In the Department of Psychology, the courseroom and the weekend experience of Track I are aligned with PSY7110 – History and Systems of Psychology. In the course and in the colloquium, we follow logical steps to create a dissertation proposal. In PSY7110, you learned—or will learn, if you have not yet taken the course—about the various schools of thought throughout the history of our field.
The different schools of thought covered in PSY7110 each took a different approach to the study of psychology, and each framed their questions for research according to the particular set of principles and practices that school of thought followed.
Research topics differ across different schools of thought in psychology.
One aspect of PSY7110 is the study of how the different schools of thought framed their research topics—what kind of research was allowed or disallowed by their different assumptions. One reason for this is that PSY7110 not only aims to cover the historical development of psychology, it also requires learners to start working on their own dissertation research ideas. One outcome of the course is to complete the first section of the Research Plan Form—Research Topic Statements, which identifies the research topic—and to begin building a strong literature review to support and justify research on that topic.
Here in Track I, the colloquium courseroom will present you with a set of presentations, tutorials, and self-assessments on the basic skills necessary to develop a viable research topic, to start searching the literature for supporting research to justify that topic, and to develop from your literature review an acceptable research problem statement. These will provide you a basis for successfully completing or enhancing the first section of your Research Plan.
When you finally pass your comprehensive examination and you and your mentor start the dissertation itself, your mentor, the chair of your specialization, and your dissertation committee must also approve the proposed study—and they may add insights and new avenues of existing research to explore. In addition, methodologists in our department and the University’s Institutional Review Board must also approve your design. This process begins after you pass your comprehensive examination and submit the Research Plan to methodological reviewers in our school. Starting now to create a high-quality SMR should allow you to be very ready when you start the dissertation, but remember that all those other reviewers may find ways to improve your design even after all the work you have done. There are no guarantees that the Research Plan you hand to your mentor after passing your comps will be the final, approved document your mentor forwards to the committee and the IRB. Final and official approval of the proposal is the responsibility of your chair, your mentor, your dissertation committee, and the IRB.
The three colloquia Tracks and of their companion courses follow the logic of a successful research design, which is mirrored in the Research Plan. Good research design follows a series of sequential steps, one leading to the next. The steps should be completed in order, and in the colloquia and the companion courses, those steps are worked on in order.
One writes up the results of the literature search and the statement of the research problem in a literature review that justifies or demonstrates how the topic, the research problem, and the design of the study will advance science by contributing to the field and contributing to some theory in psychology. This write-up, in whatever form it is presented, demonstrates that the study meets the three components of scientific merit:
A strong literature review identifies the specific research problem that your study will tackle. We will spend a lot of time exploring what a well-crafted research problem is later in Track I. For now, it is enough to recognize that until one has done the literature review and found support for a research problem statement, no further steps can be taken in developing a research design. In a very real sense, all the remaining steps in the sequence of research design depend on the formulation of the research problem statement, which of course depends upon an exhaustive literature review.
The remaining elements of the Research Plan and, therefore, the remaining steps in designing a research study, will be covered in Tracks II and III and their companion courses. The remaining steps are:
When the design is complete, the researcher writes it up and presents it for evaluation by the field, which means the various persons in the specialization who must approve it. At Capella, this written document is first summarized in the Research Plan, and then fully elaborated in the proposal and IRB approval stages. And finally, he or she incorporates feedback, revises the proposal, and resubmits it for further evaluation.
In PSY7110, in the Track 1 Courseroom, and in the Weekend Experience, learners are introduced to, practice, and are assessed on the following:
Welcome to Track I of the colloquia, the companion to PSY7110. We hope this experience will enhance your understanding, your skill, and your enjoyment of research—both the research you read and the dissertation study you will eventually propose.
Doc. reference: phd_t1_psy_u01s1_h03_psyalign.html