Table of Contents
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Comprehensive Examination
After completing coursework, students have two years to prepare for, and pass, the comprehensive examination. The exam is intended to assess students’ ability to integrate substantive knowledge within the broad field of Human Development and Family Science. Students are expected to synthesize, critically analyze, and evaluate the literature in the field and articulate this scientific information. Doctoral students must successfully complete the exam before they can advance to candidacy. Students enrolled in the M.S. and who have continued on to the Ph.D. program must have submitted their Master’s thesis prior to sitting for the comprehensive examinations.
Procedures and Guidelines:
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Evaluation and Notification of Results:
Students should notify the Graduate Director of their intents to complete their comprehensive examination requirement using the dates in Table 1. The Graduate Director shall appoint an Assessment Committee for the student’s comprehensive exam consisting of three faculty members including the student’s advisor and inform the student and the advisor of the composition of the Committee.
After notifying the Graduate Director of the intent to complete the comprehensive exam and the Director’s appointment of an Assessment Committee, the student shall develop a proposal outline for their comprehensive exam review outlining the topic, its significance, and the methods to be used in conducting the review (e.g., textual review, meta-analysis, etc.). The proposal outline also should include a preliminary list of at least 15 references from the last 10 years of research that will form the basis of the proposal. Students should assume that the Assessment Committee will need at least 3 weeks to review the proposal outline. The Assessment Committee will review the proposal outline to determine if the topic is appropriate to meet the requirements of the comprehensive examination. The Committee may determine that the proposal is adequate as submitted or may require a meeting with the student to discuss the proposal further. Following approval by the Assessment Committee, students will be allowed to take a semester to complete the review. Students may start the review at the beginning of either the fall or spring semester.
The review should be of high-quality with substantive consideration of the aims and scope of the review, theory, research methods, the question(s) explored, analytic techniques, and future directions for research on the topic. The review should consider literature within the last decade. The review should be of high-quality and should be systematically organized using APA style format. It should not exceed 8,000 words excluding references, Tables, and Figures. The review should be completed independently of advisor input or input from other faculty or students after the review proposal has been approved. The review should be of publishable or near-publishable quality according to the standards of the field, and could be submitted for publication. The calendar for submission dates (proposal due to Assessment Committee; Final Review due to Assessment Committee; and deadline for Assessment Committee decisions) are listed in Table 1.
Table 1: Doctoral Examination Due Dates*
Coursework Completed | Letter of intent to Graduate Director | Proposal Outline Due to Assessment Committee (Committee decision due within 3 weeks) | Final Review Due to Assessment Committee | Committee Decision |
End of Fall Semester | No later than March 1st | No later than April 15th | First day Fall Semester | October 15th |
End of Spring Semester | No later than August 15th | No later than September 15th | First Day Spring Semester | February 15th |
*If any of the above dates falls on a weekend or a holiday, the deadline will be extended to the next business day.
The Assessment Committee will evaluate the quality of the student’s review and will render a decision of whether the student’s review satisfactorily met the standards of the Department (i.e., “pass” or “not pass”). The Committee’s evaluation will be completed within one month of the submission of the review. The Committee’s evaluation of the review shall be submitted to the Director of Graduate Studies. The Graduate Director will inform the student of the committee’s decision on the quality of her/his work within 3 weeks of the receipt of the evaluation. Should the committee have concerns about the quality of the student’s work, the student will have one opportunity to improve the quality of her/his work. The resubmission must be completed within a period within a period of 6 months following the committee’s request for revision of the review. Students whose work is deemed not satisfactory on their second attempt will be dismissed from the Program.
Upon successful completion of the requirements for the Doctoral Examination students will advance to the status of “doctoral candidate.”
Doctoral Candidacy
Once a doctoral student has completed all coursework and passed the comprehensive examination, they advance to the status of “doctoral candidate.” This indicates that you have completed all the degree requirements with the exception of the dissertation. Doctoral candidates have five years to complete their dissertation from the date they passed the comprehensive examination.
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