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Degree Programs:
Procedures and Process, School of Medicine Link
The PhD Program in Epidemiology requires the completion of an approved dissertation that demonstrates the student's ability to perform original, independent research and constitutes a distinct contribution to knowledge in the field of epidemiology. The program seeks to ensure that the student will experience the full range of skills needed by practicing epidemiologists.
A satisfactory investigation for a doctoral dissertation should include the following elements:
- Formulation of a hypothesis or the specific aims of the project,
- Development of the design of the project,
- Planning the conduct of the project, including IRB review,
- Collection of data,
- Analysis of data,
- Interpretation of results, and
- Writing a report of the investigation.
“Collection of data” can include one or more of the following: subject interviews, medical record abstraction, laboratory measures on newly collected or stored specimens, or possibly, linkage of data sets. Students should check with their Advisor and Committee members or the Doctoral Program Director regarding any questions he or she has as to whether or not his or her dissertation projects meets the data collection requirement. Meta-analyses and other quantitative reviews do not satisfy the data collection requirement.
a) Dissertation Outcome
All students are required to produce three publishable papers prior to graduation. We expect that at least one will have been submitted, the other two can still be in review by co-authors.
b) Dissertation Defense
Upon completion of all required coursework and the research project, the student must submit all three of their written papers to their entire committee for approval. All committee members must approve the work and the write-up and the student must orally defend this dissertation in a publicly advertised Department seminar prior to graduation.
c) Primary Data Collection Requirement
If the dissertation project does not require data collection for successful completion, the student must still get experience with primary data collection. This can be done through participation in an ongoing study where s/he can experience all aspects of the process or through an ancillary study to the dissertation project. The experience should include such things as the following:
- Measurement development (questionnaire, data collection form, etc)
- IRB review
- Pre-testing of instruments
- Data collection
- Editing and coding of data as it is gathered
- Data entry
- Data clean-up / validation
The advisor must confirm in writing satisfaction of the data collection requirement prior to graduation.