WEEK 8 ORG 827 STUDENT RESPONSES

Dissertation Expectations_01042021

What to Expect in the Dissertation Phase of the Doctoral Program

In the third year of the program of study, doctoral learners progress from standard content-based

courses to dissertation courses. The transition to doctoral level research, independent scholarship, and

progression through the dissertation courses and milestones is unique to doctoral pedagogy. The

doctoral learner assumes the responsibility for developing needed research skills, planning and

executing their dissertation research, and progressing through the dissertation milestones.

 All doctoral learners should familiarize themselves with the Doctoral Dispositions located in the

University Policy Handbook https://www.gcu.edu/academics/academic-policies.php, and

Learner Expectations located on the DC Network https://dc.gcu.edu.

 The College of Doctoral Studies recognizes the diversity of learners in our programs and the

varied interests in research topics for their dissertations in the Social Sciences. Dissertation

topics must, at a minimum, be aligned to the learners’ degree program in which the learner is

enrolled: General Psychology in the Ph.D. program; Leadership in the Ed.D. Organizational

Leadership program; Adult Instruction in the Ed.D. Teaching and Learning program;

Management in the DBA program; and Counseling Practice, Counselor Education, Clinical

Supervision or Advocacy/Leadership within the Counseling field in the Counselor Education

Ph.D. program.

 If there are questions regarding appropriate alignment of a dissertation topic to the program,

the respective program chair will be the final authority for approval decisions. Specifically,

although the College prefers a learner’s topic align with the program emphasis, this alignment is

not “required.” The College will remain flexible on the learner’s dissertation topic if it aligns with

the degree program in which the learner is enrolled. Please note the Ph.D. program in General

Psychology does not support clinically-based research.

 A chair and methodologist will be assigned in the first dissertation course (RES, TLC, DBA, PSY,

PCE 885). As independent scholars, learners are responsible for selecting a qualified content

expert to serve as the third committee member. Learners must work with their Student Services

Counselor (SSC) to add the content expert to their dissertation committee.

 Doctoral learners are expected to work with their chair and committee members to establish a

mutually agreeable communication plan. The College recommends that all communications be

conducted in the LoudCloud classroom, on the Learner Dissertation Page (LDP), and via Zoom

conferencing with recorded calls for reference as needed.

 Doctoral learners are expected to schedule a minimum of two Zoom conference calls per class,

ideally one Zoom call per four weeks of class, with their chair. Learner works with chair to select

the dates and times, and the chair schedules the meetings through Zoom. After each meeting,

Dissertation Expectations_01042021

the learner should post a meeting summary to the LDP as a record of what was discussed.

Learner should request the chair to record the meeting and post the link in the LDP.

 GCU is committed to keeping learners and their committees together throughout the

dissertation process. However, a change to the dissertation committee may be needed due to

personal, work, or health related reasons.

 Doctoral learners are expected to develop scholarly writing and research skills appropriate for

doctoral level work. It is the responsibility of the learner, not the chair, committee members, or

the college reviewers, to ensure the dissertation meets all expectations and doctoral level

writing standards. Dissertation committee members provide guidance through the GCU

dissertation milestones, but are not expected to edit documents, teach research or analysis

skills, or complete data analysis procedures on behalf of the learner.

 Doctoral learners are expected to display a high level of professional decorum in all aspects of

communication with the doctoral faculty, dissertation committee, administrative staff, academic

advisors, and fellow learners. Inappropriate behavior may be subject to disciplinary action per

university policy.

 Every dissertation study and timeline will be different based on the learner’s study and personal

time commitment to designing, conducting, and reporting on their original research. As such,

progression through the dissertation milestones is very individualized. CDS strongly

recommends doctoral learners commit a minimum of 25 hours per week for working on the

dissertation. Learners should set up a detailed dissertation project plan to establish a realistic

timeline for completing the dissertation milestones. Learners are expected to be proactive in

requesting help when needed, using the Dissertation Milestones Guide to both track their

progress and to identify next steps or tasks they need to complete. Learners must become

dissertation research project managers!

 GCU uses a rigorous, iterative peer-review process to ensure scholarly standards for all

dissertations. The quality and integrity of any single dissertation enhances the value of all

dissertations, which in turn increases the value of the doctoral degree conferred by the

university. Learners can expect multiple revisions of dissertation documents driven by any of

the committee members or GCU doctoral staff throughout the doctoral program. Integrating

requested edits and revisions or defending why they are not integrated is expected in the

learners’ role as an independent scholar. The number of revisions/iterative review cycles

needed is generally dependent on the learner incorporating feedback from committee members

and quality of submitted work.

For more information about dissertation standards, process, and research resources visit the DC

Network at https://dc.gcu.edu. Also review the College of Doctoral Studies sections of the Academic

Catalog and the University Policy Handbook for dissertation and program information at

https://www.gcu.edu/academics/academic-policies.php. Learners may also contact their SSC for

dissertation course scheduling and resources.