[Title of your Document]

[Your Name]

A Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of

The Chicago School of Professional Psychology

In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements

For the Degree of Doctor [of Philosophy in Psychology/of Psychology]

[Month, day, 2012]

Unpublished Work

Copyright [year] by [Your Name Here]

All Rights Reserved

[Title of your Document]

A Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of

The Chicago School of Professional Psychology

In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements

For the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Psychology

[Your Name Here]

[year]

Approved By:

Type Committee Chair's First and Last Name, Choose One, ChairpersonType Member's Title

Type Member's First and Last Name, Choose One, MemberType Member's Title

Type Member's First and Last Name,Choose One, MemberType Member's Title

Permission to Reproduce Copyrighted Material

I am grateful to Robert James and Jane Allen for permission to reproduce their protocol,

the Hypnotic Induction Technique Protocol (Copyright 1990; New York: R. James & J. Allen).

I wish to express my gratitude to author Heidi Alletz and Sage Publishing for allowing

me to reproduce Table 3, “Recent Studies of Hypnotically Enhanced Memory,” from page 426-

447 of the book Under the Influence: Hypnosis in the Courtroom (Copyright 1991; New York:

Sage Publishing).

See letters of permission in Appendix A.

Acknowledgements

Your acknowledgements will be paragraph indented, 12 pt. Times New Roman, and

spaced 0 pt. double to align with the rest of the document. Committee members are typically

recognized here as well as family, friends, and others who helped support you through the

dissertation or graduate school experience. This page is optional.

Dedication

As with the acknowledgements, this page will have paragraph indents, fit within the

margins, and be in 12 pt. Times New Roman. This page is optional.

Abstract

Although ProQuest does not have a maximum allowable word count, APA suggests 150-250

words (APA p. 27). You will work with your chair to determine length of the abstract. As

guidance, you can aim to have an abstract that will fit on one page using the set margins (1” all

the way around) and 12 pt. Times New Roman font, 0 pt. double spacing. The abstract is in block

format (no paragraph indents). All numbers within the abstract are figures (APA p. 111) and

avoid having your research questions presented as questions (although it is fine to reword to

statements). Include theoretical or conceptual framework, findings, conclusions, and significance

of the study. Do not include citations. Do not include keywords.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1: Nature of the Study............................................................................................1

Background......................................................................................................................1

Problem Statement...........................................................................................................1

Purpose of the Study........................................................................................................1

Research Questions and Hypotheses................................................................................1

Theoretical/Conceptual Framework.................................................................................2

Scope of the Study...........................................................................................................4

Definition of Key Terms..................................................................................................4

Significance of the Study.................................................................................................4

Summary..........................................................................................................................5

Chapter 2: Literature Review...............................................................................................6

Introduction......................................................................................................................6

Research Strategy.............................................................................................................6

First Main Topic...............................................................................................................6

Subtopic Here...............................................................................................................6

Subtopic Here...............................................................................................................7

Summary and Transition..................................................................................................7

Chapter 3: Research Design and Method............................................................................9

Chapter Overview............................................................................................................9

Research Questions and/or Hypotheses and their Rationales..........................................9

Research Design...............................................................................................................9

i

Population and Sample...................................................................................................10

Procedures......................................................................................................................10

Validity...........................................................................................................................10

Instrumentation..............................................................................................................10

Data Processing..............................................................................................................10

Assumptions...................................................................................................................11

Limitations.....................................................................................................................11

Ethical Assurances.........................................................................................................11

Summary........................................................................................................................12

Chapter 4: Findings............................................................................................................13

Introduction....................................................................................................................13

Pilot Study......................................................................................................................13

Setting............................................................................................................................13

Demographics................................................................................................................13

Results............................................................................................................................13

Chapter Summary..........................................................................................................15

Chapter 5: Discussion and Conclusions............................................................................16

Introduction....................................................................................................................16

Interpretation of Findings...............................................................................................16

Recommendations..........................................................................................................16

Implications....................................................................................................................16

Conclusion.....................................................................................................................16

References..........................................................................................................................18

ii

Appendix A: The Title of the Appendix goes here............................................................19

Appendix B: Title for the Appendix goes here..................................................................20

iii

List of Tables

Table 1. A Sample Table, Title Case...............................................................................................9

iv

List of Figures

Figure 1. Figure caption, sentence case.............................................................................77

v

1

Chapter 1: Nature of the Study

Background

The background section should be 2-3 pages of information that will (a) introduce your

topic to the reader, (b) establish that the topic is important, and (c) tie the topic to the literature.

Ideally, the theoretical lens such as constructivism, feminism, transformative

framework/perspective, critical theory, and so on will be addressed as well. Ensure that all

assertions are well supported with citations.

Problem Statement

Clearly define the problem that prompted the study. Use citations to support facts,

statistics, and assertions. Include your rationale for choosing the problem. The problem statement

is most successful when it is intensely focused on the problem, which means a paragraph or two

is usually sufficient. Keep in mind that a gap in the literature typically is not the strongest

problem (or all studies would have the same problem!). The gap in the literature should, instead,

support the problem.

Purpose of the Study

Clearly define the purpose of the study. What purpose will your findings have? For what

purpose are you undertaking the study? Why are you collecting data? Describe the general

purpose of the study, the sample, and how you will examine the phenomenon by stating the

specific research approach, proposed participants, and location/setting. The Purpose of the Study

section should be no more than one page in length.

Research Questions and Hypotheses

For quantitative studies present your research questions and hypotheses in a

corresponding manner. For instance:

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Research Question1: Do writing groups affect the time to completion for dissertation

writers?

H11: Writing groups do affect the time to completion for dissertation writers.

Research Question 2: Do writing groups affect graduation rates for students in the social

sciences?

H12: Writing groups do affect graduation rates for students in the social sciences.

You will work with your chair and methodologist to determine how best to present your

questions and hypotheses.

There are no hypotheses with qualitative studies. Instead, simply present the research

question (or questions) and any subquestions that stem from it. Qualitative questions should be

open-ended and exploratory in nature. A typical presentation of qualitative questions is a brief

paragraph presenting the main question followed by the subquestions in a seriated list. For

example:

The overall question guiding this study was: What are the perceptions of dissertation

writers as they begin to revise their proposals? The study was further grounded by two

subquestions:

1. How do dissertators feel about revision?

2. In what ways do dissertators energize themselves to write?

You will work with your chair to draft and revise your research questions until they are a

strong basis for inquiry.

Theoretical/Conceptual Framework

Select a theoretical framework (quantitative) or conceptual framework (qualitative) that is

aligned with your proposed topic. This framework will assist you with responding to the research

3

questions, as well as help you analyze your results. Although the theoretical/conceptual

framework should also be aligned with your methodology, it is separate from the methodology

and should be used to ground your study.

Literature citations are essential in this section. For quantitative studies, you will present

a theoretical framework—showing the reader in which theories your study is grounded in. Keep

in mind that this is an introduction and detailed information will be presented in the literature

review.

Qualitative studies have a conceptual framework: theories, models, and ideas that will

ground your study. Again, this is an introduction to these concepts as more detailed information

will be presented in your literature review.

Steps to follow when developing your theoretical or conceptual framework:

1. Clearly state the phenomenon you want to address in your study.

2. Search and review theories, concepts, or models that explain some part (if not all) of

your study.

3. Take note of the strengths and limitations of the theories, concepts, or models in

terms of which best explain the phenomenon or aspects of the phenomenon.

4. Put the pieces of the theories, concepts, and/or models together with the aim of

explaining or describing the phenomenon or aspects of the phenomenon.

5. After synthesizing, you may identify/create a theory you would want to test or you

may recognize a gap (i.e., unexplained phenomenon or aspects of the phenomenon),

which your study would attempt to fill.

6. If possible, create a diagram to show the relationship among the various concepts,

theories, and/or models.

4

Scope of the Study

Declare those characteristics that limit the scope of the inquiry. For example, decisions

made throughout the development of the proposal such as the choice of objectives and questions,

areas of interest, and other theoretical perspectives that could have been adopted, and so on.

Who will your participants be, where will they be from?

Definition of Key Terms

Alphabetical. List your terms following this format in alphabetical order. Terms will be

those that are unique to your study or uniquely used in your study.

Supported. Most of the terms will need to be supported with a citation. The exception, of

course, is if you are operationalizing a term specific to your study. Say, for instance, that you

need to define old in your study as anyone age 90 years and older. Note that all citations should

come from the peer reviewed literature. Dictionaries are not used.

Uncommon. If using a common definition then there is no need to include the term in this

list. Theories will not be included, Acts of Congress will not be included, neither will models nor

commonly used terms related to methodology.

Significance of the Study

When writing the significance of the study, think of your findings. Who will care about

the findings? Who will be interested to learn of your work? How might these findings make an

impact on these individuals? How might your findings further the ongoing academic dialogue?

Try not to be too grandiose in these thoughts and instead think of the individuals who might be

affected and how, organizing the section around the significance of the research, policy, and

practice. Aim to present three solid examples of how this study and its findings bear significance.

Summary

5

In two or three paragraphs, summarize the main points of this section and transition into

the following sections. Explain how the document is organized (Chapter 2 will present literature

related to writing groups and dissertation writing services. Chapter 3 will present a detailed look

at multiple case studies and how this methodology was used to investigate the efficacy of writing

groups). For the proposal, you may end here. For the final document, you will come back and

add reference to Chapters 4 and 5.

6

Chapter 2: Literature Review

Introduction

Here is where you will include a brief introduction—not much is needed because you just

spent an entire chapter introducing your topic! Aim for keeping the introduction here to a page or

less. Explicitly state the topics that will be covered in the review, using your APA level headings

to organize this statement. In other words, your main topics, or headings (Level 1), should be

noted in this statement. Then, you can lead right into your research strategy. Keep in mind that

this chapter serves as a “report” of what other researchers have already found and discussed

regarding your subject. Therefore, the literature should be reported in a way that compares,

contrasts, and analyzes what is found in the existing body of literature.

Research Strategy

Include your research strategy here. What databases were used? What key terms were

used? It might also make sense to say how many articles these searches produced and then how

you decided to use the articles you did. You need to include enough information that your reader

could easily replicate your search and find the same articles. Note that some of you might decide

to combine the research strategy with the introduction under one heading, which is just fine, too.

First Main Topic

Begin with the body of your literature review, organizing by main topics. Work to

include at least two (ideally more!) sources per paragraph. Try to avoid single-source paragraphs

and quotes.

Subtopic Here

One funny rule with APA style is that you will not move down to the next heading level

(as we have done here), unless you have two or more headings at that level. If you find yourself

7

with only one subtopic, you can consider adding a second subtopic, removing the subtopic

altogether, or moving the subtopic heading to a main topic, instead.

Subtopic Here

The second subtopic that falls under the same umbrella (main topic) as the last will begin

here, then. Note that only the chapter titles and heading levels 1 and 2 are in the table of contents.

Summary and Transition

Within the summary you can point out the gap in the literature, or make that a separate

section before the summary and transition. Other things you can include (and your chair might

require you include) in the literature review is a more robust look at your theoretical or

conceptual framework. If yours is a quantitative study, your chair might require that you research

and organize based on your variables.

No two literature reviews are alike—this is truly your chance to contribute some original

thought on existing research. Most literature reviews must, though, have the goal of analysis and

synthesis of recent (mostly within the last 5 years), peer-reviewed literature. This chapter is

typically around 40 pages and includes at least 100 sources, although there is not set requirement

for either the number of pages or sources. Although these are general guidelines, your chair will

provide the best direction for your individual study.

8

Chapter 3: Research Design and Method

Chapter Overview

To open the chapter you can begin by referring back to the purpose of the study, taking

care to align with the statement in Chapter 1 but avoiding word-for-word repetition. Outline the

major sections of this chapter, giving enough detail so that the introduction is unique to your

study (that is: go beyond simply listing the headings).

Research Questions and/or Hypotheses and their Rationales

For qualitative studies, reintroduce your research questions in a narrative, tying them to

your problem statement. For quantitative studies, reintroduce your research questions and

hypotheses, along with the rationales for the hypotheses. For mixed methods studies, clearly

identify which questions are qualitative in nature and which are quantitative in nature. Including

subheadings (Level 2) for “Qualitative Research Questions” and “Quantitative Research

Questions” might be the best way to organize. Regardless of your methodology, try to present

the questions in alignment with the presentation in Chapter 1.

Listing interview questions is not typical (it is usually thought best to keep the research

and interview questions separate), but you might decide with your chair to show the alignment

between the two types of questions.

Research Design

Identify the research design and its connection to the research questions. Provide a

rationale for the research tradition chosen. This needs to go beyond why you chose qualitative

over quantitative or vice versa. Explain why you chose the specific qualitative or quantitative

tradition or research paradigm over others.

Population and Sample

9

Identify the population and the sampling method used. Explain the inclusion criteria and

then take care to justify the size of the sample. If quantitative in nature, mention the calculating

tool used to determine the sample size. If qualitative in nature, explain your rationale for the

number of participants.

Procedures

Describe your proposed procedures in detail, beginning with recruiting procedures,

including data collection tools or strategies used, how this data will be collected, and any follow-

up planned with participants. If you plan to conduct a pilot study, describe this in detail and how

it will inform your main study.

Validity

Describe all threats to the validity of the study. If qualitative, describe how you plan to

ensure credibility, dependability, confirmability, and transferability. If quantitative, describe in

detail threats to internal and external validity.

Instrumentation

If quantitative in nature, name your data collection instrument, where and how it has been

used, and how the validity and reliability were established. If qualitative in nature, describe any

researcher-created or established tools and the rationale for using them. For qualitative

researchers, include your role as the researcher and how you plan to control any biases.

Data Processing

Identify any software that will be used in the analysis of your data. Describe, in detail, the

strategy or strategies proposed for organizing and analyzing data collected.

Assumptions

10

The assumptions are related to the mechanics of your study. What about your study is not

discoverable so you had to assume to be true? If interviewing participants, you must assume that

they are answering honestly, so this is a major assumption. You must also assume they are

participating willingly. All researchers must also assume that their chosen methodology is the

most appropriate for their investigation. What also are you unable to discover so must assume in

order to conduct your study? Some chairs allow for numbered lists—usually researchers list

about three assumptions, although there is no set minimum or maximum.

Limitations

Limitations are elements of your study that are outside of your control. Is there a

weakness in the design? Are there uncontrollable biases? For many, one limitation in the

proposal is the possibility of not having access to participants or not being able to recruit enough

participants to satisfy the minimum sample size. Unlike the scope and delimitations where you

get to explain all the things you had control over as the researcher (setting, participants,

timeframe, this is where you can describe the things you could not control and what you plan to

do to address these issues.

Ethical Assurances

How do you plan to ensure the ethical protection of your participants? Explain your

recruitment strategy, consent form, any Institutional Review Board permissions that will be

needed, whether participants will be confidential or anonymous, and how you plan to protect the

data collected. Note that participants are considered confidential if you know their identities but

do not share them (through the use of descriptors or pseudonyms). Participants are considered

anonymous if even you are unaware of their identity. For these reasons, you will not have

participants who are both confidential and anonymous.

11

Summary

Summarize the entire chapter, which will go just beyond restating the headings. Plan for a

paragraph or two that briefly walks your reader through the highlights of each section. Your

reader should be able to read your summary and know your methodology, instrument, data

collection and analysis plan, and other aspects that will be unique to your study.

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Chapter 4: Findings

Introduction

In Chapter 4 you will present your findings. As each researcher’s findings will be

different, there is no template or set guideline for Chapter 4. What is presented here is simply for

you to consider. To begin, an introduction with an overview of the chapter is always a nice place

to start.

Pilot Study

If you conducted a pilot study, it makes sense to start here describing these efforts to the

reader. What steps were taken? How did the pilot study affect your research? If you did not

complete a pilot study, then you can remove this section and move on to the next.

Setting

You might wish to include what the setting was and whether there were influences that

affected your data collection.

Demographics

Some researchers prefer to share the demographics here, before the data analysis and

interpretation begin. Others simply integrate the information throughout the chapter.

Results

For qualitative studies it is likely that your findings will be presented in quotes, often in

block quotes. Keep in mind that quotes 40 words or more will be in block format:

Block format is used for quotes 40 words or more and the text is one half inch indented

on the left, no quotation marks are used, and the punctuation for the sentence will go

before any citation that might be included. (Participant 1)

The quotes are your data, thus you will not cite your participants as personal

communication. Also, because your transcribed interviews are your own personal intellectual

13

property, do not include full transcripts in the appendices. You might wish to include a one or

two page sample, instead.

For qualitative studies, your findings will likely be presented in tables or figures. These

are two options with APA style: tables or figures. They must strictly adhere to APA style

requirements. Here is a link that will help you to construct an APA style table:

http://screencast.com/t/mX37XGhtt1q0

Table 1

Title of the Table in Italics

Number Total

Men 42 653

Women 62 241

Tables can be as low as single spaced and font size can go as low as 8 pt. font, although

Times New Roman should always be used. Note that table numbers and titles go before the table,

while the opposite is true for figures (see Figure 1).

Figure 1. Sample figure.

Although color can be used, grey scale is preferred whenever possible. Finally, tables and

figures should appear in the text immediately after the first paragraph within which they are

mentioned.

14

Chapter Summary

A quick summary will go here to wrap up your findings and lead into Chapter 5 for the

discussion of the findings.

15

Chapter 5: Discussion and Conclusions

Introduction

Chapter 5 will be where you present the discussion of your findings as well as your

conclusions. Much like Chapter 4, this chapter is different for most researchers with a few key

elements remaining the same. You will provide an interpretation of your findings, make

recommendations for future studies, and note the significance of your findings.

Interpretation of Findings

In this section you can address where, exactly, your findings fit within the literature

presented in Chapter 2 and how your findings might be interpreted in the context of your

theoretical or conceptual framework.

Recommendations

Include recommendations for future study here based on your findings as well as your

discovered limitations.

Implications

What are the implications of your findings? What is the significance of your findings?

Try to focus on the specific audience who will care about your study and your findings. How will

this information affect them? How might your findings address the stated research problem?

Conclusion

Concisely conclude your study and work to have a strong statement to close the narrative.

This could be related to the findings, the research problem, or implications for change. What do

you want your reader to walk away from your study with? Keep this, as ever, tied to the research

and avoid concluding with a quote from another author.

16

References

Patterson, J., Laing, I., & Soltz, A. (2012). Title of the article here in sentence case, plain font.

Title of the Article Here in Italics and Title Case, 4(5), 6-8. doi: 10.x3425604

Walsh, L., & Patterson, J. (2009). Title of the book in sentence case and italics. Minneapolis,

MN: Name of the Publisher.

Zuckerman, J. (2003). Title of the web page here. Retrieved from http://www.exacturlhere.com

Here are examples of the most commonly used sources

Article retrieved from an online database:

Patterson, J., Laing, I., & Soltz, A. (2012). Title of the article here in sentence case, plain font.

Title of the Article Here in Italics and Title Case, 4(5), 6-8. doi: 10.x3425604

Book:

Walsh, L., & Patterson, J. (2009). Title of the book in sentence case and italics. Minneapolis,

MN: Name of the Publisher.

Website:

Zuckerman, J. (2003). Title of the web page here. Retrieved from http://www.exacturlhere.com

17

Appendix A: The Title of the Appendix goes here

Appendices need not adhere to APA style but there are a few APA rules to keep in mind

as you add to your document with appendices. First, tables within the appendix will be labeled

with the appendix letter first. For example:

Table A1

Sample Table

Color Gender TotalPink Girl 30Blue Boy 34

If you have only one appendix it will be referred to as simply “Appendix” without an

assigned letter.

For more than one appendix, your appendices will be ordered according to reference in

text. The first time you refer a reader to the appendix will be “Appendix A,” the second time will

be “Appendix B,” and so on.

18

Appendix B: Title for the Appendix goes here

Note that the appendices follow the reference list per APA p. 229.