博士学位论文评价的主观性与客观性

Objectivity and Subjectivity in the Process of Dissertation Evaluation

博士学位成为高等教育可授予的最高学位以来,学位论文就成为衡量申请者能否获得学位的重要依据。博士学位论文的评价客观上是有条件的,包括申请者提交的论文是否包含原创性贡献,论述是否清楚,结果是否重要等。但论文评价又有很强的主观性,即同行专家是评价主体,同行专家的选择、专家本人的研究偏好、评价标准等不可避免地存在个体差异。因此,在学位论文评价中,过于偏重客观性或主观性任何一个方面,都可能对博士学位申请者产生影响。如何看待学位论文评价中的主观性或客观性,是一个值得关注的问题。

Since doctorates have become the highest degrees that could be issued in high- er education, dissertations turn into an essential foundation for deciding whether the appli- cants are qualified for the achievement of degrees. The evaluation of doctorate, objectively, is conditional, for instance, innovation involved in the submitted dissertations, clear argu- ment or importance of consequence and so on. However, the evaluation of dissertations is much more subjective. From the birth of modern doctorate system, a peer expert was the one who decided whether the applicant was qualified for the degree or not. And yet the selec- tion of peer experts, the preference of study, and the standard of assessment are different in- dividually. Therefore, in the process of evaluation of dissertation, any inclination on either objectivity or subjectivity might influence the applicants of the doctorate significantly. Then, that how to take the objectivity or subjectivity in the evaluation of dissertation becomes the problem worthy of attention.