Dissertations in the social sciences and humanities (HS) have increasingly adopted the compilation thesis model, originally prevalent in the natural sciences (NS). This transition has introduced unique challenges that demand attention from both doctoral students and supervisors. This article aims to shed light on these challenges and proposes three key approaches — holistic view, coherence, and anchoring — to help address them effectively.

The rising popularity of compilation theses in HS signifies a shift from traditional monographs (Paltridge, 2002; Krumsvik, 2022). While the NS model has proven successful, it is essential to recognize that HS fields possess distinct traditions, expectations, and demands (Nerland, 2012; Becher & Trowler, 2001). This article seeks to fill a gap in the existing literature by exploring the genre-specific conditions for writing compilation theses in HS and delving into doctoral supervision within this context.

We propose three approaches. First, maintaining a holistic perspective throughout the thesiswriting process is vital, ensuring a connection between the individual articles and the overarching narrative of the kappa (Krumsvik, 2022). Second, prioritizing coherence involves emphasizing logical consistency, integrating the articles and the kappa, aligning research questions, and maintaining methodological continuity (Lauvås & Handal, 2005). Finally, it is crucial to consider the thesis’s different theoretical and methodological anchors as a whole (Becher & Trowler, 2001).

In conclusion, the compilation thesis model in HS presents challenges distinct from those encountered in NS. Doctoral students and supervisors can navigate these challenges by considering the approaches above. The article suggests approaches to be considered at certain stages of working with the dissertation, and topics for supervision to discuss during these. This will, we believe, facilitate the successful completion of compilation theses.

References

Becher, T. & Trowler, P. R. (2001). Academic tribes and territories: intellectual enquiry and the culture of disciplines (Second, revised edition). Open University Press

Krumsvik, R. J. (2022). Academic writing in scientific journals versus doctoral theses. Nordic Journal of Digital Literacy, 17(2), 78–94. https://doi.org/10.18261/njdl.17.2.1

Lauvås, P. & Handal, G. (2005). Optimal use of feedback in research supervision with master and doctoral students. Nordisk Pedagogik, 25, 177–189.

Nerland, M. (2012). Professions as knowledge cultures. In K. Jensen, L. C. Lahn & M. Nerland (Eds.), Professional learning in the knowledge society (pp. 27–48). SensePublishers.

Paltridge, B. (2002). Thesis and dissertation writing: an examination of published advice and actual practice. English for Specific Purposes, 21(2), 125–143. https://doi.org/10.1016/ S0889-4906(00)00025-9

India is a secular state. For this reason, it has been claimed that there is no room for religion in its schools — in other words, no religious education [RE] — despite India being an extremely multicultural society. This compilation thesis begins by examining the aforementioned claim. On the level of educational policy, there might indeed be little religious content. However, the present study shows that the closer to school practice one looks, the more content about religion or even content in religion can be found. Empirical material backing up this claim includes text analysis of policies, curricula, and textbooks as well as ethnological material consisting of interviews and observations from schools in India.

An inherent possibility of research in the humanities is that it might qualitatively change the researcher’s perspective. In this case, an unexpected result of researching ‘RE’ in India was new insights into the researcher’s context of origin. The manner of attaining new perspectives on the context of origin in a contrastive analysis of two very different contexts is developed into a methodology of mirroring. The purpose of mirroring is not to compare as such, but rather to explore the researcher’s own context through reflexive introspection in the light of a contrastive. Characteristic traits of Swedish RE are explored using the methodology, and in the mirror, it appears that ‘religion’ in Sweden is understood through a Lutheran framework, which also affects what ‘secular’ means in the context. Vice versa, education about religion in India is coloured by its history and demography. ‘Religion’ and ‘secular’ are not in fact universal terms but are understood differently in different contexts. This is something often overlooked in comparative work on religious education.

Although the thesis does not offer suggestions on how religious education ought to be organised in any given place, it does discuss possible advantages and disadvantages of the way religion is handled in schools in Sweden and India, respectively.

Religion as a school subject – Religious Education (RE) – is handled differently in various national contexts. This article discusses two different systems of managing (or avoiding) RE: those used in non-denominational Swedish and Indian schools. The article focuses particularly on what is allowed in the classroom with regards to religion. Both countries are secular, but where is the line drawn between the secular and the religious? Allowing the two contexts to meet reveals the particularities of each. The impact of Protestant Christianity, specifically Lutheranism, is evident in Swedish RE: religion is to be defined through beliefs and words, and religious actions should be excluded from classrooms. The Swedish context highlights ‘knowledge of’ religions, but avoids religious action. In India, there is no explicit RE, but Indian education does include learning from religion as well as ‘doing religion.’ The Indian approach is very inclusive, to the point of emphasising, as teachers put it, a common core of all religions. Both systems of RE offer particular opportunities and face certain difficulties in dealing with the contemporary globalised world. 

It is sometimes claimed that there is no religious education in the general Indian school system. There are reasons to suggest that matters are more complex than that. Combining the two fields of religious and comparative educational studies, this article shows that there are themes in Indian syllabuses and teaching materials that involve religious content. Empirical data include the Indian National Policy of Education, the National Curriculum Framework and syllabuses, as well as syllabuses and textbooks from a particular school board (CISCE).

The article will discuss comparative education and comparative religious education in particular. Comparative research on religious education has been a neglected field, it has been claimed (Schweitzer 2004; Schweitzer and Schreiner 2020). Although progress has been made, this article will suggest that comparative work tend to neglect fundamental questions about key terms which might lead to misunderstandings and confusion — friction, in short. A methodology to handle such cases will be suggested, based on a comparative methodology developed by Bråten (2013) and key terms from Jackson (1997). In that way, friction will actually reveal opportunities to gain new insights about the context of origin in particular which otherwise might not have been reached. The article is based on the authors own, previous research involving cross-cultural comparison of religious education.

India is a country of many religious traditions. Although the state is secular, an Indian understanding of 'secular' (open secularism) is different from the ‘rigid secularism’ common in Europe. This has enabled a particular flavour of civil religion to develop, influenced in part by traditional religion. The civil religion of India is studied through society’s primary arena for socialization: school education. Indian school education is analyzed through national and local syllabi and guidelines, as well as through ethnographic research, composed of interviews and observations from different school boards in India. The results indicate there is an Indian civil religion. In school education, other religious traditions are subsumed under it, as they are seen to exemplify values common in all. The nature of the civil religion is, however, contested; primarily by open secularism and Hindu nationalism.