THE DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY PROGRAM
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....Earn the highest degree in the
social work profession – The Ph.D.
The Doctor of Philosophy degree is awarded by The Catholic University of America as the mark of the
highest academic achievement in preparation for active scholarship, research, and leadership in the social work profession. The doctoral program is committed to imbuing students with the knowledge, skills, and vision to promote human rights and social justice. It seeks to further the development of the profession through scholarly research, theory building, and leadership, so that it may increasingly serve society in the prevention, intervention, and ultimate alleviation of social problems as well as in the enhancement of social well-being.
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Ph.D Program Goals
Grounded in the content of the curriculum, doctoral graduates are prepared to:
(1) Contribute to the critique, transformation, and dissemination of knowlege for the
profession in response to existing and emerging social problems.
(2) Apply humanistic values, ethical principles, and philosophical and theoretical
perspectives to the understanding and alleviation of these problems.
(3) Promote and enhance the role of social work in society by assuming leadership and
research roles in clinical practice, administration, social policy analysis, and social work
education.
Ph.D. IN SOCIAL WORK COURSE OF STUDY
introduction
Building upon the earned Master of Social Work degree, the doctoral program requires an
additional forty-eight semester hours of course work. Completing coursework is compoaed of seventeen required courses, two electives, and the capstone is the dissertation.
PhD CURRICULUM 2009-2010 (revised 12/09)
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Full Time |
Part Time |
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Summer |
Fall |
Spring |
Summer |
Fall |
Spring |
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1 |
945 Foundation Statistics &Research |
940 History & Philosophy
947 Statistics I
930 Grand/Classical Theories
981 Scholarly Writing |
948 Statistics II
950 Research
931 Contemporary/ MidRange Theories |
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940 History & Philosophy
930 Grand/Classical Theories
981 Scholarly Writing
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950 Research
931 Contemporary/
MidRange Theories
945 Foundation Statistics & Research (completed fall)
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2 |
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953 Advanced Research
890 Policy
944 Ethics
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946 Social Justice
955 Advanced Qualitative Research
956 Advanced Quantitative Research |
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947 Statistics I
944 Ethics
890 Policy
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948 Statistics II
946 Social Justice
Elective 1 |
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3 |
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913 Integrative Seminar
Elective 1
Elective 2 |
Comprehensive Exam |
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Elective 2
953 Research II
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956 Advanced Quantitative Research
955 Advanced Qualitative Research |
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4 |
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913 Integrative Seminar |
Comprehensive Exam |
* completed online prior to beginning of semester
. The Coursework
Committed to the elaboration of the scientific base of the profession, the required coursework includes a preparatory foundation in writing and in research methodology and statistics. Other required courses cover the history and philosophy of the profession, the theory and policy undergirding social work, and advanced research methods and statistics. Within the framework of each required course, papers and assignments are tailored to each student’s desired focus on a chosen field, method, or other specific content. The two elective courses provide the opportunity to deepen knowledge of these individualized interests. The course work culminates in an integrative seminar.
A. Foundation: New students refresh masters level research knowledge and establish the foundations of doctoral level research methods and statistics in the two credit Foundations of Statistics and Research (SSS 945). This course is completed online prior to the beginning of the first semester for full-time students or the beginning of the second semester for part-time students. The foundation is completed with a one-credit writing course that helps the MSW practitioner move from professional to scholarly writing (SSS 981, Seminar in Scholarly Writing for Social Work) taken during the first semester of doctoral study. Both foundation courses are graded pass/fail.
B. History and Philosophy: In their first semester, all students take SSS 940, The History and Philosophy of Social Work. This course grounds the overall curriculum within twentieth century movements for social justice and change, the fundamental components of a profession, and the epistemologies for knowledge development within the social work profession.
C. Theory and Policy: Courses in theory include those of classical and contemporary descriptive and explanatory theories that are derived from other disciplines and reformulated and integrated into the knowledge base of social work (SSS 930, Classical/Grand Theories for Understanding the Social Environment and SSS 931, Contemporary/Mid-Range Theories for Understanding the Person-in-Environment). The value base of the profession is explored in Theoretical Frame for Ethical Decision Making and Knowledge Development (SSS 944) and Theories of Social Justice (SSS 946). Knowledge and analysis of the policies that empower and constrain the profession are presented in Advanced Policy Analysis (SSS 890).
D. Research Methods and Statistics: Doctoral level social workers are both consumers and producers of research. The foundation research course (SSS 945) is followed by two semesters of statistical methods for analysis of quantitative data (SSS 947 and 948, Multivariate Statistics and Design I and II). The fundamentals of both quantitative and qualitative methodologies are presented over two semesters in SSS 950 and 953. These courses are followed by advanced courses in the epistemological background of and the gathering and appropriate analysis of both quantitative and qualitative data (SSS 955 and 956, Advanced Qualitative Methodology and Advance Quantitative Methodology).
E. Electives: Students complete their doctoral coursework with 6 credit hours of individually chosen electives. These may focus on a field of practice, population, problem, or other such area that will provide a focus for the dissertation. Examples include health, mental health, child welfare, child and family, community development, spirituality, ethics, aging, international development, social work education, or poverty. These courses may be taken at NCSSS, elsewhere at CUA, in the Washington Consortium of Universities, or in another accredited university graduate program. Of these two, only one may be an independent study; the other must be a formal course.
F. Integrative Seminar: The curriculum culminates in an integrative seminar (SSS 913 Integration of Knowledge for Social Work). In this course, students will integrate knowledge of existing theoretical and empirical literature regarding the explanation of or intervention with a particular issue or problem. The course will enable students to think deeply, critically, and creatively about the complexity of their chosen issue or problem and be prepared to take their comprehensive exams and pursue their dissertation research.
II. The Written Comprehensive Exam
In order to be admitted to doctoral candidacy, an NCSSS doctoral student must successfully pass the written comprehensive examination. Students must formally register with the university for the Doctoral Comprehensive Exam. (See CUA Class Schedule for appropriate registration number and procedure).
To be eligible to sit for the written comprehensive, the student must have completed their 48 hours of coursework. The two-day written exam is given during the university comprehensive period of the fall or spring semester (see: http://registrar.cua.edu/calendar/). The purpose of these comprehensive exams is to assess the student's ability to organize and integrate knowledge through clear and comprehensively formulated answers during set time limits. The exam will test specifically all required content. Students may add their own elective content as appropriate to inform their answers. On the first day, students are examined on application of theory to practice. The second day focuses on application of theory to research. Both days are designed to reflect the individualized interest of the student.
A. Grading: Although consisting of two parts, the written exam is regarded as one entity that must be satisfactorily passed in one sitting. The written exam is graded pass, marginal, or fail. A clear pass requires no oral exam. If one or both days are considered marginal, an oral exam on the content of both days is required to determine if the exam is a pass or a fail. If one or both days are failed, there will be no oral exam, and the student fails and must re-take the entire exam.
The doctoral chair will assign two members of the faculty to read each day’s exam. If both graders agree on the grade (pass, marginal, or fail), that grade stands. If the two graders disagree on the grade, the chair will ask a third reader. If two graders ultimately agree that a day’s exam is marginal, an oral exam is required. The chair will assign three members of the faculty to conduct the oral. Following the oral, each examiner will assign a grade of pass or fail. If the three agree that the student passed the oral exam, the student will have successfully completed the comprehensive. If two or three grade the oral as fail, the student fails the comprehensive and must re-take the entire exam during the next university scheduled time. A student who incurs two failures in the written comprehensive examination will be dismissed from the doctoral program. After beginning the written comprehensive examination, whether taking the exam for the first time or re-taking because of failure, a student may choose to withdraw from the examination process with no failure penalty. However, a student is limited to withdrawing only once.
V. The Dissertation
For admission to candidacy for the doctoral degree, the student must have successfully completed 45 or more credit hours of course work, and passed the written comprehensive examination. Upon completion of these requirements, the student is officially admitted to candidacy on the first day of the following semester. The candidate must submit a dissertation proposal within two years of acceptance into candidacy. Between the time of admission to candidacy and completion of the doctoral dissertation, the student must maintain continuous enrollment by registering each semester for Dissertation Guidance.
A. Introduction
The capstone of the Ph.D. Program at NCSSS, production of a scholarly dissertation, distinguishes the doctoral degree from all other educational attainments in the social work profession. At its best, the process encourages original thinking, evaluative questioning, in-depth objectivity and scholarly independence. Built upon a historical perspective, relevant theory, and empirical research, the dissertation fulfills several major functions. It is a production of original research and scholarship that makes a substantive contribution to existing knowledge and to the social work profession. The dissertation involves a process that demonstrates the candidate's mastery of research methodology. Specifically, it requires ability to address an important professional problem, to use research methodology and tools, to organize the findings, and to report them in scholarly fashion.
The dissertation is the candidate's original contribution to the development of social work practice, social welfare policy or social welfare administration. In addition, the dissertation demonstrates the candidate's capability of making future contributions to knowledge. During the dissertation process value is placed on learning to identify an important problem area, learning research skills, learning how to present and interpret data and learning to organize and communicate scholarly research findings. The process encourages original thinking, evaluating, questioning, in-depth objectivity and scholarly independence. The dissertation project however, should not be so inclusive, extensive, or open-ended that it cannot be completed within a reasonable length of time
A candidate has a five-year limit in which to complete the dissertation. If a candidate fails to maintain continuous enrollment and/or fails to complete the dissertation within the five-year limit, he or she must formally reapply to the university. According to University policy, a person may not be readmitted to candidacy until he or she again passes the written and oral comprehensive examination that is currently administered by the school.
B. Selecting a Doctoral Dissertation Committee
Doctoral dissertation committees are generally composed of three members who are knowledgeable about the content and methodology of the candidate’s chosen topic. On occasion, it is more appropriate to include four members. The candidate first approaches an Ordinary or Associate Professor and seeks their agreement to serve in the capacity of chair of the committee and director of the dissertation. The candidate then selects and seeks the agreement of the other members, or readers, with the concurrence of the major professor.
The director and at least one member of the committee must be regular NCSSS faculty. The student may select an appropriate third or forth member from outside the school or university. All committee members must have an earned doctorate degree. Any member who is not on the CUA faculty must submit a current vita to the Chair of the Doctoral program.
Once a committee has been selected, the candidate seeks approval of the constitution of his/her committee by the Doctoral Program Chair and the Dean.
C. Doctoral Dissertation Proposal
In order to assure the quality of dissertations projects, a candidate may not embark on dissertation research until a proposal, the “two-pager,” and related documents have been approved by the candidate's committee, the NCSSS Proposal Review Committee, the Dean of NCSSS, the Dean of Graduate Studies and the Committee for the Protection of Human Subjects. Approval by the university must be received no later than two years after admission to candidacy and the dissertation must be completed no later than five years after being admitted to candidacy.
VII. Completion of Requirements for the Degree and Graduation
Once the dissertation has been deposited, the candidate will be recommended for graduation to the appropriate reviewing bodies. Early in the candidate’s final semester, s/he must complete the self-service diploma application on Cardinal Station, indicating the name exactly as it is to appear on the diploma. The University Schedule of Classes includes information on the deadline for submission of the diploma application.
Students graduate in January, May and October. However, the university holds commencement exercises only in May. Students graduating the previous October and January are welcome to participate in the following May commencement exercises, but only students who have completed all program requirements may participate in commencement. At commencement exercises, the university awards a diploma to each student who has fulfilled all requirements and upon whom a degree is, therefore, conferred.
Last Revised 04-Jan-10 02:13 PM.
