ADMPS 3090
Dissertation Research Seminar
Syllabus and Description of Assignments
Summer 2014
Tuesdays, 4:30-7:45pm
5702 Posvar Hall
CLS: 17998
Catalog
Description
This course provides doctoral students with guidance to complete the
dissertation overview. The course may be taken in lieu of three of the 18
required credits of Guidance in the Doctoral Degree.
Prerequisites
Students enrolling in this course should be APS doctoral students who have
completed ADMPS 3001 (Disciplined Inquiry in APS), all required research
methodology courses, all required program courses, and have begun the
comprehensive exam. A draft of the comprehensive exam proposal must be
completed during the term if that milestone has not already been reached.
Students should also be competent academic writers.
Contact
Information
Noreen Garman, Ph.D.
Professor, Administrative and Policy Studies
5712 Posvar Hall, Pittsburgh PA 15260
ngarman@pitt.edu
412-648-7111 (O) 412-681-2895 (H)
JoVictoria Goodman, Ph.D.
Adj. Assistant Professor
Jgoodman5083@zoominternet.net
724-406-0251(
Recommend
Text
ADMPS 3090
Foss, Sonja, & William Waters (2007). Destination dissertation: A traveler’s guide to a
done dissertation. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN: 978-0742554405
1
Main
additional
suggested
resources
for
general
use:
American Psychological Association (2009). Publication manual of the American
Psychological Association, 6th ed. Washington, DC: APA.
Becker, Howard S. (1986). Writing for social scientists: How to start and finish
your thesis, book, or article, 2nd ed. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Becker, Howard S. (1998). Tricks of the trade: How to think about your research
while you're doing it. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Booth, Wayne C., Gregory G. Colomb, & Joseph M. Williams (2008). The craft of
research, 3rd ed. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. [ISBN: 978-0226065663]
$17.00/$10.05
Machi, Lawrence A., & Brenda T. McEvoy (2009). The literature review. Thousand
Oaks, CA: Corwin Press. [ISBN: 978-1412961356] $31.95/$26.83
Piantanida, M. & Garman, N. B. (2009). The qualitative dissertation: a guide for
students and faculty. 2nd ed. Thousand Oaks, California: Corwin Press.
Single, Peg Boyle (2010). Demystifying dissertation writing: A streamlined process
from choice of topic to final text. Sterling, VA: Stylus.
Additional
resources:
Will be posted during session as members locate material related to their work.
I.
Course Goals and Opportunities
It is assumed that students are at different stages of the individualized research phase of their
doctoral studies; some may be working on their comprehensive examination proposals, while
others may be constructing their dissertation overviews. All students in this course have the
following opportunities:
1. To marshal personal and collaborative resources to further one’s academic progress
through the dissertation overview;
2. To demonstrate command of extant research literature on a meaningful topic for
dissertation study;
3. To construct and explain clearly a rich, meaningful conceptual framework;
4. To convert the critical reading of research literature into a systematic, purposeful synthesis
of prior knowledge;
5. To adapt one’s knowledge of research design and research methodology into a solid and
defensible methodological plan;
6. To develop an individualized work plan for the summer and for the academic year
following the course.
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II.
Course Policies and Procedures:
Attendance and class participation. The course will meet 9 times and students are expected to
attend at least 7 classes and to participate online in between classes. Please contact us by email if
you are going to miss a class.
Grading. Grades for this class are generally S (satisfactory progress), I (incomplete), or F (failure to
participate without consulting faculty after enrolling or breach of academic integrity). A grade of S
indicates that you have made satisfactory progress in your dissertation study.
Familiarize yourself with CourseWeb: This course uses the Courseweb site (using Blackboard
software) provided through the University. See http://courseweb.pitt.edu and log on using your
Pitt username and password. Or, access through my.pitt.edu. For help with Courseweb 24 hours a
day, call 412-624-HELP.
Arrange Internet access: In order to succeed in this course, you need fast Internet access.
Students with slow dial-up access spend unnecessary time and risk delayed assignments. The
University has many fine computing labs available for your use. Here is the web site where you
can locate the labs and their operating schedules. http://technology.pitt.edu/Students.aspx. You
have free printing up to ~900 copies a term. You can even set your home computer to send a print
job to a campus lab. Call the HELP desk at 412-624-HELP to learn how. The School of Education
also offers its students special computer labs. See http://www.education.pitt.edu/technology/
Acquire hardware and software: You will need to use Microsoft Word and be able to open Adobe
PDF files. The software is in the labs on campus. In addition, the complete Microsoft Office 2010
suite is available free to full-time students. For more information on how to download your
software go to a University computing lab with your ID or go to: http://software.pitt.edu/ For
help with your ID card, go to Panther Central in Litchfield Towers lobby. See
http://www.pc.pitt.edu/card/photoid.html. Download the Adobe Reader free from
www.adobe.com
Use the right e-mail: Please make sure that if you have your Pitt email forwarded to another
account and that you occasionally delete emails from your inbox in Webmail, accessible at
my.pitt.edu. Once you reach your quota of emails in your inbox in Webmail, you will no longer be
able to receive emails. If this occurs, you may miss valuable information from your instructor or
colleagues.
Academic Integrity: Students in this course will be expected to comply with the University of
Pittsburgh's Policy on Academic Integrity. Any student suspected of violating this obligation for any
reason during the semester will be required to participate in the procedural process, initiated at
the instructor level, as outlined in the University Guidelines on Academic Integrity. This may
include, but is not limited to, the confiscation of the examination of any individual suspected of
violating University Policy. By enrolling in this course, you agree that you have read, understood,
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and accept the obligations of the University’s Students Rights Responsibilities. These are posted
at: http://www.provost.pitt.edu/info/aistudcode1.html
Classroom Recording: To ensure the free and open discussion of ideas, students may not record
classroom lectures, discussion and/or activities without the advance written permission of the
instructor, and any such recording properly approved in advance can be used solely for the
student’s own private use
Let the faculty instructor know about disabilities: If you have a disability for which you are or may
be requesting an accommodation, you are encouraged to contact both your instructor and
Disability Resources and Services, 216 William Pitt Union, (412) 648-7890/(412) 383-7355 (TTY), as
early as possible in the term. DRS will verify your disability and determine reasonable
accommodations for this course.
III.
Assignments:
There are four items that are to be submitted as a result of our meetings this summer: 1) The CITI
IRB certification; 2) an individualized Work Plan; 3) a Dissertation Sketch and 4) a draft of the
Comprehensive Proposal. The bulk of your work from this course will flow from the Work Plan,
and because of that, we need to get that underway as soon as possible.
A. Self-Assessment (to do on your own prior to Class 2)
1. Assess your Mendeley proficiency: See the library’s portal to Mendeley and determine
your facility with this bibliographic, citation, and referencing service. As always, start out
with secure library access (See http://www.library.pitt.edu/services/remote.html) before
doing any work with the library website. We will see about a voluntary session for those
who feel they need it. In the meantime, you will need to (a) create an account, (b) know
how to search for resources, (c) know how to organize citations; and (d) know how to
create bibliographies of citations. See the following site to get started:
http://pitt.libguides.com/education
2. Select listed resources (or others) that will help guide your dissertation process.
3. Determine your advisor’s availability this summer. It will be very difficult to complete the
course without at least one meeting with your doctoral advisor. Determine know what
constraints your advisor has with her or his schedule this summer.
4. Plan your time. Writing a comprehensive exam or dissertation overview is a timeconsuming process and a challenging lesson in dialogic learning (especially through
continual writing and revision.) You can also find it quite meaningful, if you have budgeted
your time to allow you to read, reflect, and revise your work. Students who succeed in this
process are those who
(a) manage their own time and expectations,
(b) relinquish unnecessary activities that might disrupt or distract them from their primary
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academic mission, and
(c) help their friends and families understand and adapt to this extraordinary experience.
B. Work Plan (draft due Class 3; final due by email two days later):
5. Write your work plan for the summer. Start with the form that you completed for the first
class. Please write it in all complete sentences, so that it is clear. Please double-space
the work plan. Please bring two hard copies to class on June 3 and send completed
electronic copies to us by June 5.
The work plan should have the following components (and the work plan is changeable):
(a) Goals. Give yourself at least two, not more than four goals. Goals are not specific tasks
and not necessarily measurable as written (we have objectives for that), but they’re the
kinds of things that keep us remembering why we’re doing what we’re doing. An example:
“My goal is to strengthen my abilities to synthesize research literature.” Another example:
“I want to move myself further along the dissertation process.” One more: “I want to make
it through the summer confident that I can actually finish this dissertation.” Feel free to
adopt or adapt these if they are relevant to you.
(b) Objectives. These are the specific projects you wish to complete this summer. See the
list below for a non-exhaustive list of potential objectives. Multiple objectives can help us
reach multiple goals:
i. CITI IRB certification. (required)
ii. Dissertation Sketch (required)
iii. Mendeley training.
iv.
Comprehensive exam proposal document. (required if not already completed)
v.
Dissertation Update.
vi.
Completed comprehensive exam.
vii. Dissertation overview. (a draft of at least 30 pages is required if your
comprehensive exam is already completed)
viii. IRB application.
ix. Methodological plan.
x.
Annotated bibliography. Review of exemplary dissertation(s).
xi. Specific work and/or meetings with one’
xii. Other.
(c) Specific needs. Identify specific things you need from the instructor, your advisor, and
your student colleagues.
(d) Timeline. Include a timeline (or an approximate one) for completion of each objective.
Include in your timeline the times when you will not be able to complete work and/or will
be unavailable by email (vacation, trainings, retreats, etc..).
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(e) Next school year plan. Include a timeline for Fall 2014 and Spring 2015 for subsequent
work that you will do on these goals and objectives and/or further goals and objectives.
(f) Name your topic. In 50 words or less, name the topic that wish to focus on for your
dissertation. If you do not know your topic, say so but also indicate the general area or line
of inquiry that you hope to pursue.
(f) What’s missing? Be honest about what you are unsure of at this point. Certainty is not
required.
(g) Be brief. Write in complete sentences, but be brief. No long explanations are required.
C. IRB certification (due by date in your work plan). The University requires that all researchers
complete human subjects research training before submitting any studies for review. This is
accomplished through a new comprehensive online instructional program. Please present a copy
of your certification for the University of Pittsburgh Institutional Review Board. See
https://www.citi.pitt.edu/citi/about.aspx for the new system. Previously, doctoral students were
required to complete two CME modules – Social & Behavioral Research: Basic Course and Social &
Behavioral Responsible Conduct of Research. Previous CME certifications (Research Integrity [or
Module 1] and Human Subjects Protection [or Module 2B]) expired March 31, 2013. If you have
the CME certification, make CITI training part of your work plan. It takes about 5 hours to
complete.
D. Dissertation Sketch: By the completion of their program coursework, doctoral candidates
have a general idea regarding their dissertation focus. Most have identified a topic often
related to a personal experience and problematic. Some have a keen interest in a specific
theoretical and/or methodological perspective, and a few have a clear conceptual design.
Working in the final dissertation stage is often called “the chicken/egg process” (using a
trite cliché.) In order to develop the questions for a comprehensive exam, one needs to
have imagined details of an intended dissertation overview. And, in order to craft a
conceptually sound overview, one needs to have a comprehensive recognition of
significant discourses that relate to one’s inquiry. Thus, the dissertation researcher is
continually moving back and forth between these two initiatives to deepen the literature
review in order to conceptually hone the research design, and vice versa.
One way to begin developing the comprehensive exam questions is to broadly
sketch the details of the intended dissertation research. We are recommending that you
think of the sketch as an articulation of the traditional “5 W’s and an H” that are
considered basic in information gathering and research: who? what? when? where? why?
and how?
• What? Topic? Research question? What brings you to the study? What happened?
• Who? Who are the major players involved?
• When? When did the details of the study happen?
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• Where? Where did the significant events take place?
• Why? Significance. Why is it important to study it?
• How? How will you study ?
E.
Dissertation update (500-750 words). In this document, you can indicate where you are
with your topic and line of inquiry. Address as many of these as possible. Organize this as a single
narrative rather than a question-and-answer format from your Dissertation Sketch notes.
1. Line of inquiry. What is the general topic that you would like to explore? (i.e., literacy
development in elementary school children, adult learning characteristics in an on-line
environment, identity formation among adolescents).
2. Positioning in relation to prior research. Ask yourself this question: What does the prior
research on and related to my topic tell me that I need to consider in order to develop my
own study? Mention key sources in the research literature and reference them correctly at
the end of the update. At this point, do not provide a literature review.
3. Spark. What has sparked your interest in this topic (coming across an interesting question
in the literature, a problem or issue at work, a social commitment, etc.)?
4. Research question. At this point, do you know your research question? If so, name it fully
and with as much specificity as you can (use your Mertens or other research text for
guidance on what a good research question looks like). If not, say so and suggest two or
three potential research questions that you have considered. If you’re stuck and can’t do
that, try this: What is the problem that you intend to solve, the issue (or debate) that you
intend to resolve, or the phenomenon that you seek to understand more fully? Examples of
general questions that can be turned into more specific research questions: How do nurses
develop their abilities to work with diverse populations of patients? What are the effects of
different types of mathematics instruction on the problem-solving ability of middle-school
students? How are leaders in organizational settings able to encourage others to change
their practices?
5. Conceptual framework. Do you yet have a conceptual framework? If you’re stuck: what
are the big ideas about one or more of the following might guide your work: (a) the way
that the world works, (b) how social life is organized, (c) how the phenomenon I’m studying
is understood by researchers, (d) how people relate to one another, (e) how variables in
your line of inquiry relate to one another, and/or (f) you have no idea and need to figure
this out.
6. Research methodology. Name the method(s) you would like to use. Indicate the
coursework that has prepared you to conduct this methodology.
7. Project status. Indicate anything else you have done so far to get prepared for this (or
indicate that you are just at the beginning).
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IV.
Class Schedule
Scheduled Class Date
May 13
May 20
May 27
June 3
June 10
June 17
June 24
Topic and Agenda
Assignments Due
Introduction to class members and information from class
members’ form.
Discuss various interpretations of the dissertation journey.
Assess Mendeley proficiency. Develop meeting schedule and
potential content for the summer session.
Piantanida & Garman, Chapters
1,2,3,4.
Dissertation Sketch (bring
draft to class)
TBA
Work Plan
OPEN (voluntary for Mendeley proficiency training if needed.)
Introduction: Communities of discourse as literature review.
Form triads.
Open: Individual work on literature review.
Comprehensive exam proposal and literature review.
Begin framing doable comprehensive questions
July __
July __
July 29
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