Handbook for Doctoral Students in Education/Defending Dissertation Proposal

Faculty and students preparing for a dissertation proposal may want to consider the following questions:

1. Between the comprehensive exams and proposal hearing, how have the research interests and questions changed, and how have they remained consistent? How aware are committee members of these shifts in substance?
2. How can each of us express our confidence in the professional choice of this study as the beginning of a research agenda?
3. How confident are participants (including committee members and the doctoral candidate) that the candidate is working with researchable questions?
4. How confident are participants that the candidate is ready to collect the right kind of data that will help answer the research questions?
5. How can we help the candidate move smoothly toward data collection and analysis?
6. How do committee members see their roles in consulting with the candidate when the proposal is accepted?
7. How would committee members like to push on the candidate at the hearing to make revisions in chapters 1-3 between an accepted proposal and the dissertation defense, revisions that would increase the quality and professional significance of the study?