Joanna
There
are a couple of issues here that need to be separately addressed. First, only
students that came in under (or transferred into) the newest catalog are
eligible for the prospectus class. So that is probably why you have not been
able to get into the class.
Let's
define terms- the premise is the short idea paper (see blog post 4/17) that is
used to recruit your chair (and maybe committee member). You work on this on
your own. I am willing to read it and give suggestions as the health psych
program coordinator. You must have a premise done before you will be allowed
to register for the dissertation class.
The
prospectus is a more formal version of your project ideas (see blog post 4/19).
This is often done during your first quarter in the dissertation class. There
is info on it available in the research center. By the time you have the
prospectus done, you will need to have a second committee member. They must
complete a rubric on it.
The
timeline for recruiting committee members is:
Work
on premise
During
the quarter before you are ready to start dissertation class:
·
Finalize
premise.
·
Write
to Dr. Elisha Galaif elisha.galaif@waldenu.edu she maintains the current
faculty availability list. Keep in mind that the list changes quickly, do not
use an old list.
·
Write
to several faculty that list your methodology as their area of expertise and
ideally have some related interests. Keep in mind that methodology expertise is
more important than content expertise. Include your premise with the email.
o
Pay
attention to how long they take to get back to you – if they take a long time
with this, they may also do so with paper drafts.
·
Pick
a chair, complete committee form and send to him/her.
·
Your
chair should submit their committee form and your premise to research center –
this will lead to your being registered in the dissertation class the following
quarter.
·
Start
working on prospectus
First
quarter of dissertation class
·
Complete
prospectus
·
Write
to Dr. Elisha Galaif elisha.galaif@waldenu.edu and get the current faculty
availability list.
·
Write
to several faculty about being your committee member. Include your prospectus
and committee form.
·
The
committee member chosen will submit the committee form to the research office.
These
are not firm rules; you can recruit a second committee member earlier using your
premise. However, the above guidelines give you the timeline of requirements.
I
have also received questions on what exactly does the second committee member
do and how often should you be contacting him or her? I like to have my
students contact their committee member once a quarter, just to update them on
the student's progress. Technically, the committee member does not need to be
involved in the process until the proposal (first 3 chapters of the
dissertation) is approved by the chair. However, if you have questions on
methodology (if he or she is your methods expert) or content (if your content
expert) you should write and ask them.
They
will review your proposal and give you feedback on it – they are another set of
eyes, and will see the paper fresh- after all your chair has read it many times
and may no longer see problems. They complete the rubric for the proposal and
will be at your defense.
If
the committee member is your methods expert, you may be more in touch with them
as you complete your IRB application and begin to collect and analyze your
data. I encourage you to use them as a resource. You may want to run chapters
4-5 by them, for their input.
They
will be sent a copy of your final paper and will complete the rubric when they
approve it. They will also be at your final defense.
Next
time we will return to the article I am writing and take a look at organizing
the paper.
This is great information.
ReplyDeleteThank you!