Doctoral Dissertation
Doctoral Dissertation
All doctoral programs require either a doctoral dissertation or Doctoral Scholarly Project (DSP) pertaining to a significant topic in the candidate's major. For students in programs requiring a dissertation (i.e., D.A., Ed.D., or Ph.D.), four (4) credit hours of dissertation-proposal (797) are required. No more than four (4) credit hours of proposal (797) may be applied to the minimum credit requirements of a student's program. Programs will determine the total number of dissertation credit hours (799) for completion of a doctoral degree. Doctoral programs must require at least twelve (12) credit hours but no more than thirty (30) credit hours of dissertation. The number of dissertation credit hours (799) required for the program is listed in the graduate catalog.
Students may not enroll in more than one-half of the required 799 dissertation credit hours before advancing to candidacy. Work associated with 799 credits completed prior to candidacy must directly apply to the dissertation.
After advancing to doctoral candidacy, students may be eligible for an exception to the full-time/part-time enrollment status policy.
Students enrolled in programs requiring a doctoral scholarly project (i.e., Au.D. or D.N.P.) are not required to register for 797 or 799. The program will determine the content and methodology of the Doctoral Scholarly Project (DSP), and the total number of credit hours for the course assigned. Expectations and requirements for the DSP are listed in the graduate catalog.
Dissertation Proposal
The dissertation proposal must be presented to the student’s doctoral committee for approval prior to engaging in final data collection. In addition, the approved dissertation proposal must be filed electronically with the Graduate School. Students must have an approved IRB application or an approved IACUC (Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee) application if using human participants or animal subjects, respectively, prior to data collection. Although all 797 and 799 credits will be graded with an S or U in the semesters for which students registered for the credits, final approval of the dissertation by the Graduate School is required for a student to graduate. Students pursuing the Au.D. or D.N.P are not required to file their approved doctoral scholarly project proposals with the Graduate School.
The dissertation proposal is crucial in the dissertation process and should culminate with a formal dissertation proposal hearing. The proposal shall be presented to the student's entire committee in a timely manner as specified by the committee (typically at least two weeks prior to the proposal hearing). Students coordinate with their research advisor and doctoral committee to schedule the date, time and location of the proposal hearing which is not scheduled with the Graduate School. The full committee, including the faculty representative (for dissertation committees), must be present at the proposal hearing.
After the proposal hearing, it will be the student’s responsibility, in consultation with the research advisor, to address those concerns in a revised proposal. It is recommended that the student summarize the changes that have been incorporated into the revised proposal to assist the committee in identifying and locating the changes.
The revised proposal should then be circulated with a signature page to the committee for review and signature if they approve of the revisions. A second committee meeting is optional but could be required by the committee due to the extensive nature of the expected changes or to expedite the approval process. All committee members’ signatures are required.
Approval of the dissertation proposal establishes the expectations for the final dissertation and assures agreement among the committee with the student’s methods and research strategy prior to proceeding to the final stages of the dissertation or capstone (including securing IRB or IACUC approval prior to data collection). The proposal hearing also allows the committee to introduce required changes or additions to a student’s proposed project while changes are still possible. Scheduling the proposal hearing is done with the program office according to the major school or departmental policies.
Filing Dissertation Proposal
In order for the Graduate School to record a student's successful proposal defense, the student shall submit an electronic copy of the approved proposal, signed signature page IRB or IACUC approval (if applicable) and signed Verification of Research Subject or Participant Compliance form www.unco.edu/graduate-school/pdf/verification-research-subject-compliance.pdf shall be submitted to the Graduate School. The student will not be entered into candidacy until the proposal and required accompanying documents are submitted. Students are also responsible for maintaining their own copy of the entire proposal in a secure location until the time of their graduation.
Doctoral Candidacy
Doctoral students advance to candidacy upon passing the written and oral comprehensive examinations and filing an approved dissertation proposal and submitting all the required paperwork for the dissertation proposal to the Graduate School. Because the term Doctoral Candidate has a specific institutional connotation, doctoral students may not use the term ‘Doctoral Candidate’ until this status is documented by the Graduate School.
The Graduate School will consider the dissertation proposal as accepted unless the Graduate School Dean objects to the proposal. If the Dean objects, the proposal will be sent to the student and research advisor with specific written request for revisions.
If a doctoral committee reports to the Graduate School that a student has failed the dissertation proposal, the committee must also send a recommendation for the Graduate School to terminate the student's program. The Graduate School will expect the doctoral committee to create a document with justification for the program termination that can be shared with the student.