Quantitative Psychology

Evaluation

Students who enter without a master's thesis are required to complete a master's degree, usually during the first two years. (For students entering with a master's degree, decisions about the acceptability of the student's previously completed thesis in satisfying our thesis requirement will be made on a case-by-case basis.) At the end of the second year a decision regarding each student's continuation in the program will be made by the faculty, on the basis of their portfolio and general performance up to that time.

Students who continue in the program beyond the second year are expected to satisfactorily complete the Ph.D. written comprehensive examination during their third year. Students who satisfactorily complete the exam will be considered for admission to candidacy for the Ph.D. degree.

Portfolio

Students in the Quantitative Psychology training program are expected to develop a portfolio containing evidence of their competencies and experiences in the program. The portfolio is developed incrementally over the student's first three years in the program. It is reviewed by the entire faculty of the program at the end of each academic year. Note, however, that the portfolio is not judged to be passing or failing. Rather, it is designed to help the faculty guide the student in the development of the student's career. With this in mind, the faculty will provide the student with feedback about the portfolio. The contents of the portfolio are:

Study Plan: A plan for the student's course of study. The first draft of this plan is developed during the first semester of the first year with assistance from the student's advisor; the plan should be in the portfolio by April 1st of the first year. The plan includes a general statement of research interests and professional goals, and a proposed set of coursework and research experience to help meet these goals. The plan is revised each year and is reviewed by the faculty at the end of each year.

Courses Taken/to be Taken: A list of the courses taken or planned should be included in the portfolio and brought up to date by April 1st of each year. These courses should meet the course requirements given elsewhere.

Curriculum Vitae: By April 1st of the second year the student should have prepared, with assistance from the student's faculty advisor, a curriculum vitae. It should be revised by April 1st of each succeeding year.

Computer Experience: Students should include materials in their portfolio providing evidence of their competence with a high-level programming language such as C, Lisp, FORTRAN, SAS/IML, MatLab, Mathematica, etc., and a statistical package such as SAS, S, SPSS, Systat, etc. Such evidence should begin accumulating by April 1st of the first year.

Teaching Experience: When appropriate, students should include a list of courses taught, with course evaluations and any letters from the departmental chair. Additional relevant materials, such as a list of teaching seminars, workshops, etc., or a statement of personal teaching philosophy, should be included.

Research Experience: Students should include materials in their portfolio providing evidence of their experience with research in Quantitative Psychology. This evidence may include co-authored published papers or submitted manuscripts; research reports or summaries of research in which the student has participated; description or documentation of major software developed by the student; presentation of results at conferences, etc. Such evidence should begin accumulating by April 1st of the second year.

Published/publishable papers: There should be at least one substantial scholarly document primarily of the student's authorship (but not necessarily sole authorship). Plans/outlines for this paper should be in the portfolio by April 1st of the second year, and the paper itself, with evidence of submission to an appropriate journal, should be in the portfolio by April 1st of the third year.

Portfolio Review: The portfolio of each student is reviewed by the entire faculty at the end of each academic year as part its annual review of student progress. Each student will be provided with a written report, with suggestions on how the portfolio should evolve over the next year.

Schedule: The first draft of the study plan is developed during the first semester with assistance from the student's advisor. By April 1st of each year, the relevant portions of the portfolio should be provided to the program director for review by the quantitative faculty.

Structure of Comprehensive Exams in Quantitative Psychology (Effective May 1, 2003)

Comprehensive exams are normally completed during the third year of graduate study. The process begins with designation of a Comprehensive Exam Committee composed of at least 3 faculty members from the Quantitative Psychology Program. Additional committee members may be from other programs or departments. (Note that this committee does not necessarily have the same membership as the Dissertation Committee.) In consultation with the adviser and other committee members, the student will select three topic areas of interest for in-depth study. The student will then generate a reading list for each topic area that will include relevant books and journal articles. The lists should be as complete as possible covering the relevant literature, both historical and current. The reading lists must be developed in consultation with the adviser and committee members, and must be officially approved by each committee member. Once reading lists are approved, the student takes an appropriate amount of time to study the material on the lists. This would most typically involve a period of about 3 months, but shall not exceed 6 months.

At a time arranged by the student and adviser, the student will then complete a take-home exam. The exam will include questions on each of the three topic areas, and the student will have 30 days to complete the exam. The adviser solicits questions from committee members, and questions are contributed by at least three committee members. While working on the exam, the student may consult any source except for people. The student may, however, discuss questions with committee members. At the end of the 30-day exam period, the student submits the completed exam to the adviser. The exam will then be evaluated on a pass-fail basis by the committee members. The pass-fail evaluation is based on overall performance; in theory it would be possible to fail part of the exam but to pass the exam as a whole. A unanimous positive vote by the committee is required to pass the exam. The student will be informed of the outcome within 14 days of completion of the take-home exam. During that period individual committee members have the option of meeting with the student to ask questions of clarification regarding the student's written responses.

As mandated by the Graduate School, if a student fails the exam he or she is allowed to retake the exam one time after a waiting period of at least three months. A second failure disqualifies the student from further graduate training at UNC.

Successful completion of the exam means that the student is ready to begin work on the formal dissertation proposal.