Predoctoral Project

Aim and Rationale

The aim of the predoctoral project in Human Development, Culture, & Learning Sciences is to assist doctoral students in carrying out an empirical study, analyzing data, and writing the results in the form of a manuscript that is ready to be submitted for publication. Students typically conduct this study after having passed the qualifying process (QP), and before submitting their final documents to advance to candidacy. Students may use existing data (from a professor’s ongoing study or from a large scale or other publically available data set) or may collect their own data. Students may find it beneficial to conduct a pilot study based on the study proposed in their QP, which may provide information to be used in refining this study before proposing a dissertation study. Alternatively, students may have been in the process of collecting data or analyzing existing data during their first years in the program, and are able to complete a manuscript based on this study before, or soon after, having completed the QP.

Requirements

The study must present original findings and contribute new knowledge to the student’s chosen field. The manuscript should comply with APA approved format and style guidelines. The student must be sole or first author of the manuscript. The arguments for the value of the research must be well-constructed and convincing. The sample should be of sufficient size to provide the power necessary to derive significant results, even if it is smaller than samples of comparable studies in the chosen field.

Assessment

Although the student works with an advisor during the study and writing process, the work must be the student’s own work and the ideas must be the student’s. The advisor is often the student’s QP advisor when the study is related to the proposed study in the QP. The student asks a professor to be his or her advisor for the predoctoral project, and this advisor becomes the primary reader. The student then selects a second reader who typically reads and evaluates the study, offering suggestions for revisions, after the advisor has approved a final draft. Once both the advisor and the second reader have approved the document, the advisor sends a note to the Graduate Coordinator attesting to this approval so that this can be recorded on the student’s record.