During the dissertation proposal and research phases, the doctoral candidate engages in a number of activities and tasks to fulfill the requirements of the dissertation track.
A doctoral student may need additional time to complete the preliminary dissertation proposal, under the guidance of the student’s Dissertation Seminar 4 professor. Once approved by the seminar professor and Doctoral Office, the doctoral candidate is assigned to a dissertation chair and committee.
Under the direction of the dissertation chair and working with committee members, the doctoral candidate develops the final version of the comprehensive dissertation proposal including the problem statement, literature review, and research design. The candidate will also receive training and gain certification on the institutional review board (IRB) approval process at Concordia and submit proposals to the IRB. During this time the candidate also prepares for the oral defense of the dissertation proposal and work with the dissertation chair to schedule the oral defense of the proposal.
Dissertation research involves the implementation of the dissertation research design, collection and analysis of data, and reporting and discussion of research findings. Each doctoral candidate will execute the research design, follow the dissertation proposal timeline, collect and analyze data related to dissertation research questions, work with the dissertation chair to discuss the execution of the dissertation research plan and progress made on data collection and analysis, organize and write drafts of chapters 4 and 5 of the dissertation, and prepare for the dissertation oral defense as outlined in the doctoral student handbook. Dissertation research culminates in the successful completion of the dissertation and dissertation oral defense.