Characteristics of a good dissertation proposal
A good dissertation proposal accomplishes a few important goals. First, it motivates you to organize and define your research plans for one or two potential chapters of your dissertation. Second, it allows your committee members to provide useful feedback on these plans. Third, it demonstrates to your committee that you are capable of completing your dissertation research, and writing it up in a form that is publishable. The first two goals benefit you, and will help you produce a quality dissertation. The third goal allows the committee to determine whether you should be advanced to candidacy or advised to pursue another career. Although the examination aspect of this process can be stressful, it is worthwhile. If you pass, you can be confident that you have what it takes to earn your degree. If you don’t pass, then at least you will be able to focus your time and efforts elsewhere, and without delay. It’s better than spending several more years pursuing a degree, and then leaving the program without one.
The scope of your dissertation proposal need not be large. In fact, it is better to err on the side of proposing too little than too much. You will always have other opportunities to add another experiment or two if need be. Aim for a proposal length of 5 to 9 pages, single-spaced, including figures and tables. References are necessary, but they don’t count toward the page limit. Propose work that would eventually fit into one or two chapters (which will be equivalent to one or two journal publications).
Ideally, you’ll already have completed a proof-of-concept, proof-of-method, meta-analysis or literature review by the time you prepare to advance to candidacy. Plan to have at least a draft of this study ready as you finalize your dissertation proposal. You can then summarize your study in the proposal, as preliminary data to demonstrate that you can complete your proposed research (if the case of proof-of-concept or proof-of-method work), or as a rationale for the proposed research (in the case of a meta-analysis or literature review). This study will form the first chapter of your dissertation, and will demonstrate to the committee that you are capable of completing a study and writing it up. You can give the committee the manuscript of the study at the same time you submit the dissertation proposal to them.
Looking (far) ahead, you’ll want to have at least three publications to form the main body of your dissertation. Each publication will be a chapter. Your first study will form the first chapter. You’ll need at least two more chapters, then. These two chapters should either be empirical or modeling studies. For your dissertation proposal, if you propose one- or two-chapters-worth of future research, this will be enough at this stage. You can always add another chapter or two later, and these later chapters don’t need to have been included in your dissertation proposal.
The dissertation proposal should contain the following elements:
Project Summary (1 page):
This is essentially an abstract for your proposal. Be sure to specify the hypotheses you’ll be testing.
Main Body (4-8 pages) with the following sections:
Overview: A brief description of the general goals of the dissertation, including the conceptual framework. Specify your overarching hypothesis. Outline the design (e.g., “I will address this question by performing a meta-analysis on X, then conducting a field experiment examining Y, and then applying a laboratory experiment investigating Z.”).
Scientific significance of proposed work: This includes background information on the state of knowledge in this area, the existing gaps in this knowledge, and why it is important to fill these gaps.
Preliminary results: Here you summarize what you’ve found in your first study, and how it provides the context and motivation for your proposed work.
Detailed description of each proposed study: Address each proposed study sequentially. For each study, detail the specific hypotheses, the rationale for each specific hypotheses, and how you will test each hypothesis. Explain what data will be collected, the experimental design, and the methods for obtaining the data. Specify which statistical analyses you’ll use, and how you will interpret your results.
Finish with a paragraph describing how your anticipated results will change how we think about your field.
This format is very similar to that required for the NSF DDIG competition. It is a good idea to revise your dissertation proposal for submission to the NSF DDIG program after you advance. The deadline for the NSF program is early October of each year. Therefore, if you advance to candidacy at the very start of Fall Quarter, you should have enough time to make the revisions recommended by your committee and submit to NSF. To advance at the start of Fall Quarter, you’ll have to send your committee members your proposal no later than the start of September. This means that you’ll need to send Kathleen drafts of your proposal well ahead of time, so she can give you feedback. You’ll probably have to go through several iterations, so plan accordingly. In addition, it is a very good idea to talk with Kathleen about your hypotheses before you start writing, and to show Kathleen an outline of the proposal before you start a first draft.
The Advancement Exam
This is an oral exam that includes a presentation and question-and-answer period.
The most important thing to do is provide your committee members a polished, well-written, well-researched, and well-justified dissertation proposal at least two weeks before your advancement exam. This is 90% of the battle.
For the exam itself, schedule two hours. Prepare a 20-minute talk to give an overview of your proposed research. You don’t need to go into detail, because the committee will have already read your proposal. The talk is meant to give the committee members an opportunity to ask questions and provide feedback in an organized way. Be sure that you have sufficient depth of knowledge to answer any reasonable questions that will be brought up by the talk or proposal. The committee members can ask any question in the general field of your research, although they’ll usually stick to subjects immediately relevant to your dissertation proposal.
When you answer questions, start with as succinct a statement as you can manage, and then elaborate on it until it seems like the committee member is satisfied. You have to be sensitive to their facial expressions and body language to get an idea. If the committee member wants more information, they can ask for it after you’ve finished answering. If you don’t know the answer, say that you don’t know, and then give your best guess. That’s really all you can do. Make sure that you take notes when the committee members give you advice.
Some students are tempted to bring refreshments for the committee during their advancement exam. This is fine, but an elaborate spread can make the committee members feel uncomfortable. Something like a plate of cookies and a pot of coffee would be OK, but you need provide nothing more involved than that. If you didn’t bring anything, nobody would think twice about it. Essentially, faculty make decent salaries, and we serve on committees as part of our jobs. We don’t want to make students think they have to feed us– it just doesn’t seem right. A well-prepared proposal and talk will make us happier than any food could, so it’s better to allocate your effort accordingly.