Dissertation Journey

For additional guidance on writing and formatting the dissertation, please review the College of Doctoral Studies Dissertation Guide and Alignment Handbook and the APA Doctoral Dissertation Template.

Doctoral students continue working on research methods, designs, and content course assignments to develop a researchable problem or issue related to their degree program and career goals. Faculty members target feedback in content program courses on trends, best practices, and innovation in the field.

Students are encouraged to make the best use of each course assignment by using each course to dovetail and incorporate the research into the dissertation.

The expectation is that all coursework and assignments by independent and self-motivated doctoral students will apply to the development and enhancement of the dissertation. It is advisable to create a library file such as RefWorks  to store research articles from the coursework.

During program content courses, students should use each program content course to write about their topic. Before attending DOC/723, students should have a draft of Chapter 1 and Chapter 2. (Please see Phase 3 for more information on Chapter 2.)

During Phase 1 and 2, students should begin informal conversations with potential organizations to determine whether the research is of interest to the organization and determine the necessary organizational permissions. Students cannot begin recruitment and data collection until they get University of Phoenix’s Institutional Review Board (IRB) approval of the study. Review of students’ research by the IRB begins following Phase 4 and the start of Phase 5. Therefore, it is wise to start investigating potential venues for data collection during Phase 2.

Students should activate an IRB account at https://www.IRBNet.org  and access the forms and templates they will need to have prepared as appendices for their proposal and IRB submissions.  The forms and templates are accessed in the left menu after signing into IRBNet. The READ ME FIRST document in IRBNet provides an overview of what to include in the IRB application and what to expect in IRB reviews.

Students should review Create a Literature Review  and Reviewing the Literature  from the SAGE Project Planner to organize and write Chapter 2: Literature Review. Students should focus on developing the literature review as a critique, analysis, evaluation, and synthesis of historical and current literature and completed research on the topic.

During DOC/723, students and chairs focus on the Concept Review (or Chapter 2) of the dissertation proposal. Students can use previously written doctoral content and research course assignment materials focused on their topic (this is dovetailing).

DOC/723 is a writing-intensive course focused on developing Chapter 2, Concept Review. As a best practice, students should work on their Chapter 1 and 2 drafts (from DOC/715) while outside of class and before starting DOC/723.

During Phase 3, students should complete the Human Subjects Protection training required for all researchers before beginning their study. The University of Phoenix utilizes the online training program facilitated by Miami University. A CITI certificate is issued at the successful completion of the training modules and remains active for two years. To access training requirements, go to https://about.citiprogram.org/en/homepage/ .

Students should screenshot the TK20 approval and attach it to their IRB application.

Students should NOT wait until dissertation proposal approval to begin assembling their IRB applications and applicable research permissions. Students should familiarize themselves with the IRB process and review relevant guidance on how to gather permissions and submit their IRB packages throughout Phase 4.   Please note that while permissions to recruit can be gathered prior to IRB approval, the actual recruitment of participants cannot occur until after the IRB has approved.

For sites requiring a UOPX conditional approval, students should see the IRBNet.org guidance documents – Forms and Templates – on Conditional Approvals.

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office for Human Research Protections (ORHP) mandates IRBs in all organizations supporting research. It requires students and faculty members are certified in Human Rights protection.