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Required Coursework
All doctoral students must register for two semesters of EDP 395R (Qualifying Process Research) before the end of the semester in which they go through the qualifying process. Summer registration is contingent on approval of the qualifying adviser and the adviser’s ability to supervise the student’s work during the summer.
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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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GSC Vote: The Report and Recommendation of the evaluation committee is presented and acted on by the GSC on Friday of the sixth full week of the semester.
Advisement Guidelines
During the two semesters of 395R: Qualifying Process Research registration, the qualifying process adviser should assist the student with the basic tasks involved in preparing the document. The adviser will guide the student by providing general information and criticism, including selecting a suitable topic, sampling the pertinent literature, and preparing a proper review. When the initial work is complete, the qualifying process adviser’s role will change to helping the student to analyze issues and problems and to develop an appropriate research study derived from this knowledge base.
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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.
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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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- Examiners. The student's three-member committee serves as the qualifying process evaluators for each student, with the student’s qualifying process adviser as one of these members and serving as chair.
- Format. The written examination will consist of six essay questions, two submitted by each committee member. The student is to answer three questions, one from each examiner, to be weighted equally. Each question is labeled with the name of the submitting faculty person. All three members of the committee evaluate the entire exam.
- Administration. A group administration of each student’s written examination is scheduled in a Sanchez Building computer lab on the Friday of the second week following submission of the qualifying document. Students are not allowed to have any materials with them during the written examination.
- Evaluation. Each member of the student’s evaluation committee independently evaluates the student’s entire written examination.
Oral Examination
After the qualifying document is turned in, faculty are not to advise the student about the document or possible questions that may be asked on exams. However, the adviser should have one meeting with the student about the general exam process.
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- Everyone arrives.
- Student leaves room during preliminary committee discussion.
- Committee reviews the information from the student’s academic record (if needed) and existing scores from all committee members.
- Committee discusses any problem areas, etc.
- Student returns to the room and completes the oral exam.
- Student leaves after exam.
- Committee members rate the student separately, share ratings, and arrive at a group recommendation, considering all qualifying process ratings and other relevant matters.
- Student is advised of the committee’s recommendation to the GSC.
Committee Evaluation Documents
The qualifying process committee members use Rubrics and the Qualifying Process Ratings Report to evaluate students’ documents and examinations.
Evaluation for Advancement to Candidacy
The qualifying process adviser serves as chair and coordinator of the qualifying process committee. Each committee member reviews coursework the student has completed.
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Evaluation committees’ recommendations are presented to the GSC for discussion and voting. The GSC members take into consideration the committee's recommendation as well as the student's academic record in making a final decision. Final decisions are made by majority vote of the GSC for each student. It is the responsibility of the student’s qualifying process adviser to convey this decision to the student at the earliest opportunity. Notification will also be sent directly to the student regarding the GSC’s decision.
Effects of Area/Program Probation on Qualifying Process
Program-Specific Processes
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Counseling Psychology Qualifying ProcessGeneral Qualifying process completion enables students to 1) file for doctoral candidacy, and 2) begin to make arrangements for the dissertation proposal meeting, which thereby affects eligibility for internship. Counseling Psychology students are encouraged to plan ahead and to consult with their advisers in deciding the timing to the qualifying process. For example, a student who submits and passes the qualifying process and the necessary coursework during the 6th semester (spring of the 3rd year) will advance to candidacy that summer, or the following academic session/semester. Summer faculty schedules can hinder necessary approval steps. Therefore, a tight timeline leaves little time to have a dissertation proposal meeting occur before October 1st of that year, which is a program requirement for applying to internship. Assignment of Adviser Students should contact their faculty adviser no later than their 4th semester to begin the process. The CP program expects that a student’s program adviser will also be the student's qualifying process adviser. If for any reason a student wants a different qualifying process adviser, they should begin by notifying their program adviser. Students will then need to petition the CP faculty to be allowed a different adviser, whether this is another CP faculty member or a faculty member outside the program. Prior to petitioning the CP faculty, the student should have contacted the potential adviser and solicited their agreement to chair the qualifying process pending CP faculty approval. Document The qualifying document is viewed as a trial run for the dissertation and will be evaluated as such. The “feasibility” of the study will be a factor in evaluating the document – i.e., the study should represent a contribution to the literature, be something that is practical to accomplish (i.e., a type of project that could reasonably be accomplished in a dissertation), and be well-designed. The student must submit for examination a document comparable to a scholarly work in the field. The options are:
Process for Students not Passing on Their First Try Students who are not on probation will be given another opportunity to go through the qualifying process (either one semester or one year later). For students on probation, the CP faculty will consider whether another opportunity to go through the process, or termination (with an option to earn a Master's degree), or termination (with no option for a Master's degree) is the most appropriate recommendation to make to the GSC. |
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HDCLS Qualifying ProcessAssignment of Adviser No later than their 4th semester, students must contact the faculty member they want as their adviser. If that person agrees, the student must then report the choice to the HDCLS Chair by completing and turning in the "Verification of Selection of Qualifying Process Adviser" form (signed by the student and the proposed adviser). The qualifying process adviser will be approved by HDCLS faculty. Choosing an outside area/program qualifying process adviser is an option with the approval of the HDCLS Chair and the intended outside area/program adviser. Document The student must submit for examination a high quality document that demonstrates the student’s understanding of the field, and their ability to integrate theories to generate a researchable question or set of questions, design a feasible study to answer those questions, and write in a clear, concise manner of publishable quality. The document can take one of two forms: (a) the traditional format (see ““Traditional Qualifying Process Format”, below), consisting of an integrative review of the literature to serve as rationale for a study and a detailed description of how one would undertake the study (note that quantitative, qualitative, mixed methods, and meta-analysis are all possible methodologies for the proposed study); (b) a completed study that adds to the integrative review of the literature and description of study methods an actual report of findings and final discussion. Because HDCLS also requires students to submit a pre-doctoral project that is in line with the second option (that is, a completed project with findings analyzed and discussed) before being advanced to candidacy, it is possible for students to fulfill both requirements, submitting as their QP document the same thing the student would submit as the pre-doc project, at the same time. |
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QM Qualifying ProcessAssignment of Adviser Students should discuss qualifying process adviser selection with the QM Chair as early as their 4th semester and no later than the end of their 5th semester. The qualifying process adviser is to be assigned by QM faculty. QM qualifying process students will submit to the QM Chair a ranked list of their top three QM faculty member choices for qualifying process adviser by the last class day of the semester before they begin the qualifying process. QM faculty will meet every semester to assign qualifying process advisers. Decisions will be based on student’s ranked list of preferred advisers, match of faculty’s expertise with the student’s interests, and faculty advising workload. Adviser assignments will be given to students before the start of the semester in which they are beginning the qualifying process. Document The student must submit for examination a document comparable to a scholarly work in the field. The research proposed in a QM student’s qualifying document should contribute to an existing line of inquiry in the field of quantitative methods. Assessment of the document will include consideration of the feasibility of the proposed study (see the “Traditional Qualifying Process Format”, below). |
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School Psychology Qualifying ProcessAssignment of Adviser The qualifying process adviser will be assigned by the School Psychology faculty, with input from the student, at the beginning of the 3rd semester. Choosing an outside area/program committee qualifying process adviser is an option with the approval of the School Psychology faculty and the intended outside area/program adviser. Document The student must submit for examination a document comparable to a scholarly work in the field. The options are:
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