Dissertation Proposal and Proposal Meeting
Students complete their dissertation proposal under the supervision of their supervisor. Generally, the dissertation proposal consists of the first three chapters of the dissertation: Introduction; Literature Review; and Methodology. Dissertations in the Department of Educational Psychology must be written in accordance with APA style. Therefore, it is essential that students obtain and follow closely the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association.
Other good resources for writing the dissertation proposal include:
Cone, J. D. & Foster, S. L. (1999). Dissertations and Theses from Start to Finish in Psychology and Related Fields. American Psychological Association (available at www.apa.org).
Patton, J. L. (2000). Proposing Empirical Research. Pyrczak Publishing. (P.O. Box 39731, Los Angeles, CA 90039).
When the dissertation supervisor and committee members agree that the proposal is close to completion, the student should schedule the dissertation proposal meeting. The dissertation proposal meeting is an examination of the proposal and proposed study by the committee as a whole. It is also a collaborative work session in which potential problems in the proposal can be faced and addressed. It might help to think of the dissertation committee as the board of directors who are approving the proposed project. You have named them to your board because of their expertise to advise you, which means they are likely to have some ideas for revision of your proposed dissertation summary. Occasionally, the dissertation committee will view the revisions necessary to the proposal to be substantial, and the members will request a second dissertation proposal meeting. More commonly, the outcome of this meeting will be approval of the dissertation proposal with revisions that should be documented by the student and the supervisor.
Please note that decisions made at the dissertation proposal meeting are obligatory. To change decisions determined at this meeting (e.g., sample size, measurement devices), it is appropriate to circulate a petition to all committee members and obtain unanimous consent. Any significant change in the topic, and any change in committee, must go through a formal process for approval (contact the Graduate Coordinator for instructions).
TIP: Be sure to start early in scheduling the dissertation proposal meeting. Once your committee members agree on a time, you may schedule a room for your dissertation proposal meeting through one of the staff at the front desk in SZB 504.
Your committee members should receive a full copy of the dissertation proposal at least two weeks before the meeting is scheduled.
Some students have said that the hardest part of their entire dissertation process was getting five faculty schedules coordinated for a single two-hour period. (Have you heard the joke about faculty cooperation? - it is akin to herding stray cats.)
While working on the dissertation, you must remember to complete all remaining Departmental and area of specialization requirements, as well as to register continuously for the dissertation hours.
