"Scholar-Craftsmanship" (SC) is a quadrant methodological framework created to help social science doctoral students construct first-time dissertation research. The framework brackets and predicts how epistemological domains, cultures of inquiries, personality indicators, and research question--types can be correlated in dissertation research design. This research is focused on doctoral students in the School of Human and Organizational Development (HOD) at Fielding Graduate University, Santa Barbara, California. Fielding educators (Schapiro, 2003) have long speculated that more learning tools, introduced early in the self-directed, distributed learning model, could aid students in their studies and assist in the construction of sound dissertation research--SC is one of those learning tools. This research concludes suggesting further exploration into dissertation research design--for example, an in-process content analysis of 100 published dissertations--might support or refute SC's predictions and advance the usefulness of the methodological framework in doctoral education programs.