PSYC 899: Dissertation
Prerequisites: Admission into Psy.D. program
Credit Hours: (1-9) can be repeated for a second semester for a total of 18 credit
hours.
This course is designed to be the capstone research component of the Psy.D. program.
As such, students are expected to complete an original research project that is of
sufficient size and quality to justify being considered competent to conduct research
independently.
Note(s): Students must re-enroll in the course every term until the final product
is complete and approved by the Psy.D. program faculty and the Graduate College. This
is a pass/fail course.
Detailed Description of Course
This course cannot be described through content but rather the components of the process
and final project:
Successful proposal meeting
IRB approval (when appropriate)
Chapter I: Overview and Summary
Chapter II: Comprehensive Literature review
Chapter III: Methodology
Chapter IV: Results
Chapter V: Discussion
References and Appendices
Successful defense meeting
Detailed Description of Conduct of Course
This course is designed to be the capstone research component of the PsyD program.
As such, students are expected to complete an original research project that is of
sufficient size and quality to justify being considered competent to conduct research
independently. Data collection cannot begin until the project has been approved by
the student’s committee and, when appropriate, the IRB has approved the research plan.
Students must re-enroll in the course until the final product is complete and approved
ty the PsyD faculty and the College of Graduate and Professional Studies.
Goals and Objectives of the Course
At the end of this course the student should in both verbal and written forms:
1. Be able to develop an idea for an independent comprehensive research project
2. Be able to conduct a thorough literature review to justify the need to conduct
the research
3. Be able to design a study or series of studies that will provide appropriate data
to answer the research questions/hypotheses
4. Be able to analyze the resulting data
5. Be able to discuss the results and place them in the larger context of the extant
literature
6. Be able to describe the limitations to the study and provide direction for future
researchers
7. Be able to propose a research project to an IRB, when appropriate, and have it
approved
Assessment Measures
Students will be assessed using several measures which may include their oral and
written performance in a proposal meeting and final defense meeting and, when appropriate,
IRB review and approval. The final product must be approved by the PsyD faculty and
the College of Graduate and Professional Studies.
Other Course Information
None
Reviewed and Approval
March 14, 2016
December 2007