A dissertation represents an original piece of work. The advisor plays a much greater supervisory role in the thesis project. The student shoulders the major responsibilities for the project, applying all the skills learned, with the advisor actually serving an advisory role. The dissertation is conducted in a relatively independent fashion by the student. Both theses and dissertations provide evidence of research skills, with much more independence required on the dissertation than the thesis.
Most theses are an extension of a faculty member's research and are limited in scope.
Typically, a dissertation is larger in scope than the thesis and, as such, represents a comprehensive review of all the relevant literature related to the topic of interest. A dissertation is longer in length than a thesis. Well, there you have it, faculty members seem to be in agreement regarding the main characteristics that differentiate theses and dissertations. The remainder of the questions we posed reveal conflicting perspectives regarding the impact of dissertation complexity on post-Ph.D. marketability and the implication, if any, of choice of dissertation topic. Complexity is Irrelevant Complexity of design and statistics is completely irrelevant, except where it contributes to the innovativeness of the project.