The Pre-Residency Preparation Courseroom
This work is completed over the course of four weeks prior to attending the Weekend Experience. It contains nine units:
- Unit 1: Forming Cohorts and Dissecting Research Articles. The first unit provides the format, expectations, and requirements for successful completion of the Dissertation Research Seminar, the competencies to be developed through the first track, and other important information leading to your success. In this unit, you will form research cohorts and deepen your critical analysis skills, allowing you to more fully critique the research you are reading.
- Unit 2: The Role of Theory in PhD Research. In this unit, you will examine the process of theory building in the scholar-practitioner model and explain the role of theory in quantitative and qualitative research methods.
- Unit 3: Professional Communication. In this unit, you will become familiar with the Professional Communications and Writing Guide used in the university to present learners with the standards for professional communication—whether written or spoken. It will include a thorough description and discussion of how to correctly write postings, responses to other learners, and papers at Capella.
- Unit 4: Your Research Topic. You will begin developing your Research Topic (for your dissertation) and work to focus your topic through an iterative process.
- Unit 5: Library Skills and the Literature Review. You will review and begin to demonstrate the library skills necessary to develop literature reviews on your research topic. This unit includes activities to help you generate keywords, organize your research, and work on your literature review for your research topic.
- Unit 6: Research Ethics – Completing Dissertation Milestone 1. In this unit, you will focus on the ethics of research design by considering various aspects of research ethics and completing your CITI certification, Milestone 1 of your dissertation.
- Unit 7: Reviewing the Scientific Merit of a Proposed Topic and Developing Your Research Problem Statement. In addition to understanding research ethics, you must demonstrate that your research study will have scientific merit, which means that it provides a real scientific benefit to the community. You will explore these concepts through the development of your research problem statement in this unit.
- Unit 8: Contributions to Theory. In this unit, you will continue to research the literature related to your research topic and problem statement to help you identify a theoretical framework for your dissertation. In addition, you will begin work on a brief presentation on your research topic, which you will present at Residency.
- Unit 9: Preparing for the Residency. You will review materials on what will take place and what to expect at Residency. This will include professional etiquette and attire, what to bring, and what to prepare ahead of time. In this unit, you will create a Power Point presentation to accompany your brief presentation on your research topic, which you will present at Residency.
Final Unit Assignments
After returning from the Residency, you will complete two final assessment assignments:
- Unit 10: Track 1 Final Assignment. This will be a paper-format version of the power point you presented at the final session of the Residency.
- Unit 10: Track 1 Preparation Plan. This will be a brief outline of your plans for continuing development of your research topic and literature review during your intervening course work prior to Track 2.
Doc. reference: phd_t1_u01in_h02_outline.html