It’s a marvelous question and one that actually has many facets. I’ll provide some initial thoughts, but I’ll also request that my colleagues chime in, as this a good example of where broader perspective and advice given will result in the “best” answer.

So first and foremost, it perhaps worth noting that at the dissertation stage, you are guided and supported by a three-member dissertation committee, chaired by a faculty member from your program specialization. The chair of the committee is your dissertation mentor and is a scholar-practitioner in your selected field. Complimented with the expertise and experience of the other two committee members, your research team would be a source of support and knowledge that would help ensure the quality closely follows those studies found in the scholarly literature of disciplines or fields of study elected.

While largely informed by your research questions, your committee/mentor will assist in guiding your selection and defense of a research design, method, and technique among competing alternatives that is appropriate for the rigor of a dissertation research study that contributes to your field’s cannon of knowledge. The research design, after all, is the outcome of a logical process for planning research. The design follows a careful articulation of the research problem, the purpose relative to the problem, and the information required to fulfill the purpose of the dissertation.

So first and foremost, terms of support, I’d say your dissertation mentor and committee are core to your success and the quality of your research conducted. In some cases, individual schools also have research faculty that may present a further source of expertise needed beyond the committee, but you would have no less than three faculty providing guidance and expertise at that stage.

Now, certainly, as scholars, we all have knowledge and research limitations. Another source of support I’d suggest would be the library staff. To your point, “preparing” to write the dissertation does require rigorous and thorough reading and analysis of the research previously published and relevant to your study. Whether at Capella or elsewhere, librarians, pound for pound, are often the single most knowledgeable experts when it comes to locating relevant materials and assisting you in thinking outside your own research patterns and behaviors. From my research experiences, if I couldn’t find the source I needed, the librarian often could. And if the librarian couldn’t, they were ready to help me with the inter-library loan resource to get it.

Another resource that comes to mind is the Research and Scholarship department. While perhaps more largely focused on the protection of human participants in research and responsible for the conduct of research, these folks do represent a wealth of information and support needed in addressing ethical questions, resources on federal guidelines for research integrity, or the IRB (Institutional Review Board) process. But, another exceptional resource and experienced experts on retainer.

Perhaps not to be overlooked, many of Capella’s doctoral programs have a residential colloquia requirement that provides you a face-to-face immersion in practicing and refining the skills needed to complete a Ph.D.

It is a wonderful question, Wolfgang. What I would offer, it good to recognize that no university (online or traditional, international or otherwise) will have all materials needed to complete a dissertation, just as no single scholar has the skills or resources needed to finish a dissertation on his or her own. Fortunately, the larger Academy, is quite open to assisting fellow scholars, whether you affiliated with their institution or not. Securing visitation rights at another institution is not uncommon and often, having access to a research library in your area can be extremely helpful. But dissertation is, absolutely, a collaborative effort and you need to make smart choices about surrounding yourself with individuals that will lessen your own deficiencies, but also teach you how to become a more effective, rigorous scholar-practitioner.

I hope this helps. Good question.

Jon

The by far most pressing question that needs to be cleared from my point of view before embarking on the adventure of a PhD program is the support and quality of online research facilities of Capella. Apart from those ubiquitous freely available internet resources preparing for and writing a dissertation requires rigorous research in specialized monographs (books), journals, magazines, conference proceedings and the like. Remote access to such research material is usually restricted and difficult to come by.

My concern is that Capella provides up to now no such information as to which scope of research material — as mentioned above — is made available to the online (and international) scholar.

Many thanks to an answer.
Wolfgang

The CITI training is a critical first step in the IRB process. As simple as it seems, the directions for registration are tricky, and require careful attention to detail.

You will need to create a new registration for yourself: you need a new user id and a new password. Please write down your user is and password – you will need this for the next 3 years. Of course, make sure and affiliate yourself with Capella, and fill in all of the necessary information asked for on the first registration pages (i.e. contact information).

Here is where it gets to the crux: you will be asked to select your curriculum. It will say “Select Curriculum – Capella University”. Then, it has Section 1 and says “Select the group appropriate to your research activities. You will be enrolled in the Basic Course for that group.” You need to select the group you belong to.

Group 1 – Faculty conducting research
Group 2 – Capella Administrators and Staff conducting research
Group 3 – School of Business
Group 4 – School of Education
Group 5 – School of Human Services
Group 6 – School of Psychology
Group 7 – School of Technology
IRB Reference Resource: You my view all CITI modules by enrolling in this group. This is for demonstration and reference purposes only. If you are required to complete the CITI course before conducting research with human subjects, please enroll in one of the Groups (1-7) listed above.

OK – so you are in Educational Psych, and therefore need to select Group 6 – School of Psychology. Next, the registration gives you Section 2 and states “Select the group for which you have previously completed an institutionally approved Basic Course in the Protection of Human Research Subjects.”

Robert, this one is easy! You have NOT ever previously completed an institutionally approved Basic Course, right? Right. So, you go all the way to the bottom of the selections, and check the box that says:

“I have not previously completed an approved Basic Course. Please go to question 1.”

The registration advises you to go back to question 1 because you have to ensure you have selected the correct Group for the Basic Course of training. I promise that if you follow the registration steps carefully, you will find the correct Basic Course and will be fine!

Remember a few other pointers for this training: once you go out of a module you can’t go backwards. So, if you don’t score at least an 80% on a quiz please do not go forward. Instead, go back and retake it! Also, the information on the Basic Course will be easier for you since you have done the refresher. Finally, once you are completed, it is a good idea to highlight, copy, and paste your completion certificate into a Word document that you can keep electronically for your IRB application later on.

I hope this helps!

Johnna Williams

Unfortunately, it’s not uncommon to see the adult learner face such challenges. After all, your responsibilities and competing priorities are partially why you’re here, yes? But you are right to acknowledge the University’s position on such matters and ensure you are responding appropriately and with knowledge. Nothing worse than moving forward without information and making false assumptions.

In this case, there are really three (possibly four) policies you’ll want to consider: Academic Standing (3.01.04), Dissertation Requirements (3.01.07), Policy Exceptions/Deviations (1.01.05), and possibly Maximum Time to Degree Completion (2.01.02).

Please excuse the novel-length of this response, but it a fairly complex question. So first, let’s look at the context/background of the situation.

Dissertation Requirements policy
Do be sure to fully understand what task, specifically, you are working on. From your reply, I would infer you are working towards Milestone 4 – Committee Approval of the Proposal and Milestone 5 – School Approval of the Proposal, but double check to make sure. It not uncommon that folks at Milestone 3 – Mentor Approval of Proposal, equate that as needing full committee approval (which would not be the case.)

Now assuming that your situation, Andrea, important to identify the University’s position on the matter.

Academic Standing policy
This is perhaps the most significant policy you should review, Andrea. In short, the University defines your good academic standing at the dissertation stage by the timely and successful completion of the dissertation milestone tasks. Non-compliance with this policy can lead to program dismissal, however, such an outcome is subject to University appeal. More on this in a moment.

Potentially, depending on your overall tenure in the program, there further bigger picture context, which is:

Maximum Time to Degree Completion policy
Which, short side, you have seven years in which to complete your degree, provided good academic standing of course. Given your proposal status, this may or may not be a variable, but worth noting.

Understanding the context now, you are able to look at options. For purposes here, let us just assume you will not meet your deadline, yes? Options then become:

Option 1
You prepare for Academic Standing dismissal. We accept that your interest is to continue, so accepting such a dismissal outcome is rejected as a viable option, so you proceed with preparing a University appeal. In this case, you would be appealing to the University’s Director of Learner Affairs. If this option explored, I would encourage you to consult your academic advisor, as University appeals are subtly different than a School appeal. While your advisor cannot advocate for you or your school in such matters, s/he can provide you assistance in preparing your appeal so that you are moving forward with your strongest case and rationale.

Some general advice, the strongest appeals are those that effectively tell your story, acknowledge both parties’ positions, but also have a strong and thoughtful plan for how you will finish the task. Appeals that do not acknowledge the past tenure and performance or fail to plan beyond the appeal itself or dismiss the University’s position and policies do not fare as well.

The Director’s decision is not subject to further appeal.

Option 2
A second option, is to consider the University’s Exceptions/Deviations policy. In this case, let’s say your final extension expires. Again, we acknowledge the University’s Academic Standing policy, but believe there sufficient rationale to justify your school setting aside this policy towards approving a further extension. Now, important to know, any time you petition a school to set aside a University policy, the school has to consider not only the individual’s circumstances and rationale, but must also consider the impact to the entire organization. That is, how would setting this policy aside impact other dissertation learners in your school and dissertation learners in other schools? Does this set a precedent that the University is willing and able to support?

But the short of it, Andrea, this is perhaps your best option. I would again recommend you talk with your advisor to prepare such a petition (make sure you’re putting forth your strongest case with a plan that is both feasible and realistic.) Certainly doesn’t hurt to try and the worst outcome, you then preserve Option 1 as a back up.

I hope this helps, Andrea.

I have come a long way and I have been working very hard on my dissertation proposals but I do not think it will be approved by the board before my final extension expires. I need to know what Capellas academic policies are and what course of action students can take concerning not meeting time requirements for final extensions. Thank you

Andrea