[game_edu] Doctorate in Game Design / Development

[Enda Dunican]

Dear All

There seems to be a lot of variation here. The UK system is very similar to the Irish system, however the UK are much more advanced and have been offering "Integrated PhDs" for some time now. A quick google search yields the following:

http://www.ncl.ac.uk/postgraduate/research/degreeoptions/integrated.htm

The traditional route to a doctorate is via a PhD as described already by a contributor where a students chooses a research topic in the area of games design/development. When I first read the subject of this topic "Doctorate in Game Design" I immediately thought of something similar to an integrated PhD or an Education Doctorate. A number of years ago I completed an Education Doctorate specialising in first year computer programming education. The benefit of this type of degree for working professionals is immense in that it is structured and allows you to apply your day-to-day work to your research. With this approach the researcher attends weekend study/research weekends in 5 separate areas and is expected to write a paper in each area. These papers can be very much focussed on your chosen research problem/focus e.g. one paper can be a pilot study using your chosen research method. The expected standard of the papers is that of peer-reviewed journal articles. I think a modified version of this is very possible for games. Given my experience of this type of Doctorate I suggest the following five areas for research papers as a starter (not necessarily in this order): 

Games Development
Games Design
Qualitative Research Methods
Quanitiative Research Methods
Mixed-method Research

Regards

Enda 

Dr. Enda Dunican
Lecturer in Computing,
Dept. of Computing and Networking,
Institute of Technology Carlow,
Kilkenny Road,
Carlow,
Ireland.
ITel:  1-353-(0)59-9175525
5 Email:  enda.dunican at itcarlow.ie


-----Original Message-----
From: game_edu-bounces at igda.org [mailto:game_edu-bounces at igda.org] On Behalf Of George D. Phillies
Sent: 25 November 2009 23:11
To: IGDA Game Education Listserv
Subject: [game_edu] Doctorate in Game Design / Development

I am trying to envision having the curriculum that would support the 
representative expectation -- I have a very different perspective, in that 
my D.Sc. is in Physics -- that a Doctorate would include about two years 
of course work, and then a typical 4-5 years of research.

Mind you, I was a graduate student for three years and about 4 months, not 
counting an interlude in the armed forces.

YMMV

Happy Thanksgiving! (local holiday here)
George Phillies
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