Goal:
The dissertation represents the culmination of the student’s doctoral training in the form of an independent piece of scholarship. It should represent a unique, valuable, and rigorous contribution to research in the area of Psychology and Social Intervention. A breadth of methodologies may be used for fulfilling the dissertation requirement. Compared to the second-year paper and comprehensive exam, we expect more variability across students in the dissertation proposal and completion process to account for each students’ unique topics, post-graduation goals and plans, and funding/work experiences in their 4th, 5th, and sometimes 6th years. In addition, please note the dissertation is an official Steinhardt requirement for graduation and is regulated more heavily by the School than your other milestones. You should always check for additional (and updated) school guidelines on the dissertation process:
Processes, Procedures and Format:
The dissertation consists of two phases: the dissertation proposal phase and the dissertation writing phase. The processes, procedures and format for each phase are outlined below. We have provided a set of common timelines for each phase, but expect students’ own timelines will vary. For all written products, the expectation is that you establish with your primary mentor a schedule of multiple drafts, feedback, and revisions that allows for multiple iterations and incorporates the process and timeline for soliciting and integrating second reader(s) review(s).
Proposal Phase
a. The dissertation may be written in the form of a full-length dissertation or a series of 2-3 journal articles (see page with departmental policies on this), with other materials included as part of the appendix if the student so desires. This decision should be made in consultation with the dissertation committee chairperson “chair”.
c. The chairperson of your dissertation committee is selected from the core or active affiliate faculty in PSI, under the advisement of your primary mentor and PSI program director. In many cases, your chair will be the same person as your primary mentor, but this does not have to be so. In collaboration with your chair, two other committee members are selected for the three-person dissertation committee. You are expected to work actively with your committee chair to select and solicit your additional committee members. This three-person committee should consist of at least one regular member of the PSI faculty, although exceptions will be considered by the Program Director when accompanied by a strong rationale. Note that the school requires at least one committee member to sit in a program or department other than PSI. See their website for more details and exceptions. The overall constellation of this committee is subject to the approval of the PSI Program Director.
d. An initial draft of the proposal (introduction, method and proposed data analysis sections) is drafted starting in the first semester of AY4, in consultation with your chair.
e. When the committee chair deems the proposal ready, you will send it out for review by your other committee members, allowing ample time for multiple iterations of review and incorporation of feedback. Once your chair and each committee members approve your proposal, your proposal defense meeting can be scheduled.
f. The Proposal Defense Meeting, usually 1 to 1 ½ hours, is scheduled at a convenient time for the chair, the candidate, and two additional readers, ideally in the Spring of AY4.
i) Proposal defense meetings can take place from September – June, but are not convened in July or August. May 15 is the departmental deadline to request readers for a proposal review to take place by the end of June. NOTE: Proposal defenses and approval forms need to signed, pdf'd and forwarded to the Program Director and the Academic Administrator. Follow the guidelines detailed here to schedule your proposal defense.
ii) The two additional readers are appointed by the department’s academic manager
iii) The chair and additional readers will judge the adequacy of the proposal in both written and oral form. The three possible outcomes of the proposal meeting are as follows.
aa. Student may proceed with agreed upon modifications to the proposal. This is the most frequent decision. The Chair is responsible for overseeing that the modifications are implemented.
bb. Student may proceed without modification. In this case, the committee has signed on to the scope, methods, and procedures for the dissertation as initially proposed.
cc. Committee fails/rejects proposal. In this case, the student would be required to begin anew. With active and ongoing consultation and feedback from the committee, as recommended above; this is an unlikely outcome.
Dissertation Phase
a. The student works closely with the chair on the final draft of the dissertation until such time when the Chair feels the proposal is ready to be given to the other committee members for review and feedback. Their feedback is incorporated into a draft of the revised dissertation.
b. The full and final dissertation must be approved by the chair and both committee members before proceeding to the Defense stage.
c. The student should work closely with their chair to identify and solicit two outside readers who will review the final dissertation and participate in the dissertation defense
d. The Dissertation Defense, usually between 1 ½ to 2 hours, is scheduled at a convenient time for the chair, the candidate, committee members, and the two newly appointed readers appointed, ideally to occur by the Spring of AY5.
i. This is a meeting that is formally scheduled through the Steinhardt Graduate Office. Please review and follow their guidelines.
ii. The dissertation committee will judge the adequacy of the dissertation in both written and oral form. Decisions take several forms:
aa. Ideally, but rarely, the student passes both the oral defense and written product with no revisions.
bb. More commonly, the student passes both parts, but needs to make revisions that are overseen by the Committee Chair before all the signed papers are turned in. Sometimes the revisions can be extensive.
cc. Less frequently, the student passes, subject to extensive modifications to be reviewed again by one or more members of the committee, prior to final approval.
dd. Drastic modifications to the written document and another oral defense, or outright failure are extremely rare.