I think this is the kind of problem you get into when you are asked to decide, even tentatively, the professors who would be on your dissertation committee in the first semester of your PhD!!!!!!
I did and turns out two of the members (not the chair thankfully) do not get along so well. I have discussed my ideas for research with both and it hits me like a wall of bricks that the advice I received from them was so very different. If I can differentiate in the most simplest of terms it would be: "quantitative ideologically titled towards prevalent system of economy" vs. "qualitative ideologically in preference of alternative economic models".
Now that is a significant rift and I am glad I realized that the committee members I have right now SHOULD NOT be on my final committee TOGETHER so I plan to disband the current one and think about having one of the professors off of it so as to have a relatively peaceful PhD experience tbh.
Has anyone else come across in dealing with professors with different perspectives to their topic?? This would basically concern fields like mine which is planning and policy, for example, sociology, economics, public administration etc..
Although I have pretty clear idea about the set of topics within which I would base my research question for the PhD dissertation, I recognize that its too early to start narrowing down and as I take courses relevant to the topics, I keep stumbling into this ideological rift that make even the menial task of selecting courses to take and which core courses to substitute confusing and difficult !!
I'd really appreciate any insights from your experience that might help me maneuver around this situation and be on track with my research without getting into any professor's bad side because a) one the professors happens to the director of the program the other professor's expertise would really help me in thinking about my dissertation topic.c) the chair doesn't care (lol!)
ps: As a background note, I am interested in pursuing a career in academia after I finish (duh!) although I would rule out a non-academic career right now either.
Help?? please!!?