DOCTOR of PHILOSOPHY in NURSING (PHD)

Candidacy Exam Process

Dissertation Process

Candidacy Exam Process

NOTE: The following guidelines are for use within the School of Nursing. They are congruent with School of Graduate studies guidelines. It is important to note that all PhD students and their advisors need to be familiar with specific Graduate Studies guidelines, particularly related to the dissertation process and format.

To advance to candidacy for the Ph.D., students are required to write a candidacy proposal (Step 1) and pass an oral examination (Step 2) as evidence of the student's ability to synthesize knowledge and apply research methodologies. The student should consult with his/her Academic Advisor to identify a candidacy chair and committee prior to completion of course work. It can be helpful to seek the advice of the student’s assigned academic advisor to prepare for and consider options for selection of committee members.

Criteria for Chair and Members of Candidacy Committee

A candidacy committee consists of at least three faculty members in the Frances Payne Bolton School of Nursing who serve on the PhD Council.  The chairperson for the candidacy committee is to be selected by the student.  The chairperson of the student’s candidacy committee must hold the rank of Assistant Professor or above; have served on a minimum of two candidacy committees at the Frances Payne Bolton School of Nursing or a comparable institution; and have considerable expertise in the student’s content and/or research area.  Expertise is determined by the faculty member’s authorship of research publications in refereed journals and recognition by peers as an expert in the student’s content and/or research area. The student must consult with the Chair to identify and select two additional members of the FPB faculty who are members of the PhD Council to serve as candidacy committee members. Selection these two members should be based on faculty expertise in the student’s substantive area of study, theoretical and conceptual expertise, or methodological expertise. The PhD Program Director must approve the composition of the candidacy committee and candidacy proposal topic.

Step 1: Written Candidacy Proposal

This step examines the student’s ability to create a written argument to support a scientific study. The candidacy proposal will include the following three chapters: Chapter 1 Introduction, Chapter 2 Literature Review, and Chapter 3 Methods. The written candidacy proposal is in essence the written component of the candidacy exam. The student is supervised in proposal development (will be registered for NURS 671 for at least 3 credits) by his/her Candidacy Committee Chair in consultation with the candidacy committee members. The written candidacy proposal should be based on the research problem the student intends to explore for his/her dissertation research. However, the written candidacy proposal should demonstrate the depth and breadth of knowledge the student has obtained through PhD course work, synthesized, and now is applying. For example, in Chapter 1 of the candidacy proposal, the student wants to demonstrate in writing an understanding of the philosophical, theoretical and conceptual issues that have been considered and his/her rationale for the choices s/he has made. In Chapter 2, the student should demonstrate his/her knowledge of substantive literature relevant to the population and problem of interest, critically analyze the state of knowledge, and demonstrate ability to write an integrated literature review. Chapter 3 should demonstrate the student’s knowledge regarding methodological issues demonstrating in writing what the design, measurement, analyses, and ethics issues are with rationale for the student’s methods choices.

Step 2: Oral examination

Note: Some candidacy committees may choose to schedule a pre-examination meeting in advance with the respective student but it is not required.

The student must have completed required course work and the research practicum, and have a GPA of 3.0 to schedule the oral candidacy exam. In addition, the members of the candidacy committee must have read the written candidacy proposal and agreed that the student is ready for the oral candidacy exam.

The oral examination requires the student to demonstrate the knowledge s/he has obtained as result of completing the PhD curriculum. The oral examination should test the depth and breadth of the student’s knowledge and comprehensive ability to synthesis and apply that knowledge.The content foci of the oral candidacy exam are: 1) the nursing discipline (theory, research, profession); 2) research methods and statistics; 3) review and evaluation of literature concerning content/competing theories/competing methods (includes disciplinary literature and relevant literature from other disciplines including historical perspective); and 4) articulation of the above. The examination is the culmination of a research proposal development process guided by a candidacy committee. Participation in the oral exam is limited to the student and the student's candidacy committee members.

Advancement to Candidacy

Advancement to candidacy status is based on candidacy committee recommendation signed by the PhD Program Director. The student must have completed his/her research practicum and submitted an updated Program of Study Plan for Graduate Studies to take action to advance the student to candidacy status

A student who fails the candidacy examination may be permitted to retake the examination following completion of additional course work and/or revision of the proposal and/or a written response to questions from the committee. The respective candidacy committee has the responsibility to determine which option should be selected for a specific student and to inform the student of the course of action verbally and in writing. The candidacy committee chair will inform the PhD Program Director of the course of action the committee has determined in writing

A student who is refused admission to candidacy may not undertake further study within the School of Nursing for credit toward the Ph.D. With the approval of both the School of Nursing and the School of Graduate Studies, such a student may take a limited number of additional courses to complete a Master's degree or enter the graduate program in another department.

Dissertation Process

NOTE: The following guidelines are for use within the School of Nursing. They are congruent with School of Graduate studies guidelines. It is important to note that all PhD students and their advisors need to be familiar with specific Graduate Studies guidelines, particularly related to the dissertation process and format.

Criteria for Chair and Members of Dissertation Committee

Following advancement to candidacy, the student selects a chairperson for the dissertation committee.  The chair of a dissertation committee must be a member of the faculty from the School of Nursing and serve on the PhD Council.  The chair must hold the rank of Assistant Professor or above; have served on a minimum of two dissertation committees; have conducted post-doctoral research and obtained external funding; and have expertise in either the student’s content area or research publications in refereed journals in the area of content or research methods, related research funding and recognition of peers.

The dissertation committee is the examining committee for dissertation proposal defense and the final oral defense of the dissertation. The dissertation committee must consist of not fewer than four members of the university faculty one of whom is the dissertation chair. University faculty members include those with current appointments or emeritus faculty, including at least one whose appointment is totally outside the School of Nursing. A person who is not a member of the university faculty may serve as an additional member of the examining committee. It is helpful for the student (in consultation with his/her candidacy committee chair) to form this committee, particularly identifying the faculty member from outside the School, prior to the oral candidacy exam. However, the student may decide there is a need to partially or totally reformulate his/her dissertation committee following the candidacy examination. Whenever the dissertation committee is identified, the committee members must be approved by the School of Nursing Associate Dean for Doctoral Programs/PhD Program Director and the School of Graduate Studies.

Written Research Proposal

Following successful advancement to candidacy, the student will revise the written candidacy proposal in consultation with his/her dissertation committee members. This document then becomes the written dissertation research proposal. The student in consultation with his/her dissertation committee will set the date and time for oral defense of the dissertation research proposal.

Dissertation Research Proposal Defense

Before beginning dissertation research, the candidate must defend his/her proposal. The dissertation research proposal defense is a separate meeting, activity, and focus from the oral candidacy exam. It is specific to the proposed research study which will be the respective student’s dissertation research. Thus the defense questions and discussion specifically focus on the conceptualization and methods of the proposed study.

The dissertation research proposal defense is done in the presence of a committee consisting of three nursing faculty and one faculty member from Case Western Reserve University, but whose appointment is outside of the School of Nursing. The purpose of this defense is to present and defend the significance, design, methods, and contribution of the proposal research and to address the committee's questions related to the line of inquiry. Upon successful defense of the dissertation research proposal, the student can submit IRB applications and begin the research once IRB approval(s) have been obtained. The dissertation chair and committee members will continue to supervise the student’s implementation and completion of the dissertation research.

Final Oral Examination: Defense of Dissertation

Each Ph.D. candidate is required to pass a final oral examination in defense of his or her dissertation. The dissertation committee is the examining committee and must consist of not fewer than four members of the university faculty. University faculty members include those with current appointments or emeritus faculty, including at least one whose appointment is totally outside the School of Nursing. A person who is not a member of the university faculty may serve as an additional member of the examining committee. Approval of the dissertation committee and date and time of final oral defense must be signed by the School of Nursing PhD Program Director and approved by the School of Graduate Studies three weeks prior to the final oral defense date. Some dissertation committees may choose to schedule a pre-defense meeting in advance with the respective student but it is not required.

The time and place of final oral examination are to be announced in advance. University faculty and students may be present at the examination. The defense is public (Note: This includes the student’s presentation as well as the examination committee’s questions period and student’s responses) and open to the University community (faculty, students, staff). The audience may be invited by the chair of the examination committee to ask questions after the committee has completing questioning the student. Others (e.g. student’s family) may be present by invitation of the chairperson of the examining committee. The student and audience are then ask to leave the room following the presentation and questioning period so the committee members may deliberate in private. The defending student will be invited back to meet with committee at the end of their deliberations.

The final oral examination is focused on the student’s completed research and the implications and recommendations as a result of the study findings. The examination may also include an inquiry into the candidate's competence in his or her major and related fields. The committee for the Ph.D. dissertation is responsible for certifying that the material presented in the dissertation meets acceptable scholarly standards. A student will be certified as passing the final oral examination if not more than one member of the committee dissents.