Master's Culminating Project

In addition to coursework and field-based experiences, students in the masters program are also expected to complete a culminating experience. In keeping with the scientist-practitioner model, students can complete a thesis (producer of science) or an intervention project (consumer of science). The expectations for each project are described below.

Master's Thesis (Plan A). The selection of a thesis topic should occur the summer prior to the second year of study. This will require a greater frequency of meetings between advisor and student before the final decisions and proposals are made. In most cases the student will pursue one of the current lines of research in the department or current research of the advisor. In other cases, the research will be of significant interest to the advisor, but it may not be a direct extension of a current research program. It is important that the research project include guidance from the advisor. The research topic must be work that can be accomplished in a reasonable time. It is also important to consider the availability of resources, resource personnel, and funding (cost of research) before deciding on a project.

The research advisory committee consists of the student's primary advisor and a minimum of one other faculty. The research advisory committee should be formed by the end of the first year of study and certainly before the beginning of the second year of study. The student should prepare a written research proposal early during year 2. This proposal should minimally contain the research questions, review of literature, and proposed methods. Ideally, the student will have worked with the advisor to obtain adequate pilot data to suggest that the study is feasible within the time course outlined in the plan of study. This research proposal should be approved by the committee chair or research advisory committee before data collection begins. In addition to the proposal, the student must obtain approval from the Office of Responsible Research Practices (often referred to as the Institutional Review Board or IRB) before they can begin collecting data. The time course for completing the thesis and the presentation of results should be set by the advisor and student during the discussions of the research plan.

Based upon the progress to date and upon problems arising from the beginning stages of data collection for the research project, the plan of study may need to be revised. If necessary, the plan should be revised by the student with approval of the advisor. During the final stages of graduate work it is helpful if the plan identifies the anticipated week or month for the final copy of the thesis/project and defense.

Each student will be expected to obtain data in conjunction with and under the supervision of the advisor. The student should schedule meetings with the advisor on a regular basis (weekly or bi-weekly) during the period of data collection. The student should be prepared to provide drafts of manuscripts in progress to the advisor prior to the termination of the study. The student must ensure that all written documents to be included in the thesis conform to the requirements of the Graduate School. These guidelines can be found in the handbook "Graduate School Guidelines for Preparing and submitting Theses, Dissertations and D.M.A. Documents" found on the Graduate School web site.

The student and advisor should meet during the periods that encompass data analysis, data interpretation, and initial stages of writing. This will likely be a minimum of once every month until graduation. It is the student's responsibility to provide the advisor and other committee members the required written drafts of the thesis in a timely fashion. The advisor should attempt to return the material with comments and suggested revisions in a timely manner, and this should ordinarily not exceed two or three weeks from the time of submission. This schedule should be part of the time course earlier drafted between advisor and student. The student should also expect to prepare at least one manuscript for presentation and/or publication of research material during this period of time. During this final stage, the student will complete writing the project and presenting the results of this work. It is important that the advisor return the written drafts of the project to the student in a timely fashion. Normally, the drafts should be returned to the student with suggested comments for revisions within two or three weeks after submission. It is recommended that the student and advisor meet at regular intervals to discuss the drafts and progress of the work to ensure a timely graduation. The student should ensure that the posted deadlines and specified requirements for graduation are met. In addition, students will be expected to present their thesis results at the School Psychology Colloquium held in the Spring.

Co-authorship of publications arising from the thesis collected under the supervision of the advisor should be decided before the research is begun. This will eliminate any misunderstandings between student and advisor after the work is complete. Typically, data collected in conjunction with an on-going research project of the advisor will include the advisor as a co-author. This is especially important if research funds awarded to the advisor have been used for the student's study as faculty are obligated to report back to the granting agency to publish their findings, and to provide the appropriate acknowledgment of the funding agency. If the student does not prepare the project/thesis material for publication in a timely fashion, the faculty advisor is obligated by the funding agency and the university to publish the material (i.e., to justify the resources spent on such projects). Occasionally advisor co-authorship may not be warranted. In such circumstances the student will have independently provided the idea for the project and the resources for data collection and analysis, whereas the advisor will have had only a minimal supervisory role in the project.

Master's Intervention Project (Plan B). In lieu of a thesis, students can choose to complete an intervention project instead of a research project. Selection of a topic for the intervention project should occur before the first quarter of the second year of study. It is important that the intervention project include input from the advisor. The topic must be work that can be accomplished in a reasonable time. It is also important to consider the availability of resources, resource personnel, and funding (cost of intervention) before deciding on a project. The advisor's role is clearly described in the thesis section and should be used as guidelines for the advisor's role in the intervention project.

Students must conduct a literature review related to their topic and design an intervention based on the research. The student's advisor approves the literature review and intervention plan before the intervention can be implemented. Before collecting any data or implementing the intervention, the student must obtain approval from the Human Subjects Institutional Review Board (IRB). The intervention must be implemented no later than Spring quarter of the second year of study and be implemented at least 6 weeks.

In addition to designing and implementing the intervention, students must also create an intervention evaluation plan to determine the efficacy of their intervention. Data need to be collected before, during, and after the intervention. A formal presentation of the results will be presented to the School Psychology faculty and student body the 7th week of Spring quarter. The advisor is responsible for approval of the literature review while the faculty evaluate the quality of the presentation, the intervention, and the evaluation plan. Students are encouraged to set their presentation up in poster style fashion.