‘A doctorate in a tight compartment’: why do students choose a professional doctorate and what impact does it have on their personal and professional lives?

Relatively few studies have explored the motivations of students in pursuing a professional doctorate. The study reported in this article is based on data from 29 students pursuing professional doctorates. The findings indicate a diverse range of motivations for taking this route: a ‘need’ for theory, deeper insight into practice for some but frustration with practice for others, the influence of ‘critical incidents’ in the past, the attraction of a challenge, and a variety of extrinsic factors. The authors present and discuss these data, drawing on previous work and attempting to move the debate further. They contend that the variety and diversity of doctoral students following the ‘professional’ route has important implications for the curriculum, the pedagogy and the assessment of professional doctorates for the future.