What are the acceptable thesis and proposal types?

FORM 1 -Approval of Preliminary ProposalFORM 2 - Project Qualifying ExaminationFORM 3 - Project Oral Defence

The faculty is committed to the values of scholarship and diversity in education. Consistent with these goals are a wide range of research projects for the undergraduate and graduate student. Some fields did not construct the scientific method, but rather took and adapted the methods developed and practiced by the natural, social, and physical sciences. The scientific method controls and manipulates two variables of interest in order to determine the effect of one upon the other. Usually, these variables are typically measured and their relationships are expressed in mathematical relationships that possess a high degree of scientific certainty. Initially, quantitative, experimental research was the “Sine Qua Non” of research activity. Social scientists gradually realize that variables of greatest interest; e.g., intent, motive; could not always be meaningfully quantified or controlled. Quasi-experimental methods were developed to study a phenomenon which could not be controlled by the researcher. Qualitative methods were developed to study phenomenon which became meaningless when reduced from experience to numbers. Methods continue to evolve as the field grapples with new ways of being scientific.

Your faculty embraces the newer, broader conceptualization of what it means to be scientific. The student is invited to be creative and innovative, but methodically sound. I offer the following criteria against which all research, from experimental to naturalistic, may be judged:

(1) How truthful are the particular findings of the study?

(2) How applicable are the findings to another setting or other people?

(3) How can we be reasonably sure that the findings would be replicated if the study were conducted with the same participants in the same context?

(4) How can we be sure that the findings are reflective of the subjects and the inquiry itself rather than the product of the researcher's biases or prejudices?

For the research project, most faculty will generally approve all research methods which are appropriate to the question posed by the study and which meet the above tests of truth, applicability, consistency, and neutrality. Dueto the situation or specific nature of some of the methods appropriate for the master’s or bachelor’s degree, not all of these criteria are applicable to master’s or bachelor’s project.

Your faculty allows the use of quantitative or qualitative methods for the Bachelor and the Master's degree. Quantitative methods are those in which the data gathered are in the form of numbers; e.g., the number of marriages subjects report, scores from a test, or the number of times subjects are observed to engage in a behavior. Qualitative methods gather data in the form of words: e.g., interviews of subjects, excerpts from journals or historical documents, observations, etc. Students sometimes believe that qualitative methods are easier because they do not require the use of statistics.

Qualitative studies are actually far more challenging to design and execute in a manner that meets the above-mentioned tests of truth, applicability, consistency, and generalizability.

A larger portion of this manual is devoted to both guidelines for quantitative methods and qualitative ones. Standardized expectations in the academic community at large for how quantitative research is to be conducted and reported exist. Qualitative research methods are newer and there are fewer precedents to become codified into generally accepted rules.

Qualitative methods are often more situation specific and researcher specific; it also more difficult to provide general guidelines. The student who selects a qualitative method will have to take more responsibility for searching for appropriate models, guidelines, and examples. For the same reason, the student may also have to put more effort into educating his or her committee on the methods chosen.

The relative portions of this manual dedicated to qualitative and quantitative methods does not indicate a bias of the faculty toward quantitative studies. Your faculty is generally open to the full range of the methods available.