Student Responsibilities
Prior to graduation, Ph.D. candidates will be socialized to think of the empirical and normative implications of the material they face in their work in public advocacy, policy and administrative contexts.
Students will be trained to frame research questions first in conceptual terms, to identify and apply relevant theories in applicable disciplines, and to move concepts to operational terms within research designs employing appropriate analytical and/or statistical techniques. The capacity to operationalize concepts in the social sciences is a major skill set that the program will expect candidates to possess. This capacity will be developed through coursework, preparation of a grant request(s) to appropriate federal, state or private funding agencies, and, through the design and execution of a publication-quality dissertation.
Upon completion of all 42 course credits, students will be required to pass a comprehensive examination, demonstrating their mastery of core material and specialized knowledge in their chosen subfields. After the comprehensive examination, students must complete 18 credits of thesis (or dissertation) hours, leading up to the defense of their thesis and completion of the program.
Further, students will be expected to disseminate their research and findings through presentations at national or regional research conferences. Students will be strongly encouraged to publish at least some of the research papers they produce as graduate students, as well as contribute to the publication of collaborations with faculty and other students in the program.
Mastery can be demonstrated through:
- course examinations
- a comprehensive exam
- design, execution and defense of the dissertation, and
- publication of research in peer-reviewed journals with regional, national or international circulation.
The consequences for not successfully completing course work, the comprehensive exam, or dissertation defense will be dismissal from the program without the doctoral degree.