GEORGE MASON UNIVERSITY

GRADUATE SCHOOL OF EDUCATION

SYLLABUS

EDUC 998: Seminar: Doctoral Dissertation Proposal

Professor                                                                                Office Hours

Thomas E. Scruggs, Ph.D.                                                     Tuesdays, 2:00 - 4:00

tscruggs@gmu.ed                                                                  or by appointment

Robinson B441A  

(703) 993-4138

Time, Date & Room                                                            

Mondays,  4:30 – 7:10p                                                                            

Robinson A251                                                                      

 Website

 http://mason.gmu.edu/~tscruggs

click on “EDUC 998”

 Purposes

The purpose of this seminar is for students to develop dissertation proposals for the Ph.D. in Education program.

In the seminar, students:

1.      Develop and refine ideas for their doctoral dissertation,

2.      Write a draft of their proposal (including introduction, clearly defined statement of the problem, review of the literature, and an overview of methods to be used or a discussion of optional methods),

3.      Establish a doctoral dissertation committee.

 Throughout the seminar, students should share their writing with their committee chair and incorporate his or her feedback into the subsequent draft.

 Required reading:

 Online Dissertation Guide:

 http://gse.gmu.edu/programs/phd/dissertation-guide.htm#downdoc

 Recommended readings (style):

 American Psychological Association (2001). Publication manual (5^th ed). Washington, DC: Author. Note this is a new edition.

 Strunk, W., & White, E.B. (2000). The elements of style (4^th ed.). Boston: Allyn & Bacon.

 Recommended readings (methodology) :

 Ferguson, G.A., & Takane, Y. (1989). Statistical analysis in psychology and education.

(6^th ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill.

 Fowler, F. (2001). Survey research methods (3^rd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

 George, D., & Mallery, P. (2000). SPSS for Windows step by step: A simple guide and

reference, 10.0 update. Boston: Allyn & Bacon.

Glass, G.V., & Hopkins, K.D. (1995). Statistical methods in education and psychology.

Boston: Allyn & Bacon. 

Kreuger, R.A., & Casey, M.A. (2000). Focus groups: A practical guide for applied

research. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. 

Maxwell, J. A. (1996). Qualitative research design: An interactive approach. Thousand

Oaks, CA: Sage. 

Salkind, N.J. (2000). Statistics for people who (think they) hate statistics. Thousand

Oaks, CA: Sage.

Vaughn, S., Schumm, J.S., & Sinagub, J. (1996). Focus group interviews in education

and psychology. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. 

Wingraf, T. (2001). Qualitative research interviewing: Biographic narrative and semi-

structured methods. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.  

Recommended readings (proposal).

 Locke, L., Spirduso, W., & Silverman, S. (1999). Proposals that work: A guide for

dissertations and grant proposals (4^th ed.).  Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

 Section I deals with writing proposals; Section II contains several proposals with the authors’ comments about them. Section I includes a decision tree for proposal writing and a chapter on qualitative research.

 Long, T.J., Convey, J., & Chwalek, A. (1991). Completing dissertations in the behavioral

sciences and education. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

 Deals with choosing a topic, developing research questions and doing pilot studies. Also deals with the personal and psychological issues of this phase of one’s graduate career.

 Madsen, D. (1992). Successful dissertations and theses: A guide to graduate student

research from proposal to completion (2^nd ed.). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

 Presents a broad overview. Includes selecting chair of committee, selecting a topic, writing the proposal, defending it, and converting a dissertation to a book.

 Marshall, C., & Rossman, G. (1999). Designing qualitative research. Thousand Oaks,

CA: Sage.

 Addresses issues of proposals for qualitative research; reader friendly.

 Rudestam, K.E., & Newton, R.R. (2000). Surviving your dissertation: A comprehensive

guide to content and process (2^nd Ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

 Focuses on preparing a research dissertation (i.e., final product), though some of what it says about the dissertation is also relevant   to the proposal. Deals with identifying a topic and formulating questions, individual chapters in a dissertation, selecting a committee, and defense of the dissertation. Has a useful chapter on nuts and bolts of presenting quantitative results.

 Requirements

This seminar is designed to assist students in developing a dissertation proposal. In attempting to meet this specific purpose, several classes will be devoted to GMU, GSE, and Human Subjects Review requirements. Each student will be required to develop a 2-5 page idea paper describing a potential dissertation. The idea paper is designed to elicit constructive feedback from the instructor, class members, the student’s advisor and committee members. Following presentation of the idea paper (20-30 minutes, informal), students should incorporate the suggestions and recommendations into a dissertation proposal. This proposal will also be presented in class. The presentation should be about 30 minutes. Powerpoint or equivalent presentation format is recommended.

Evaluation

 Students receive a final grade of S (Satisfactory) or IP (In Progress). A grade of S is given when the student successfully defends the dissertation proposal. When this seminar concludes before a proposal is approved a grade of IP is given. The grade will be changed once the proposal is successfully defended. If you have not successfully defended your proposal by the end of the add period of next semester (F, '02), you must re-register for EDUC 998.

 Course Schedule

Guidelines for Review of Idea Papers

 ü      Are the components of the paper clear and concise?

ü      Does the project address an important educational need?

ü      Does the project have implications beyond a local setting?

ü      Is the project unique?

ü       Is the project based on a firm scholarly foundation?

ü      Does the project have a conceptual, analytical component?

ü      Does the proposed strategy or approach fit the goal?

ü      Is the proposed project methodologically sound?

ü      Does the student seem to have the necessary qualifications to carry out the project? If not, what seems to be needed?

ü      Does the discussion of “costs” seem accurate?

ü      Does the project seem feasible?

 Format of Dissertation Proposals

 The following outline describes the basic ingredients of a dissertation proposal and their sequence in a proposal.

1.      Introduction

General statement of problem

            Background of the problem

            Significance of the problem

      Problem (specific)         

      Hypotheses/research questions

2.      Theory, literature review (previous research)

3.      Research design

Data collection and analysis

            Methods to be used

            Anticipated results

            Types of interpretation

            Limitations

Importance      

 Reference list

Timeline

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