Review

Completion and attrition rates for doctoral degrees are a topic of pressing importance among universities (e.g. top management, faculty members, graduate students) and funding agencies (e.g. public funding from government agencies, private funding from profit- and non-profit-oriented enterprises) worldwide (Council of Graduate Schools, 2008a, 2008b, 2009, 2010). A recent qualitative study by Burmeister (2015) made a commendable attempt to address this problem by examining the enabling conditions that facilitate and the obstacles that impede the successful completion of doctoral degrees, particularly among students who enroll in professional doctorates in the field of information technology. That study finds that the keys to improving the completion rate and reducing the attrition rate of doctoral programs are situated in seven broad areas: retention, student engagement with supervisors, supervision appointment, feedback on progress, student engagement in the course, contribution, and student involvement in institutional communities of practice. Despite some notable insights and useful implications from Burmeister’s study, this rejoinder makes several observations that could have improved the quality of the paper. In the initial parts of the paper, Burmeister makes several distinctions between the types o