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Once the date for turning in the qualifying document has been officially determined, it cannot be moved to a subsequent semester. If the deadline is not met, this usually constitutes a failure in the process. For this reason, students sometimes officially choose to turn in the qualifying document one semester later than the one in which they actually hope to turn it in - just in case a courseload causes a problem in completion of the core area courses, etc. If no problem arises (and if all other requirements will be met on time) the student can, with approval of the qualifying process adviser, turn in the document a semester early. To do so, the adviser must email approval to the Graduate Coordinator with enough advance notice for the student to be sent the new deadline information and to be able to meet the deadlines.
Qualifying Process
- The purpose of the qualifying process is to allow students to demonstrate they are ready to advance to candidacy. This process is part of a comprehensive evaluation that also includes successful completion of core area courses (which include comprehensive exams) and certain area of specialization courses, as well as good standing in the area of specialization as determined by annual student reviews.
- In line with the department requirements for the qualifying process, students will produce a qualifying document, have an oral exam and a written exam (School Psychology students do not have a written exam), and be evaluated no later than their 7th semester. (On very rare occasion and due to extreme circumstances, a petition for an extension of any part of the QP process may be granted if it is approved by the GSC Executive Committee with the support of the area of specialization and the Graduate Adviser.) Students must have completed the qualifying process in time to be evaluated at the regularly scheduled fall or spring GSC meetings.
- Students should contact the Program Director or Area Chair no later than their 4th semester to discuss the selection of their qualifying process adviser, as the Areas/Programs have slightly varying processes.
- In exceptional cases, it is permissible for students to seek advisers outside of their areas of specialization. The process for obtaining approval for this would begin with the student’s faculty adviser. The adviser must always be an EDP GSC faculty member.
- Each student will have an officially assigned qualifying process adviser (chosen in accordance with the process developed by the student’s area of specialization) and turn-in date. Once the date for turning in the qualifying document has been officially determined, it cannot be moved to a subsequent semester. For this reason, students sometimes officially choose to turn in the qualifying document one semester later than the one in which they actually hope to turn it in - just in case a courseload causes a problem in completion of the core area courses, etc. If no problem arises (and if all other requirements will be met on time) the student can, with approval of the qualifying process adviser, turn in the document a semester early. To do so, the adviser must email approval to the Graduate Coordinator with enough advance notice for the student to be sent the new deadline information and to be able to meet the deadlines.
- In accordance with the Department’s timeline, faculty will meet to determine the two remaining committee members. Usually, one member will be from the student’s area and the other member will be from another area. Such decisions will be made based on the student's qualifying document topic summary, and members will be assigned based on their expertise with respect to the student’s topic and faculty workload considerations. (You should give your committee members access to your program of work in UTBox so they know which courses you have completed and with what level of competency.)
- The written product that students submit can vary, depending on the area/program. In all cases, the document must be the student’s own work to the degree that it would deserve first or sole authorship, and must be prepared under the supervision of a UT-Austin EDP faculty person. “First authorship is based on work to which individuals have substantially contributed (APA Ethics Code Standard 8.12a, Publication Credit).” “Substantial contributions may include formulating the problem or hypothesis, structuring the experimental design, organizing and conducting the statistical analysis, interpreting the results, or writing a major portion of the paper.” (Publication Manual of the APA, 6th Edition, p. 18).
- Recommendation for advancement to candidacy will be made to the GSC from the student’s qualifying process committee and area/program.
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Students who are beginning the qualifying process in the fall are required to work with their qualifying adviser to complete the Qualifying Process Student/Faculty Adviser Agreement. After completion, the student is to upload a copy of the signed Agreement to his/her UTBox Program of Work folder (either scanned or photo’d).
Developing the Qualifying Document
Guidelines
Developing the qualifying document encompasses a process and a product. That is, it involves the acquisition of knowledge and skills as well as the reporting of them. Acceptability, therefore, is a matter of whether the student has gained a sufficient degree of mastery of the subject and whether the reporting of the results of these intellectual activities is adequately done. Along with a copy of the document, each member of the qualifying process evaluation committee receives an evaluation data sheet upon which he/she will independently rate the acceptability of the document.
Criteria that reflect desirable characteristics or qualities of the qualifying document include:
Integrative Analysis and Interpretation
- Identifies the issues that have been investigated
- Attempts to clarify
- Illuminates new problems
- Speaks to the central problems concerning the subject
- Deals with conceptual clarification
- Outlines implications for future work
Proposed Research Study
- Is competently planned, well related to other relevant work, and addresses the stated question well
- Uses appropriate analytical procedures, presents anticipated results and their implications clearly
- Is easily understood and well-written
Although these are ends toward which the student’s effort should be directed, and the achievement of many of these goals would be welcome and pleasing to the QP adviser, the qualifying document is the student’s product and responsibility. QP advisers conduct a final meeting with the student, before (or soon after) the QP document is turned in, to discuss the logistics and procedures of the two exams.
Preparing the Qualifying Document
Completion of the qualifying document occurs during the two-semester EDP 395R course sequence. In general, the first semester may be viewed as a reading semester, in which the student explores the literature for a suitable topic, and the second semester may be viewed as a writing semester, in which the student develops the qualifying document, including the research design.
- Select a Suitable Topic: One that reflects a distinctly delimited sphere of psychological knowledge and intellectual activity. The topic covered may fall within a sub-area of one of the domains, or may be a subject in a professional or applied area. The purpose of the qualifying document is to display in-depth knowledge about an important topic. It should not be merely a subsequent add-on to a paper in a particular course, but should be explicitly developed in the process of probing facts, issues, and ideas that might have been encountered in various courses.
- Essential Features of the qualifying document: The core of the document is the knowledge base of the topic selected. It is important that students not only find, organize, and master the knowledge, but, also, that they develop skills in the application of that knowledge. This objective is appropriately embraced in the formulation of a research study derived from that knowledge base. These two kinds of scholarly/scientific activity are not only closely interrelated, but doing the latter depends strongly on how well the former is done.
- Main Sections of the Qualifying Document
- Introduction – serves as a preface that briefly explains the topic address (1-3 pages).
- The Integrative Analysis and Interpretation section is a review and evaluation of theoretical, empirical, and methodological developments, as well as suggested directions for future research and recommendations for practice or policy (18-27 pages). This section of the document should present an extensive review of the topic. Despite this emphasis on both breadth and depth, it is expected that the discourse will be more exploratory and investigative than definitive.
- The Proposed Research Study should be written using the form of a journal article, following the practice of APA research journals (such as the Journal of Educational Psychology), with the exception that no actual results will be reported, although the discussion may include anticipated outcomes (10-15 pages). The problem should be derived from the knowledge base that was developed earlier in the integrative analysis. It is essential that you obtain and follow closely the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association .
- Summary and Implication should relate the study’s projected findings to the Integrative Analysis and extend the Interpretation (1-2 pages).
Qualifying document text sections must not exceed 50 pages.
Written Examination
(School Psychology students are not required to take a written exam)
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