Yes, if it does for you what you want to get out of it.
Reasons for doctoral research
So what does doctoral research leading to a dissertation and the title give you?
Reason 1: The title itself
You want the title to improve your chances of getting a seat even if the restaurant is full (hat tip to my aunt) or to have your relatives call you a rocket scientist (even if you are not, hat tip to my uncle).
Getting the title for the prestige makes sense. It is perhaps not the noblest of all motivations, but who am I to judge. You may then want to find an easy way to the title, i.e. find a university which won’t take too close a look at what you are submitting.
In German speaking countries, with little to no M.B.A. programs until recently, the Doctor title for the longest time was the last remaining status differentiation that until the end of the last century suggested your qualification for higher office or leadership positions in industry. Some professorships were veritable networks accelerating their members’ careers.
Reason 2: Become a professor
The title is a necessary stepping stone, so go for it.
Getting the title to become a professor makes the most sense to me. You need the title anyway, and getting it helps you to reflect on whether you really want this career, as you see your supervisor gnaw their teeth at whatever distraction the university administration throws at them.
This is virtually true in all countries. Even in Germany now you can go from the doctoral title to a professorship without the need for an habilitation any longer.
Reason 3: Intellectual stimulation
You are curious about scientific research and want to experience it.
Going for the title to experience research is also a valid reason. Scientific research can be intellectually stimulating and personally rewarding. If this is your motivation, you should choose carefully where and with who you perform the research.
Honestly solving a scientific problem requires you to gather arcane knowledge that comes with high opportunity costs, because unless you become a scientist, the gained knowledge is mostly useless.
Reason 4: Solve a hard problem
You want or need to solve a specific hard problem.
Doctoral research can give you the tools to do so, if the problem is scientifically tractable. Then, all the scientific methods help you along the way. If not, you are in the wrong place and you are wasting your time. Also, if you are about solving the problem and not about gaining the title, you can cut out some of the fat that comes with doctoral programs at universities. Of course, if the problem is so hard that it will take you a life-time, the title may become a required stepping stone to acquire the funding to keep working on it.
How the systems differ
If you have read until here, and are confused about some of the aspects, take note that the Anglosaxon and the German(ic) system are quite different.
In the Anglosaxon system (US, UK, the rest of the four eyes, as well as their current and former colonies), you typically have to join a Ph.D. program and will only get in after careful vetting by the department.
In the Germanic system, there are very few structured programs. As you may have noticed, we don’t even call it the Ph.D. title but rather the Doctor title.
The most common way to the title is to have a professor employ you. Then, so the hope, in the paid-for work there is research and that you get the time off to write a dissertation about it for the Doctor title. There is no selective application and admissions process, the professor just takes you in.
The good part is a decent salary (rather than a stipend), but the bad part is that there is so much funding in Germany that you really have to watch out to be hired on a project where there is sufficient research value for a dissertation.
Also, as mentioned, there still are few to no M.B.A. programs in Germany so people still go for a doctoral title for industry career purposes.
I’ll leave the consequences of this for the average quality of a German(ic) dissertation to the reader.
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