PhD Program Dissertation Requirements & Procedures
Dissertation Procedures
The culminating demonstration of successful performance in the student’s PhD program is their design, conduct, documentation in dissertation format, and defense of a significant research project. Any form of research deemed acceptable and appropriate to the PhD committee may be used to satisfy this requirement.
Quality research cannot be rushed; therefore students and PhD advisors should begin work on the research project as early as possible. Often, for students employing a typical three year timeline, the second year is appropriately used to define the research topic and generate the proposal. The earlier this occurs during this time the better.
Dissertation Proposal
Although the bulk of the student’s work towards meeting this requirement typically occurs after the student’s passing of the preliminary examination, the student may submit their research proposal to their PhD committee at any time deemed appropriate to their PhD advisor/co-advisors.
The faculty’s expectation for the PhD research proposal is that it is of sufficient detail to enable careful assessment of the project’s significance, its locus within the literature, and the validity and reliability of the proposed methodology and instrumentation. It is expected that the graduate student will be the primary person conducting the study although studies situated within larger contexts are permissible. If such conditions exist, it is encouraged that the student and advisor thoroughly explore all potential implications of the situation for the student. Among the implications are dependence on others outside of the student’s control, shared intellectual property rights, restrictions on publications, and timing of progress.
The proposal for PhD research typically contains descriptions of the problem, an indication of its significance, the purpose of the proposed research project, a substantial review of the literature, and an overview and justification of the proposed research methodology. Students also are advised to consider highlighting their anticipated analyses and the anticipated research results.
Proposals are generally written in
the future tense. The College of Technology’s policy is to require the
use of the most recent edition of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological
Association. Further details as to format and other requirements are provided
by the Graduate
School at their web site.