badly.

Dr. TiffianyAnn (02:30)
I mean, I hope that all of you said the same thing. because that says a lot when somebody who's in in this in the well, as I call it in the trenches with you, right, sitting on your committee cares and enough to miss you later on. Even I mean, for whatever reasons, you you're still doing the thing you're contributing to contributing in ways that you felt called to, which I love.

Tim (02:34)
Yeah.

Yeah, you are.

Dr. TiffianyAnn (02:57)
⁓ But it's really nice to know that you cared so deeply and care so deeply. Let's not put that in past tense. So thank you very much for that. So we're talking today about topics. How do you find not necessarily the technical piece of this? We're not talking technical, but this is much more than a technical thing. Like I Googled top 10 research topics in

Tim (03:04)
Yeah. Right.

Yes.

Dr. TiffianyAnn (03:23)
organizational development. What are they? That's what I did. So, you know, there's so many different ways to decide on a topic, right? But we're going to talk about that today. Can you tell me what was happening for you academically, personally, when you realized that you truly had decided on a dissertation topic?

Tim (03:44)
Tiffany, that's a great question. I gotta be able to remember back that far, because this is a long time ago. I've been teaching for 30 years, so we're talking, it was mid 90s that I was doing this and understand, and I know you understand, but students need to understand how different education is today than it was 10 years ago, let alone 20, 25 years ago. At that point in my life, I was a,

Dr. TiffianyAnn (03:54)
Mm.

Tim (04:10)
when I decided to go back and get my doctorate, I was a high school public education teacher. And I was teaching in a magnet school in Baltimore County, Maryland. I was teaching in an athletic training curriculum. kind of long story short, what I realized was that in my position there, I was not going to get to where I wanted to be or where I wanted my family to be. And,

I had a passion for high school athletics at the time. I still do. And I was working in a, it wasn't an inner city school, but it was, it was kind of like an inner city school, know, tough, tough area of Baltimore County, Maryland, just, just outside the city. And had really good kids, but, but, troubled. And how can we keep that? My thought process was how can we keep them engaged in the education process?

from an athletic perspective, if they don't, number one, if they don't wanna be in school, if they're not really truly invested in their education, and at the time, the academic requirements weren't very high to stay eligible to play. And I'd always known, always been being a part of athletics, that coaches have such an influence on the academic success of their student athletes, but there was never any,

Dr. TiffianyAnn (05:15)
Hmm. Okay.

Tim (05:28)
documenting proof of that. There was never any numbers to show that. And so that's kind of how I set out to do that. Maybe to give more funding to coaches to help them from an academic perspective or give more funding to high school athletic departments to help fund that piece. Because it's an extracurricular just like band, just like theater, just like all those other things.

but really kind of at a bigger scale because more people are participating there. And how can we just keep them engaged and develop them academically while they're still playing a sport?

Dr. TiffianyAnn (06:05)
Thank you so very much. so that obviously was what you came in with. Right. So and that was a passion for you. Is that what you wrote about?

Tim (06:10)
Yes, right.

It actually was, yes.

the actual topic was, oh, I'm gonna say that and I'm gonna get it wrong.

That's just say it was how coaches affect the academic success of male student athletes because I did have to pare it down because we were looking at it from a, even from a school perspective, was relatively large school, the number of participants between male and female and different demographic types of things was important. And what we already knew is that

females were already outperforming males to begin with academically. They had always had higher...

test scores or reading comprehension scores, math scores, and this goes for, so I don't want to get too far into the weeds here, but 1997, 1998.

white females, kind of went white females, white males, African American females, African American males. So African American males were performing at the lowest academically. And that's really what I wanted to look at. How can we raise those, know, get them more engaged, know, get them reading at higher levels, get them more engaged and get them academically, not just academically eligible, but get them an actual education.

Dr. TiffianyAnn (07:45)
Sure, and that's an important piece, has to come down to the core reason.

What assumptions did you hold

at that time about what makes a good topic.

Again, I'm asking you to remember.

Tim (07:59)
And I'll

be honest with you, my thoughts have changed, have really changed drastically for a number of different reasons. But at the time...

I thought I was gonna be doing some, know, even after going through a pretty rigorous master's program, pretty rigorous, these is, excuse me, that I was gonna be writing something that was gonna be, you know, win awards. Everybody was gonna say, Tim, you're so great. You came up with the best topic in the world. Now we've solved the problem.

Dr. TiffianyAnn (08:27)
Hehehehehe

Tim (08:30)
Right?

And I remember, I had two different dissertation chairs and I remember conversations with both of them and they kept telling me, scale it back. Let's deal with, you you may eventually get there but you have to deal with one problem at a time. You're not necessarily writing the next great, you're not solving cancer.

Dr. TiffianyAnn (08:51)
⁓

Tim (08:56)
You can't, and especially in the industry, education industry, you can't solve five different things. You can solve one. If you solve one, how does that affect the next piece that you're gonna solve? So you can't try and solve all of them at the same time. Pick one. And that's kind of how we pared it down. Let's look at the people that need this the most and how can we help them?

Dr. TiffianyAnn (09:12)
Okay.

Yeah, and I know just for our listeners, a funny story. I mean, I didn't have a clue what a topic meant having a dissertation topic early on and even late on because I waited until like to go to my residency. I kept pushing it out, pushing it out. I'm not ready yet. I'm not ready yet.

And it was because I didn't feel like I had a topic. And my 14 year old at the time said, mom, just pick one, just pick something already out of maybe frustration or whatever. So I did, I picked something. I went to the first residency, they say, what's your topic on? And I so confidently said, I'm gonna study women entrepreneurs in Arizona.

blank stares, all the things like, like what and what? Right? Like, okay, you're not telling me anything. So I did not realize the the complexity of really what a good topic is. And that's where we don't want to necessarily get into the weeds of this. This is where your instructors and your your chairs are to help you weed through that.

Tim (10:29)
Yes.

Yes.

Right.

Dr. TiffianyAnn (10:42)
But it's not as simple as just find a good topic, just find the topic. Even when I did my Google search, was not, I didn't land on, pardon me, anything that was in the list, honestly. But that list, I related to things that I was reading, and then I related to things that I was experiencing on the job.

Tim (10:57)
Mm-hmm.

Right.

Dr. TiffianyAnn (11:07)
And I started

to, these connections, these synapses, it started happening to where I started making these connections. And I was like, ⁓ I'm interested in this. And so I would just then start to read about those things. But it didn't happen in a Google search. It just doesn't do that.

Tim (11:25)
Right. And

here's the other piece why you don't wanna just pick any topic either because let's be real and honest. This is work. This is hard work. I mean, it's easier today than it was 25 years ago, but it's not easy. This is hard work.

If you're not committed to it, if you don't have an invested interest in this, it's very difficult for you to give up all the time. You give up a lot to go through and do a dissertation and get a PhD or an EDD or whatever it is that you're going to get. So you have to be truly invested in this whole process. So don't just go pick something that, this sounds good, don't really care about it. That's truly...

from my perspective, a critical piece to this.

Dr. TiffianyAnn (12:13)
Yeah, yeah. What do you think? And I won't ask you again from your own perspective. That doesn't seem fair to recall from 30 years ago. I'll ask in a different way. What do you think helps learners move from this open exploration into intentional commitment of their topic?

Tim (12:18)
Mm-mm. Mm.

That's a really good question. And I think part of this comes back to the way the majority of the system is set up.

I think, and I want everybody to hear me as I say this, I'm not knocking anybody, I'm not knocking any program. Everybody goes through their own things. I think what we're seeing more today than we've ever seen is students going right from their bachelor's to their master's to their doctorate and not getting any real true life experience. I think that the,

Dr. TiffianyAnn (13:05)
Okay.

Tim (13:10)
life experience is something that is critical in helping you figure out that topic because you're actually working in the space where you've worked. You've worked in some space and you see things and you get that type of experience. Now I come from a very practical background. I came from, comes from the sport industry. Everything was, was very practical and maybe that's where, where that comes from. even, you know, pick any other

any other major, what do you, when you get these degrees, what are you gonna do with it? Go out and try something for a year or two and learn to use or not use what you've learned in the classroom and come back and try and solve a problem because I think part of this, we've touched on a little bit is research for research sake is, that's something that drives me nuts.

Dr. TiffianyAnn (13:50)
Okay.

Mm hmm. Right. Well, I mean, why would you invest so much time into something for the sake of just investing in the time? So just to recap.

Tim (14:06)
Time, exactly.

And here's a good one. I've got a number of former undergraduate students that have gone on to get doctorates. And I was at a conference where one of my best students ever was presenting. And I'm proud. I'm sitting up front supporting him. And he starts talking about this. I'm thinking, are you, dude, we've talked about this. are you doing? And I took him out to lunch after. I said, dude, what's the point of what you're trying to do? Because I'm okay. If I've missed something, I'm fine.

And he said, we had to do a research project.

And I said, that's what you, you would rather do that than truly do the work and find something that's going to somebody.

And in that mentor conversation with him, he's never done it again. That I know, that I'm aware of. Because again, it could just be me, and I'm fine if it's just me, that from an education perspective, we're trying to help people. We're trying to educate people, we're trying to solve problems, we're trying to raise people up.

Dr. TiffianyAnn (15:01)
Mm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Tim (15:17)
And research for research sake doesn't help anybody. It doesn't help the student. Well, maybe it does help the student, but it doesn't businesses. It doesn't help the education system. I mean, I can develop a research project here in 15 minutes, but so what? I think that's where I come from.

Dr. TiffianyAnn (15:40)
So I have I want to go back to a statement you made like you were and I'm not disagreeing with you. I'm actually seeing a trend of I don't know if I can call it a trend. It's not more than it's three people in my little tiny world. ⁓ But I am hearing more and more people, younger people move from one program to a next. Just leveling it up. So.

Tim (15:55)
Yeah.

Dr. TiffianyAnn (16:06)
And I applaud them for any of you listening that that was the route. I applaud your ambition. But then I also work with people who are entering into this program, the doctorate program later stages of life. I, for one, was one of those. And when a mentor asked me, well, what do you want to do with this when you're done? I'm like, I'm.

Tim (16:08)
Mm-hmm. Yes, I do too.

Dr. TiffianyAnn (16:29)
I'm doing this because I want to better understand what my learners are going through. That was the whole reason why I did it. It is paid off tenfold in so many ways. aside from that, when she asked me that, I was like, hmm, maybe some consulting. And her next question was, have you ever consulted before? No, no, I've been I've been the cog in the wheel for a very long time.

Tim (16:51)
Mm.

Dr. TiffianyAnn (16:53)
And she's like, well, maybe you should look at that. Right. And if that's not to your point, the experience piece, I didn't have anything about consulting about in higher education. I just had years worth of experience and it did turn out to be a consulting of sorts, but not the way I had imagined it in the first place. But I think that your point of where are you going to go with this?

What's the purpose? That's a question we have to ask ourselves. I was okay with saying, this is the process. This is, for me, this is, the process is where I'm going with this. I need to better understand my role, how to do better in my role for these learners because they are my bread and butter. They are the reason why I come to work every day. They are my passion.

Tim (17:22)
Yeah, right.

Dr. TiffianyAnn (17:46)
Right. That was me. Right. So not everybody has that. What would anyways long wind.

Tim (17:46)
Right. Right.

Well, let's stay there for just a second if you don't mind. Anything that's worthwhile having, you gotta have the why, right? And that was your why. You've gotta have that, and whatever it is, if you're going straight through, if your why is because you would rather just get it all over with to begin with and you know you wanna teach, okay, that's your why. Now what are you gonna do though? Because...

Dr. TiffianyAnn (18:00)
Great. Yep.

Tim (18:22)
You know, are you gonna throw yourself into an R1? Or are you gonna go to a teaching institution? Where'd you learn how to teach? You know, there's, ⁓ yeah, I'm sorry.

Dr. TiffianyAnn (18:29)
Yeah, yeah, can we stop for there? Not everybody understands what an R1 is or a teaching institution.

Can you help us understand that for a second, please?

Tim (18:38)
Yeah,

okay, so I apologize for that. I'm like, I'm passionate about this and making sure that we're putting our students in the best position to be successful. So an R1 is a, generally it's a large state institution that you are, your primary role is to do research. You may teach one or two classes a semester and you're responsible for spitting out articles, doing presentations.

both national and international, you're responsible most of the time for generating revenue. That could be grants, that could be sponsorship dollars, it could be any number of things, but you're responsible for generating a certain number of revenue. And if you don't, you've got about two years and they're gonna move you out. You have to start producing.

Dr. TiffianyAnn (19:25)
Okay, okay.

Tim (19:31)
If you love doing research and you can generate revenue and you can get in the top tier journals of your field, great, then you're gonna do fine. If you can't, you're gonna struggle. So there's that. And then on the other side, you have the teaching institutions where your primary responsibility is teaching and you're still gonna have to do some research, you're still gonna have to publish maybe one two articles a year, but your primary role, you're gonna probably be teaching four classes a semester.

responsible for supervising students, for advising and other things, and on top of that, do the research. So, you you've got to decide, again, what's your passion if you want to work in higher ed? Because there really isn't a whole lot of in between. know, they've started now with non-tenure track positions. A lot of institutions are going non-tenure track positions where all you're doing is just teaching, no research.

But again, the pay is going to be much lower for that as well. So you have to understand and think about what it is that you want to do when you're done on top of everything else of paying for this, dissertation and how it's all going to work out in the end.

Dr. TiffianyAnn (20:37)
Right.

Yeah, absolutely. I agree. so. So some coming back to my original question that I don't think I actually said, so forgive me to the older generation. Right. Those people. I say no offense, please. I mean, no offense. But to those who are more seasoned in life coming in, even our 30s and 40s, like it's not.

Tim (20:58)
Right.

Dr. TiffianyAnn (21:07)
What are you going to do? Change the trajectory of your career? Maybe, but that usually takes a plan when you have a family and you have a plan for this. This is something that people wrestle with. It's not that they don't know. I need this to feed into my future.

Tim (21:15)
Right.

Right.

Dr. TiffianyAnn (21:28)
They know this. I believe that they know this. then it's I run into people who are dissatisfied with what they're doing. And so then it becomes a question of what do you want to do differently with this or people who are really like, I'm I'm loving what I'm doing. I need to know more. So what would you say to those people, the people who's let's start with the person who's dissatisfied.

how do you pick a topic when you're not happy with where you're at?

Tim (21:55)
Wow, that's a really, really good question.

It takes working with somebody who can help you get to the bottom of it, get to that why. In terms of...

Are you not happy in the industry? Are you completely switching industries? Are you not happy with the specific area of the industry? Do you want to work in a different area? And start figuring out those types of things. And again, it does take a big commitment.

And it's worth the time, I would say.

to do the research, talk to different people. Just like I would tell my undergraduate students, go do some informational interviews. Talk to different program directors at different levels, different types of institutions. See if they'll let you talk to the students, the doctoral students in there and kind of get a feel of what it is that you're actually going into. Because if you've been working in the industry, let's just say five or six years,

out of your master's degree, you've got responsibilities, know, spouse, kids, mortgage, those other things. Understand what you're actually getting into and if you understand that and you can hone in on that topic earlier, your life is gonna be so much better. But it takes help. Very rarely have I found somebody with doctorate students that I've been working with that they knew.

It takes help. I think you've got to a good chair, a good committee, or good faculty within the department that you're going to help you figure it out.

Dr. TiffianyAnn (23:48)
Yeah. And I think that some of the institutions that I've witnessed, I mean, it's a double edged sword. love the fact that some institutions give agency to learners to pick that topic. Right. I love that because now we're making change in the world from a broader perspective.

Tim (24:03)
Yes.

Right.

Dr. TiffianyAnn (24:12)
But to your point, have to really talk to people and talk through it, read through it. Your dissertation topic may shift. If you are interested in how, I always use this example, I'm interested in leadership in the basket weaving industry. Okay, what does that mean? It could mean anything, right? But.

Tim (24:37)
Right.

Dr. TiffianyAnn (24:39)
Now I'm so now I'm doing the research and I'm looking and I'm not only looking through the sitting through the literature, but I'm talking to people. I'm talking to my faculty. I'm talking to my some mentors, People that I've met before who are a few steps ahead of me who can give me some feedback, I'm joining communities and I'm listening to how they discern and they they sift through,

And now I can start to see how I could possibly weave this. I think for me, I can only say that I stayed in this very broad topic for a very long time about women entrepreneurs in Arizona, because I didn't do the weaving, And it has to be grounded from, I don't know an institution, whether you pick your topic or you are given a topic. I don't know an institution that says,

just pick anything. doesn't, who cares if there's literature to support it. That's what we're doing. We're adding to the literature. So it has to be supported by the literature that this, we're gonna make this chain.

Tim (25:40)
That's right.

Right.

Exactly. And again,

I think from, you know, we're not really talking a lot about this, but I think it's incumbent upon the faculty to ask the right questions and to guide the student and to, again, help put them in a position that they're gonna be successful. most of the time, you know, when you have a doctoral program, you your chair,

Dr. TiffianyAnn (25:54)
Mmm.

Tim (26:09)
is gonna be doing research too. And sometimes they are so wrapped up in their own research and you're helping them with that research, your topic and your direction sometimes falls through the cracks and it's up to you as a student to say, look, Doc, I'm struggling here, can we sit down and have a conversation about direction? Give me some things to think about.

Dr. TiffianyAnn (26:11)
So.

Tim (26:30)
you know, to go in whichever direction it is. You know, there's gotta be that balance in both ways. And what I've seen is, especially in the younger generations, they are so afraid to ask questions because they don't wanna upset their chair.

Dr. TiffianyAnn (26:47)
Well, and we, you have to ask, you have to ask the questions. And for those, and we've talked about this, even initially when we first met, how important it is to have a topic early, right? And, and I'm going to tie this back into what you just said. So if I get off track, just help me out.

Tim (26:48)
You had asked.

Yes, yes.

Dr. TiffianyAnn (27:08)
I know in the institutions that I've been a part of, you start surveying things early on, class one, two or three in your didactic courses, And as a student, as a learner, I may not feel real comfortable talking about my topic or going to my instructor of a leadership class.

Tim (27:16)
early.

Dr. TiffianyAnn (27:33)
about my dissertation topic to say, hey, how does ethics apply to leadership in the basket weaving industry? I was thinking about these things. What do you think, As far as a dissertation topic, they may not feel very comfortable about that. But as a learner, I want to urge you to early on engage in those questions, those questions with your faculty.

Tim (27:48)
Right.

Dr. TiffianyAnn (27:57)
go beyond the comfortability factor, and just push yourself to ask those questions if you don't know, Would you agree?

Tim (28:05)
Yeah, absolutely.

Oh, absolutely 100%. And there I look at it from a perspective of, know, if you're an undergraduate and you're not comfortable asking questions, I can understand that. When you get to the master's degree, okay, all right, you got to start getting over this. By the time you're a doctoral student, know, come on, you're...

What are you waiting for? And I don't want people to think that I'm attacking them or anything like that. you've got to start at some point advocating for yourself and figuring, I wouldn't say necessarily figure things out for yourself, but ask for help. That's why we as faculty are here. And if you've got a faculty member who maybe isn't,

isn't reaching out to you and saying what can I do to help you, they may not know that you're struggling if you don't say something to them. If you say, I'm struggling here, my guess is 99 % of faculty are going to help you. They're just going to, or they're gonna point you in the right directions, or they're gonna say, go talk to this person. This person is the one that can truly answer that question for you. But at some point, you have to start putting yourself out there and start taking

Dr. TiffianyAnn (29:01)
Right.

Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Tim (29:22)
taking that responsibility.

Dr. TiffianyAnn (29:25)
So there are I learned what I learned, not just by sitting in the classroom. I learned through.

conversations. Somebody asked me about my dissertation topic, and I would watch their body language, I would listen to how they repeated back to me what they understood. And it could be somebody that was not interested in leadership and basket weaving industry at all. And oftentimes it wasn't. And so I

Tim (29:35)
Yes.

Right.

Dr. TiffianyAnn (29:55)
put myself in spaces where I felt vulnerable. I don't know what I'm doing. I have no idea what I'm doing, but I put myself in spaces to listen to other people to observe and ask those questions. I never got a direct answer. Not a ⁓ hundred percent. I never got a direct answer. I got more questions. A hundred percent. But those questions and watching somebody else

how like, ⁓ I called the librarian or, I realized that I can't use this word because now I've got things out of alignment. And I started to put pieces together because I was putting myself in these communities where I'm going to ask questions of somebody who's been through it. I'm going to watch somebody who as they're going through it. if you'll listen to what I have to say and you and you

whether you know what I'm talking about or not, you give me feedback, both verbally and from a bodily perspective even, like I'm gonna read your feedback and then I'm gonna discern from there what works with my topic, what doesn't work from my topic. But my topic on leadership in the basket weaving industry is going to morph. It will all center around that some way, somehow it leads me back to what my ultimate topic will be.

Tim (30:52)
Right. Right.

Dr. TiffianyAnn (31:18)
but it's the starting point, And so I probably took his way off, way off, but I felt like it was important to point out our learning modes don't always come in the classroom and they certainly are not gonna come in direct guidance. let me direct prescriptive do this.

Tim (31:27)
Mm-hmm.

Right.

Dr. TiffianyAnn (31:44)
Right, not at the doctoral level to support what you said early. It definitely not going to happen.

Tim (31:50)
No,

it's part of the critical thinking process. Dissertation is different than any other thing that you've ever done. It's probably the least prescriptive, but most scrutinized thing you'll ever do that has a lot of prescription in it. That, you know, if...

If you ask the questions and you start putting things together, then you're going to see how it actually works to get, like you said, to get to the point that you say, okay, this is the point of the dissertation. This is the thing that I need to start really looking at. by, again, asking whatever questions it is of the people that are either in your cohort or your faculty or your...

committee.

ask those questions of everybody and start putting those answers together and say, okay, that's where it's gonna come really. I mean, you nailed it.

Dr. TiffianyAnn (32:56)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah, and some of this comes from my experience that, you know, a lot of the learners that I've worked with over the years, they don't get their chair until they're done with the didactic courses two to three years later. And so they may be sitting in year one going, okay, that's all well and good, but I don't have a chair.

Don't wait for your chair. I think that that was your passionate point when we first spoke was you should not wait until you're done with your didactic courses to decide on a topic, And some programs allow for you to dig into your dissertation topic early. Some programs I've heard from other people, they said don't even touch the topic.

Tim (33:32)
Right.

Dr. TiffianyAnn (33:44)
I spoke with somebody just recently and they said, we weren't even able to consider our topic. whenever we looked at elements of writing a dissertation, the components of what it takes technically to write a dissertation, we use other topics to explore that.

So what do you say to those people who may be in situations where, you know, they're attending an institution that said, just don't worry about the topic right now, we'll get there.

Tim (34:15)
There again, I think you're in a tough spot, but I would need to take a step, have them take a step back. Number one, know what kind of learning you are, know what kind of things that you're need. First off, by asking different people in different locations, and then knowing what you're getting into when you enroll in a particular program. And I get it, especially if you've been out in the workforce for a little bit, your choices may not be...

You may not have a lot of choices, but choose the best place for you based on your learning style, on the faculty and the support, on the curriculum, and on the process. And again, you've never been through this so you don't really know, but by talking to people in the choices that you have. What do you like? do you not like? Talk to a student, what's this process really like? So.

Dr. TiffianyAnn (35:05)
Mm-hmm.

Tim (35:11)
If you end up in a place where you can't start your dissertation, I mean, you can't start your topic, can't even start thinking about it, be very intentional about the process.

Dr. TiffianyAnn (35:22)
Mm. Mm.

Tim (35:24)
okay, in terms of chapters one, two, and three. What's required in chapters one, two, and three? You don't need to be down the road, because you can figure out the sections of chapters one, two, and three and be very intentional about when you're doing your research or you're doing your other assignments, how do you get information for this topic in chapter one, this topic in chapter two, because then it's gonna make it easier.

Dr. TiffianyAnn (35:48)
Yeah. ⁓

Tim (35:52)
once you do get a chance to choose a topic, you can hone in. This is the information I need to choose from as opposed to, know, sifting through everything again. You we got to start from the top, you know, all the way down the road.

Dr. TiffianyAnn (36:06)
Right.

Right. And I'm sure in those institutions, learners are reading published dissertations, I hope so. And if you're not, you should absolutely be looking up published dissertations specifically for the institution that you attend, because that is going to be a roadmap, ⁓ And I mean, my dates are wrong and everything else, I'm sure. But I tease and I'm like the dissertation or research

Tim (36:16)
well they should be. They should be, right.

Mm-hmm.

Absolutely.

Dr. TiffianyAnn (36:38)
formula hasn't changed when as far as the write-up in since the 1800s. I don't think my dates are wrong, but it's a formula. You see the journal articles and everything. It's a replicable formula that you can apply. And so, you know, then you can learn what that dissertation might look like by looking at those other dissertations and reading on them, which is super helpful.

Tim (36:44)
Yeah, it's the same.

Dr. TiffianyAnn (37:06)
But coming back to that topic, right? Read what you're interested in, I would even dare to say read what interests you. One of the things that like I was reading that Google list and I was reading habits at the time, which sparked. Oh, I wonder how habits work within, you know, a call center kind of situation where now we've taken critical judgment away from the call from the.

employees because everything's systemized, right? So like all these things start firing. Because why? Because I read what I was interested in. I knew I needed to find a topic. So you can get there. Just stay curious,

Tim (37:38)
Right.

That's it right there, stay curious. mean, the most successful people that I've ever met are the ones that are curious, the ones that ask questions, the ones that are continuously learning, the ones that are putting themselves in positions where they're constantly reading or they're...

Dr. TiffianyAnn (37:56)
Mm. Mm.

Tim (38:16)
talking to new people, those types, those to me are the people that emerge successful.

Dr. TiffianyAnn (38:21)
Mm hmm. I.

Again, going back to my first experience at residency, he taught me so much. There was a gentleman there and I just to this day, my heart just feels something special for him because he taught me so much. But he wanted to study dark matter in this social sciences program. I was like, hmm, how does that work? But he was insistent.

I'm going to study this. I'm going to study this. so this brings me up to my question. What happens when alignment is ignored? Because this was a matter for this poor gentleman. This was a matter of alignment of his interests and the institution that he was going to. Because we didn't we don't have the capacity at this institution to study dark matter. We don't have.

capacity to do that. So, but he was ignoring all of that. So what happens?

Tim (39:25)
Hard conversations need to be had on both sides. know, number one, was this something that was shared in the application process and the acceptance process? And you accepted this individual knowing that you didn't have the capacity for that. Or was this something that's come along and you've been told, you know,

Dr. TiffianyAnn (39:29)
Mm-hmm.

Tim (39:48)
that you can't do that. We don't have the expertise, we don't have the funding, we don't have the facilities, we don't have the resources, all those types of things. So yeah, you may want to do that, but that's just not a viable option. And then the student has to make a choice what they're gonna do. Are they gonna stay and go down a different route or are they gonna leave? Because, you know, we can't

We can't be all things to all people. As much as we want to help people, the institutions can't be all things to all people. This happens kind of on a regular basis. How many times have you seen where a doctoral advisor is hired, they start bringing in doctoral students, and two years later that doctoral advisor, who may have come with a specialty, changes jobs?

Dr. TiffianyAnn (40:42)
Mmm.

Tim (40:43)
The institution,

from my perspective, the institution is still responsible for taking care of those students. And so we better figure that out. And that's a different question than what you just asked. And you've got to look at it from the perspective of, we brought those students in on a promise. We need to fulfill that promise. But we can't be all things to all people. We can't just start accepting everybody.

Dr. TiffianyAnn (40:49)
rate.

Tim (41:11)
and think that we're going to be able to service them and give them the education or the knowledge or help them gain that education or help them gain that knowledge that they think that they want.

Dr. TiffianyAnn (41:21)
Yeah, and I see this happen even with people they think that they understand something like teachers understand that they that this is a social sciences program, And they they understand to this to this point, okay, I'm doing I'm doing this type of study or yada yada yada, but they keep forcing something that what they don't understand, and I'm just using this as an example is what they're

Proposing is a program evaluation versus what we're actually asking them to do. So it's a matter of that alignment could be something as just far as I never really understood this to be that. And so at some point in time, we have to stop fighting. And what's the greater cost? I've invested time and money for two years. Is it best for me to choose?

Tim (42:00)
Right.

Yes, absolutely.

Dr. TiffianyAnn (42:14)
just because I can't do it the way I want it to do it? Or is it better to look at, okay, I'm still interested in XYZ. How do I make that XYZ work within ABC's program?

Tim (42:26)
this framework.

And it's hard, you know, if you leave the institution, more than likely, I don't know of too many institutions that accept doctoral credits from other institutions.

you know, they want you to come in and take their classes.

I don't want to make it sound like it's all about money, but the reality of it is that's a big piece of it. When doctoral classes are so much smaller.

depending on the institution, you could have as few as, as eight, eight students in class.

Dr. TiffianyAnn (43:11)
And it's a brand thing as well, Like I want you to know the research and the way we approach research. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. And 100 % yes, the doctoral land of Dr. Tiffany Ann Lindean, we do it this way and it's It's right.

Tim (43:14)
absolutely. From our perspective, yeah. Because the way we do it is so much better than everybody else. Everybody knows that. See?

Exactly. ⁓

Dr. TiffianyAnn (43:35)
So what would you say ⁓ to a learner who keeps revising their topic out of fear of choosing the wrong one?

Tim (43:42)
Stop. Stop. Because I get it. I 100 % get it. You want it to be perfect. You want it to be the best thing that you could ever do. A done dissertation is better than a dissertation that you're continually working on. When you...

Dr. TiffianyAnn (43:44)
Okay.

Tim (44:06)
when you're finished it and you've graduated, if you want to change it, if you want to add to it, if you want to continue that research line, go do that. But at some point you have to say enough is enough, stop. This is the, we're locking it in here. And I can give you other examples of those types of things. Writing a book. When I wrote my first book,

I said I'd never do it again. I said when I wrote my first book, I said I'd never do it again. So that means that there was obviously a second book. We kept, it took us almost two years because we kept changing and adding things, changing and adding things. And, because we could still be doing this 15 years later, or we could just.

Just set the boundary, okay? We're not changing anything else. This is it. And move forward because...

I can look back on everything that I've ever done and say, there's mistakes here, I can make it better here and I can make it better there, but a done dissertation is better than an unfinished dissertation. Just figure out what that is, stop making changes, stop doing...

I'm not saying stop doing the revisions. If your committee is telling you you've got to revise things, you can't say no. You've got to make those revisions, right? But what I'm saying is stop making changes. Stop going on different tangents or different directions. That's what I'm talking about. Just get done.

Dr. TiffianyAnn (45:30)
Get to work.

Right, right. Yeah.

And that's the grounding of things, this is where I see people get tossed around, I think that that's the fear is that when you're fearful, I'm going to say this boldly. When you're fearful, you don't own your topic.

Tim (45:43)
Hmm.

Right.

Dr. TiffianyAnn (45:55)
Because

you've been waiting for all the directions and all the people to tell you what to do. You do not own that topic. so, but it looks different when you say I've done the research. I know this topic.

I can speak from the literature to give support for whatever decision I'm making. It's we have to rely on the literature to support us. But you have to be grounded. This is what I know. And this is what I'm deciding.

Tim (46:15)
Absolutely.

Dr. TiffianyAnn (46:26)
because otherwise you're going to be tossed around and turned and everything else. And I think that that's result of fear. So stop.

Tim (46:31)
It

is. And again, I'm gonna put it back on your faculty, on your chair and on your committee. If you've got a strong chair, this person is gonna sit down with you and say, okay, this is what it is. And if you wanna come in and make changes, that person's gonna have serious questions and conversations with you. Because let's put it this way, if we're...

Dr. TiffianyAnn (46:50)
Yeah.

Tim (46:54)
deep into chapter three, and I can say this, okay, if we're deep into chapter three and you come to me and you wanna switch your methodology, okay, we can talk about that. As long as it's gonna still answer your research questions and do those types of things. But if we're deep into chapter three and now you wanna start switching your research questions, well, why you wanna do that? I'm gonna need some.

some solid reasons outside of well, I don't like that. I want to look at something else or let's just say, know what, in the research that I've done, that's not a good question because I missed this document over here or this article over here where that's already been answered. That's different than I just don't like that question or I want to take it in different direction. Right?

having a strong chair or strong committee members to really get to the bottom of why you'd wanna make changes and understanding what making those changes mean. So when you go, if you've done your proposal, I've never come back and said you could change things.

No, because if you want to go back and change things, we're going to start from scratch. And do you really want to start from scratch? No, you don't. Right? Right. And I do that kind of like the father figure. I'm trying to help you. Right? I mean, because I know chairs who say, sure, that's fine. We'll do it. No, no.

Dr. TiffianyAnn (48:07)
choices. Yeah.

Tim (48:30)
Let's get it done. you want to look at that later, look at that later. You've worked your tail off to get to this point. You don't want to have to double that work again. be that person for them. I'm not saying save them from themselves, but let them know why you're doing this.

Dr. TiffianyAnn (48:35)
Hmm. Yeah.

And as a learner, you don't, if you're feeling tension about something, if somebody is saying, like, you know, if Dr. Newman were to tell you, if you do this, then it will add six months to this, right? Or it would be better off if we stayed the course here, Trust that your faculty member is, if they're pushing back, it's because

Tim (49:01)
Right.

Right.

Dr. TiffianyAnn (49:10)
there's a reason, They want to guide you. So you trust that until they demonstrate that they don't have your best interests at heart, which I think, you know, you can tell the difference. ⁓ But ask questions. What do you wish somebody had told you earlier, Dr. Newman?

Tim (49:17)
Right.

Right.

I hate saying this. I really truly do.

that not every person on your committee is going to have your best interests at heart.

For some people, they do, and that's great, God bless them, but for those that don't, and here's my story. I had two different chairs, had one person, and the second chair was on the committee when the first chair left. So he was on the committee the entire time.

One person was added to the committee when my second chair moved to become chair. And that other person on the committee got along fine, no major issues whatsoever. I was the person, if you tell me to do something, I'm gonna do it, because I just wanted to get it done and get out. Because that's where we were in the process, right? Let's just get it done. Come time for my defense and...

the third member of the committee started grilling me on things that were not in my dissertation at all and asked why they were never included, why I never thought of them. ⁓ And I was a non-traditional student as an undergrad, so I was a little bit older and I held my ground fairly well until he started yelling at me. And my chair said, you need to step out.

Dr. TiffianyAnn (50:51)
Mm.

Tim (51:08)
And so again, I had a really good strong chair and understand that not everybody on your committee is always going to have your best interests at heart. I would never have somebody defending if we weren't all on the same page, if you're not ready to go. And understand that. So it's not necessary be careful about who you choose.

Dr. TiffianyAnn (51:24)
Right. Right.

Tim (51:31)
Just understand that...

Dr. TiffianyAnn (51:33)
you

Tim (51:35)
Your chair is the one that's responsible for managing the committee, but you also have that responsibility in making sure that you're working with the entire committee and that everybody's understanding of where you are in the process. And I hate to say that. I hate saying that, but I look and I've seen people and I've talked to people where their committees are just destroying...

Dr. TiffianyAnn (51:50)
Yeah, absolutely.

Tim (52:04)
students and it's heartbreaking. heartbreaking.

Dr. TiffianyAnn (52:06)
Yeah,

and I'm really sorry that that's been an experience that you or anybody else would ever have. and this is again where we get to advocate for ourselves. We need to be able to advocate for ourselves. But we also need to find that person on our committee that is the advocate that is the person that has our back. I appreciate the fact that you had a chair that said step out and

Tim (52:13)
Mm.

Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Right.

Dr. TiffianyAnn (52:34)
address the matter. Now I do know that there are some people that do not feel that way. They they are like, and methodologists is is really being pushy about things that seemingly don't matter. I'm just giving stories, right. And the chair is just like, whether it be their inexperience, or whether it be just their demeanor, they are unwilling to push back on that even right.

Tim (53:02)
Right.

Dr. TiffianyAnn (53:02)
I don't know every situation is different, but you as the learner are the one paying for the tuition. It is your doctorate, your artifact that's in question right now. Let me emphasize your artifact that's in question and you have to sit with those decisions. You have to sit with those maybe uncomfortable moments, but

You just have to find a way to get it done, Call in the forces

all the advocates that you have in your corner, I have a firm belief that when we invest in ourselves,

and in others and we invest in our dreams, we move from advocacy to agency.

Tim (53:43)
you're absolutely right. And, you know, here's another example. You know, I was chair of a committee and the student finished up, think he finished up in October and he submitted a draft and I didn't give him good feedback. I didn't realize the time. I thought I gave him great feedback because I always do. I mean, if he gets them back for me, it's the best ever.

Dr. TiffianyAnn (54:07)
Mm-hmm.

Tim (54:09)
And one of my committee members called me to task. said, Tim, you're being vague. He doesn't know what to do. He doesn't know what you want him to do.

And I looked at what he said and I said, you know what, you're absolutely right. And so as a faculty member, it's okay to go to a student and say, you know what, I'm sorry. I messed up. This is exactly what I want you to do, or this is the direction I want you to head. This is what I want you to think about. And I'm sorry that I put you in that position. You you build so much more trust and that student gained so much more out of that than to dig your heels in.

Dr. TiffianyAnn (54:52)
Yeah. Yeah. I so appreciate what you've shared today. And I what I want to spotlight also is you have some really interesting hobbies. What did you say? Golf was your other was it golf?

Tim (55:07)
Yes.

Yeah, I'm not a tour director anymore, but I do do the Golf Week Amateur Tour, podcast. And that was the first podcast I started. It's a Golf Week Amateur Tour. It's an amateur tour that's in 48 markets across the United States. It's flighted, know, individual stroke play by flight. we 48 markets.

We're putting on tournaments all year long. do a national championship in Hilton Head. We've got over 6,000 members. And so that podcast, we interview our members. It's kind of like playing like the pros. So if you win a tournament, you could get a call from me. I want you on the podcast. And we interview them. It's a lot of fun, a lot of fun. Yes, the more serious one, I don't know that it's more serious, but it's called Speaking with Confidence. it's gamed.

Dr. TiffianyAnn (55:49)
Wow, that's really cool. And you have another one, right?

Tim (56:01)
It's aimed at helping people become more powerful communicators and leaders.

Dr. TiffianyAnn (56:06)
I love that. I will make certain that I put links to it in the show notes and in your bio, so that our listeners can go and I mean, I we.

I'm sure we have lots of golfers who may be listening of those people. So, you know, but also I know that I would be signing up to listen to your podcast hearing, you know, Oh, a confident communicator. Yes, 100%. That's what I want to be because I'm defending my dissertation. And so, so many months or I'm going through the situation with my committee.

Tim (56:21)
You ⁓

Yeah.

Dr. TiffianyAnn (56:46)
If I was a confident communicator, I can make a difference in how this comes out. So I love it. I love it. Thank you so very much for your time. Is there anything else that you would like to add to our conversation today that might help our learners?

Tim (56:46)
Mm-hmm.

Absolutely, absolutely.

I think the big thing is know your why and if you're gonna do it, do it. Just don't procrastinate. Make it a priority and just go in and do it. Your life will be so much easier knowing your why and just going in and getting it done. Make whatever sacrifice you gotta make. Because when you get to the other end, it's not like you finished a bachelor's degree and then there's something else that you can go on to.

Dr. TiffianyAnn (57:07)
Mm-hmm. Ooh.

Tim (57:28)
Once you finish this, you don't have to, mean, yeah, you can start all over again if you want, but that's the pinnacle. More people quit when it comes time to do their dissertation than ever should. Just do it and get it done.

Dr. TiffianyAnn (57:28)
you

Yeah.

Thank you again for being a guest today. I appreciate it. I enjoyed the conversation and I hope we can have more in the future. Thank you. You too.

Tim (57:45)
Thank you so much.

Me too. Tiffany, you take care of yourself.

Dr. TiffianyAnn (57:57)
there's one thing to take away from today's conversation, it's this. Stop waiting for the perfect topic. Instead, choose one that is meaningful to you, grounded in your why and realistic for your life. Then commit to it. Because progress in the doctoral journey doesn't come from endless exploration. Instead, it comes from intentional decisions. I want to thank Dr. Newman for

bringing honesty, clarity, and a real perspective to this conversation. If this episode helped you, please share this with another doctoral learner. And make sure you subscribe so that you don't miss future conversations. You're not just earning a doctorate, you're becoming the thinker and leader you were meant to be. And your voice matters.