Cover -- Half Title -- Title Page -- Copyright Page -- Dedication -- Table of Contents -- Acknowledgments -- About the authors -- Preface -- About this book -- PART I: Pre-proposal -- 1. Overview -- What is qualitative research? -- When to use qualitative research -- The professional doctorate in education -- Leveraging professional experience -- Dissertation format and structure -- Selecting adissertation topic -- Conclusion -- References -- 2. Productivity -- A.B.D.: what it is and how to avoid staying one -- Challenge: writing blocks -- Solution: daily writing and schedules -- Solution: peer support -- Challenge: perfectionism and procrastination -- Solution: "the best dissertation is adone dissertation" -- Solution: managing time and resources -- Challenge: plagiarism -- Solution: note-taking and software to avoid plagiarism -- Challenge: balancing coursework and the dissertation -- Solution: integrate coursework and the dissertation -- Balancing the dissertation with life -- References -- PART II: Proposal -- 3. Starting your proposal -- Dissertation title -- Drafting and defending the proposal -- Structure of Chapter I -- Get started -- References -- 4. Literature review -- Structure of Chapter II -- Searching for literature -- Purposes of the literature review -- The bucket method -- Helpful tools and resources -- Conclusion -- References -- 5. Types of qualitative studies -- Case study -- Ethnography -- Policy analysis -- Program evaluation -- Action research -- Narrative research -- Phenomenology -- Generic qualitative -- Conclusion -- References -- 6. Designing your study -- Research design -- Unit of analysis -- Research questions -- Selecting the best approach -- Generalizability and transferability -- Limitations of the research design -- Pilot studies -- Conclusion -- References -- PART III: Data collection etamp -- analysis.