Research Group on Rehabilitation

and Independent Living

Graduate Student Handbook

4089 Dole Center

University of Kansas

Lawrence, KS 66045-2930

(785) 864-4095

Teaching and empowering students to change their world through successive approximations and small wins…

Revised: 03-27-2003

Research Group on Rehabilitation and Independent Living (RGRIL)

Dr. Glen W. White, Advisor

Associate Professor

Department of Human Development and Family Life

4001 Dole Human Development Center

Faculty Office: (785) 864-0523

General HDFL office: 864-4840

FAX: (785) 864-5202

www.RTCFPIL.org

E-mail: Glen@ku.edu

Table of Contents

Introduction

Research Group Mission

Our Research Agenda

What Approach Do We Take?

Where Do We Conduct Our Research?

How Is Our Research Financed?

Funding Sources

Graduate Training

Coursework and Enrollment Requirements

Research Hours

Behavior Analysis Program

Steps Toward The Doctorate

Research

Master's Thesis

Master’s in Public Health

Teaching

Editorial Critiques

Written Comprehensives

Comprehensive Oral Defense

Dissertation Defense

The Research and Training Center on Independent Living

The Junior Colleague Model

The Advisor's Role

The Student's Role

Advisor's Expectations of Students

Computer Literacy

Participation in Grant Writing

A Word About Writing Grants

Human Subjects Committee- Lawrence

A Word About Authorship

Participation in Writing Manuscripts

Publication Credit

Participation in Presentations to Conferences, Workshops, and Proseminars

A Word About Conference Presentations

Travel Fund Allocations

Physical Presence in Research Suites

General Office Issues

Use of Computers and Printers

Copying

Use of Telephones

Use of the RTC/IL and HDFL Libraries

Student Memberships and Affiliations

Policies Concerning Data

Data Security

Research Group on Rehabilitation and Independent Living

The Mission of the Research Group on Rehabilitation and Independent Living

Our mission is to conduct applied behavioral community research on socially significant issues that people with disabilities face in their daily lives.This consumer-involved research and applicable training focuses on environmental change and personal skills enhancement to promote independence and increase overall quality of life for people with disabilities living in the community.

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Our Research Agenda

This group has an active history of writing and securing grants to implement research and related training.

Current research is being conducted in the following areas: a) using a computerized risk assessment instrument which assesses the risk for onset of secondary conditions for people with physical disabilities; b) teaching individuals with cognitive disabilities to increase their participation in independent living center committee and board meetings; c) teaching individuals with disabilities to write effective advocacy letters to initiate community change regarding their disability concerns; and d) helping women with severe disabilities to increase their physical activity levels.

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What Approach Do We Take?

We take a dual approach in dealing with rehabilitation and independent living issues.First, we use applied behavior analysis and the excellent principles and methodology it offers in analyzing problems.Second, we use a community psychology approach to understand the nature of particular problems and the ecological and environmental factors that contribute to or resolve the problems. Thus, our approach blends the precision of behavior analysis and the humanistic values of community psychology.Since many of the problems that people with disabilities face are located in the community, our behavioral community psychology approach is fitting! Our research group subscribes to what is called Participatory Action Research. This research model is widely accepted by other national Research and Training Centers and basically subscribes to a consumer-involved approach to identifying disability-related research issues, questions, acceptability of interventions and procedures, and the social significance of the results and application of the research.

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Where Do We Conduct Our Research?

We conduct research at multiple sites. Often, these sites include Independent Living Centers (ILC's) within the State of Kansas, in Region VII (Kansas, Iowa, Nebraska, and Missouri), and sometimes at various ILC's and model Spinal Cord Injury Centers around the nation. We also conduct research with the people with disabilities that ILC's serve (ILC's call these individuals consumers). Other research sites include settings where people with disabilities are receiving vocational, medical, or clinical assistance (e.g., vocational rehabilitation centers and medical rehabilitation settings).

While we conduct research at various field sites, graduate students are housed in offices provided by the Department of Human Development and Family Life (Room 4087 Dole) and by the Research and Training Center on Independent Living (RTC/IL) located in 4089 Dole Center. The RTC/IL is one of approximately 40 federally funded centers that address research and training issues targeting specific disability concerns. The RTC/IL just recently received a 2.5 million dollar grant from the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research to fund a national Rehabilitation Research and Training Center on Full Participation in Independent Living.Dr. Glen White is the Principal Investigator and Director of this new Center.

The RTC/IL has secretarial services that can assist graduate students with appropriate RTC and related grant activities. Obviously, these services should not be used for the student's personal or HDFL course-related needs.

The RTC/IL is officially under the umbrella of the Schiefelbusch Institute for Life Span Studies (ILSS), located on the first floor of the Dole Center. The ILSS provides logistical, budget, and grants management support for the RTC's several core and other grants. The Director of the ILSS is Dr. Steve Warren, an internationally known researcher in the field of mental retardation and disability issues.

For graduate student related issues, I encourage students to talk to the very capable (and friendly) staff of the HDFL office (located in 4001 Dole Center). The Graduate student secretary and oversees applications for incoming graduate students; Nancy Moore is the comprehensives secretary (get to know her well); and Amy Robbins is the HDFL administrative assistant. They are a virtual encyclopedia of knowledge when it comes to graduate student issues and departmental questions and answers. Dr. Ed Morris, well-known in the field of behavior analysis, is the HDFL Department Chair. Dr. Mark Mathews is the Graduate Studies Director and reviews all graduate student special requests and progress in the HDFL graduate program.

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How Is Our Research Financed?

Students' involvement with this research group is essentially a partnership from which everyone benefits. The RTC/IL and other associated research support come to us in the form of one to five year grants that are given to conduct specified research and/or training activities. These grants are usually received by applying to federal and private organizations in response to certain priorities that they are interested in addressing. The agency sends out a Request for Proposals (RFP). In response to the RFP's we, many other universities, and other appropriate entities write grant applications to meet the priorities stated in the grant. Ppeer reviewers evaluate the grants and then recommend to the agency which proposals should be funded. Fortunately, our record of receiving grants is quite respectable.

Often graduate students' stipends are paid through grant funds. This accomplishes two important purposes. First, the graduate student receives a monthly sum with which to live! Second, the funds support the student to conduct the promised research. Many students use the research they are paid to conduct as the basis for their theses or dissertations.More of this will be discussed later under a section entitled Research.

Operating the RTC/IL is no inexpensive endeavor. A sizable portion of funds is allocated to pay for such personnel as project directors, support staff, research associates, and research assistants. Additionally, center funds are used to pay for those items needed to run an office and to conduct research and training activities. These include, but are not limited to: telephone, facsimiles (FAXES), supplies, computer equipment and software, project-related copies, postage, travel, office and research equipment, and the costs of paying for and maintaining our office space.

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Funding Sources

The Research Group on Rehabilitation and Independent Living is conducting, or has recently conducted research grants from the following funding agencies:

A wise strategy to consider when building a grant portfolio is to diversify.That is, diversify research across a number of relevant agencies, with the notion of maintaining a systematic line of research. This is our research group goal. The bulk of our research funding presently comes from the Department of Education.

Grant budgets are broken down into two basic cost categories: direct and indirect costs:

· Direct costs are all of those costs that are directly related to the actual project that is being conducted.

· Indirect costs, which can range from as little as 8% for training grants to over 45% for research grants, are used to help pay for university buildings, equipment, faculty and administrator salaries, and other costs necessary to maintain university facilities.

In this way, such research contributes to the general quality of academic life at the University of Kansas. More immediately, it helps to fund support staff at the Schiefelbusch Institute for Life Span Studies, who are invaluable in assisting us to compete for grants and manage them once they are obtained.

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Graduate Training

Training in graduate research involves collaboration between the Research Group on Rehabilitation and Independent Living, the Research and Training Center on Independent Living, and the HDFL graduate degree program. The HDFL department offers several terminal degrees, including an M.A. and an M.H.D.However, the majority of students working with this research group are enrolled in the Ph.D. program. Students are increasingly choosing the Master's in Public Health (M.P.H.) as a companion degree to the Ph.D. This will be discussed in further detail later.

What will I be when I leave the ivory towers of graduate school and academia? The answers to this question are not easy. It will depend upon your interests, your experience with selected research topics and in various research settings, your networking with others in the field of disability research, and your level of motivation. Some possible career pathways include: academic positions; directors of research or research associates for research and training centers; principal investigators of research grants; administrative positions in rehabilitation settings and vocational rehabilitation settings; directors of statewide independent living programs; research for private foundations and larger non-profit organizations; and consultation for private and public groups or individuals.

The next section reviews the two different tracks that are available within the HDFL doctoral program.

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Coursework and Enrollment Requirements.

The Research Group on Rehabilitation and Independent Living graduate students presently working toward their Ph.D. in Developmental and Child Psychology are expected to carry a full-time credit load each semester (i.e., 9 hours in fall and spring, and 3 hours during the summer).

I expect my students to devote 6 to 9 of the fall and spring semester hours to regularly meeting classes. Over the student's graduate career, enrollment is generally adjusted so that the required coursework load is moderate during the first year (2 courses per semester) heavier during years 2 and 3 (3 courses per semester), and then lighter (no more than 1 course per semester or less) during the year(s) following that.

Research Hours. Coursework constitutes only part of the accumulation of credits in graduate school; credits are also given for various levels of research experience, scholarship, and teaching. There are regularly set lines in which the student enrolls to gain such credit. For example, it is suggested that students regularly enroll in Developmental Proseminar (HDFL 913) each semester for one credit hour. Anywhere from one to ten credit hours are available for (These courses are available for review from each new course timetable), Masters' Thesis (HDFL 899), Directed Readings (HDFL 833 and 933), Teaching and Conference (HDFL 941) and, eventually, Doctoral Dissertation (HDFL 999). (Note that there may be some restrictions on the maximum number of credit hours that you can take in such types of enrollments.) As a professional courtesy, if you are working on research, or written comps with your advisor, it is strongly suggested to take a commensurate number of hours with him to acknowledge his time with you that semester.

Summer hours usually consist of hours taken related to research or readings. From time to time, however, HDFL faculty will offer summer seminars in which RGRIL students may be interested. Again, the minimum summer enrollment is 3 credit hours.

Students in this research group have the option of selecting one of two different tracks that the HDFL department offers. (A complete description of Tracks One and Two is contained in Appendix A). Track One is basically designed as a research track and only requires that has three formal courses be taken in addition to the other graduate requirements. Track Two follows APA Guidelines and requires that the student complete more formal coursework. This track is especially useful to the student who thinks he/she may be eventually working in a clinical setting that may require licensure. One of the advantages of Track Two is that several of the required courses also serve as the graduate student's Foreign Language or Research Skill (FLORS) requirement.The FLORS requires that a graduate student take 9 credit hours (e.g., statistics, other research methods courses or specific concentrations) to develop, enhance, and complement the primary focus of research and related skills.

While behavior analysis primarily utilizes the single-subject design which all HDFL students will learn through their coursework, students should also consider taking coursework in the area of statistics. Knowledge in statistics will be beneficial to the students in several ways.First, it is wise to have knowledge in more than one type of research design. This will be helpful as students conduct research and work with other colleagues in the psychology field. Second, students may be called on to be reviewers for research grants and should be familiar with group research design and the statistical analyses that accompany this type of research. Students may also someday be reviewers of research manuscripts and again should be familiar with statistical research methodology.

Some faculty members suggest that their graduate students consider completion of a five-semester sequence offered in Psychology and Research in Education (PRE) or Psychology (PSYC) including Basic Statistics I and 11 (PRE 710-711 or PSYC 790-791), Multivariate Statistics I and II (PRE 904-905), and Nonparametric Statistics (PRE 814).

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Behavior Analysis Program

The HDFL Department has prepared a list of courses for accreditation as a behavioral program by the Association for Behavior Analysis (ABA). These courses include:

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Research.The Ph.D. is essentially a research degree. The HDFL requirements are designed to help prepare you to become a competent researcher. Students receive much of their research training through contact with their mentors/advisors and through discussions with fellow research group members. They also develop their research skills from interacting with other HDFL graduate students and faculty members.Students may often participate in each other's research by assisting with data collection, data entry, and data analysis. Such participation prepares students as they assume more direct research responsibilities when they undertake their master's thesis or doctoral dissertation.While the university only requires the master's thesis and the dissertation, it is wise to participate in several research projects while you are here to further develop and refine your research skills. The time spent with these research projects will be a sound investment and will reap outcomes such as co-authorship, curriculum vitae enhancement, and potential topic areas and literature reviews for written comprehensives, etc. When one seriously reflects on what it takes to become a competent research scientist, a master's and a dissertation research project really are not sufficient to attain mastery...it is for many a lifelong pursuit. Why not get an early start!

As previously discussed, two graduate requirements that demonstrate your research prowess are the master's thesis and the dissertation.Each of these program requirements will be discussed in more detail next.

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Master's Thesis.Upon completion of 30 credit hours a student may defend his/her thesis for the Master of Arts degree.Typically, the thesis and defense are completed sometime during the second or third year of the program.Graduate school guidelines recommend that at least 15 of these credit hours be in traditional classroom courses, rather than research and reading hours, and that no more than six of the 30 hours be thesis (899) hours.

Upon successful oral defense of the graduate student's masters thesis, the Master of Arts degree is awarded.At this time, a formal recommendation is made as to whether the student should continue on for the Ph.D. degree.

Early in their graduate program students are encouraged to review and participate in fellow students' research.Students are also encouraged to develop research questions regarding physical disability issues.After identifying several potential research questions, the student, in regular discussions with his or her advisor, starts to select a primary research question and discusses how to attack the question and the sought-after answers. The thesis question may be original, or it may be a variation of a research question that has previously been researched, (e.g., accessible parking, advocacy).The research question and associated research methodology is also discussed and shaped during the weekly research group meetings. I suggest that students take Steve Fawcett's HDFL 871 class on applied behavior analysis.This course provides an excellent opportunity for students to prepare for research on a selected research question.

After the student has developed the research design and procedures and selected a research site, he/she gathers and analyzes the data.Upon project completion, the student writes up the thesis. The student's advisor will provide regular feedback and discussion of the thesis paper. Typically, the thesis will be the foundation for a manuscript that will be submitted for publication later.

It is customary to submit the thesis to the committee members at least two weeks before your orals defense.At least two weeks before the defense, the student should schedule a meeting with Amy Robbins in the main HDFL office to make sure that all requirements for the M.A. have been met and to confirm that committee members are qualified. Also to explore possible dates, times, and rooms for the defense. It is the student's responsibility to make these arrangements and to ensure that the defense time accommodates each of the committee members. (Some students say this is the hardest part of preparing for an oral thesis defense!) The student then contacts various faculty members and asks them to serve on the M.A. committee with a number of possible dates for a defense. Once a defense date is settled upon, the date, time, and room schedule is finalized with Amy. Sometimes students get overzealous and tend to schedule their orals defense a bit too early and are not prepared in time to defend on the scheduled date.Please use caution when setting a defense date in order to avoid changing your scheduled orals date with your committee members.After passing the orals defense, and after any necessary revisions to the thesis have been made, final copies of the thesis are submitted to the department, to the graduate school, and to the advisor. The department requires one bound copy and one unbound copy of the thesis; the graduate school requires two unbound copies of the thesis plus a binding fee of $25.00. It is customary and a professional courtesy, to provide a bound copy of the thesis to the advisor who also serves as the chair of the thesis orals committee.

The thesis document format should conform with the American Psychological Association (APA) Publication Manual (5th Edition) (2001). Students should be sure to ask for a Master's Packet from the College Graduate Division Office in 102 Strong as well as a handout listing Most Commonly Asked Questions about Format when preparing the thesis.It is also recommended that students take their completed thesis to 102 Strong Hall for a format check before incurring any printing charges.Staff will check your thesis page by page to ensure that it meets graduate school requirements. The student must take several bureaucratic steps before defending the M.A. thesis. First, the student will have to complete an Application for Degree form in the College Graduate Division Office by early April for a May conferral or by late November for a December conferral. Kathy Mason, Director of the College Graduate Division Office, has been an invaluable resource for many graduate students.If you have any questions, feel free to call Kathy at 864-4898.

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Masters in Public Health (MPH) Option.

A joint Doctorate of Philosophy - Master's of Public Health Program is offered as a joint venture with the University of Kansas and the University of Kansas Medical Center in Kansas City, Kansas.

The MPH program meets the diverse needs of those planning careers in public health/community medicine, health care administration, occupational/environmental health, clinical practice, or academics. Students acquire a strong foundation in epidemiology and biostatistics. Health care administration, occupational and environmental health, and the behavioral sciences complement the quantitative science. Clinicians can emphasize clinical epidemiology, critical appraisal of the literature, clinical research design, health care outcomes research, and cost effectiveness evaluation.Those interested in public health can emphasize administration, health education, or occupational/environmental health.Special areas of emphasis include the chronic diseases, especially cancer and heart disease, health services research, neuroepidemiology, pharmacoepidemiology, and health promotion/disease prevention.Faculty in this department also has expertise related to maternal and child health and infectious diseases.

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Teaching.HDFL graduate students must complete the equivalent of a one-semester half-time teaching experience during their tenure in graduate school. In the past, students in this research group have served as TAs for two courses at the.25- time level; for example HDFL 437 (Independent Living and People with Disabilities) and HDFL 337 (Community Service), each of which I regularly offer. When serving as an unpaid teaching assistant, the student usually enrolls for credit in HDFL 941 (Teaching and Conference) with Dr. Ed Morris.The duties of the teaching assistant include attendance during each class, keeping office hours for undergraduate students in that class, answering student questions, assisting with the construction of study guides and examinations, grading examinations, securing audiovisual aids for class instruction, and presenting one to three lectures to the class. While this minimal teaching experience meets the departmental requirement, further teaching experience is encouraged, especially for students interested in eventually seeking an academic position.

Thus far, this graduate student handbook has addressed requirements concerning coursework, research experience, and teaching requirements.Now we will review other graduate requirements needed to complete the Ph.D. degree. This graduate program is really quite reinforcing because it approximates many of the professional activities you will undertake once you have graduated and are out on your own.Such activities include preparing editorial critiques, scientific literature reviews (written comprehensives), and summaries of related scientific literature (review paper-oral comps).The HDFL program and your work with this research group will also prepare you to write manuscripts and reports on your original research for dissemination in professional journals.

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Editorial Critiques. Editorial critiques are critical analyses of research articles. The doctoral requirements for this department specify that each student must do at least three editorial critiques. The student's advisor reads and grades the first two critiques on a pass-fail basis.The advisor and two other faculty members read and grade the final critique.All readers must pass this editorial critique. Following the passage of the third critique the student's advisor notifies Amy Robbins of the student's completion of this requirement. Again, this requirement reflects behaviors you will perform in your professional life -- that of serving as a reviewer for peer-refereed journals. With the advisor's approval, the student can meet the requirements of writing critiques for the first two critiques by satisfactorily completing HDFL 845 (Rules of Evidence for Applied Research). This course teaches students to critically review research articles.

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Written Comprehensives. To meet this requirement, the student must successfully answer six written comprehensives questions.The student will choose or write his/her own questions, which must be organized into one of the following configurations: three questions from each of two areas, or two questions from each of three areas.The comprehensives procedures and formal list of questions are available from Nancy Moore, the Comprehensives Secretary in 4001 Dole.

The student also has the option of writing his or her own comp questions, or revising questions from the formal list. Students selecting this option must ensure that he/she creates questions that conform to the proper comp areas, and that for each question he/she completes a New Question form.It is wise to consult your advisor when selecting these questions so that you might receive advice on how to frame the questions and whether or not the questions can be adequately answered in seven pages.

After the student selects the six comp questions to be answered, and writes a list in outline form, the advisor reviews and approves the list and the list is then sent to Dr. George Semb, the Faculty Chair of the Comprehensives Committee.When his approval is obtained, the

student is assigned a personal comprehensives number (use of that number rather than the student's name approximates the blind review) and may begin submitting examination answers for evaluation. After the list of questions is submitted, it is not necessarily cast in stone.Submitted questions may be revised, or they may be deleted and new questions added. However, each time the most recently approved set of comp questions is revised, the student must repeat the approval process as if submitting a new set of comp questions.

After selecting a question and answering it within a seven-page length (not including the title page with the comp area and question, and the additional pages for references), the student submits four (4) stapled copies of the written comp to the comp secretary. The student must use the guidelines of the APA's Publication Manual (5th ed.) (2001), when writing each comp. Because our profession uses this book widely, it is a wise use of your time to read this book cover to cover and get to know it well!

After the Comprehensives Secretary receives copies of the written comp, the Comprehensive Committee Chairperson assigns three (3) readers who are faculty members or Courtesy or adjunct faculty. Each reader reads and grades the comp question on a pass-fail basis. The reader will assign the comp either an "A" for acceptable or an "NA" for not acceptable. During this review process, the student is unaware of who the readers are, and the readers do not know the identity of the student submitting the comp. Some reviewers sign their comp reviews for the student, so that the student may contact the reader if she or he has further questions, although this is not mandatory.If two or more readers give the comp an "A," it passes. If two or more readers give the comp an "NA," it does not pass. At this point, the writer may revise the answer and return it to the Comp. Secretary to repeat the submission process. However, the student is only allowed one resubmission of the same comprehensive question. After that, the student and his/her advisor must petition to submit the comp a third or subsequent time. When a comp is resubmitted after having been NA'd, one copy usually returns to one of the readers who NA'd it and the other copies go to two readers who have not yet read it. The appendix of this manual contains a copy of the Comp Reviewer's feedback form. This will help you practice the types of writing skills that comp readers will be looking for in your comps.

It is wise to maximize your course efforts by structuring required class papers in such a way that they might be submitted as written comps. Several professors currently require students to write a 7-page paper on a particular topic. These topics can be configured to fit within an area that you are interested in selecting for your comps.

Few natural-born comp writers exist. Writing comps forces one to write in a precise and parsimonious manner. It is quite difficult to answer a question within the span of seven pages. Thus, good writing comes with much practice, and helpful feedback. Many students share early drafts of their comps with their advisors so that they can receive feedback before submitting the comps to the comp secretary. This process helps shape the student's writing skills and increases the likelihood that early comps will pass. As the student progresses through graduate school the amount of feedback from the advisor will gradually fade.

Although there is no formal schedule for completing written comps, after about 6-12 months of graduate school the student should start selecting comp questions of interest to answer if he/she has not already done so. It can take anywhere from 1 month at a minimum to several months at a maximum to answer a comp question. (A few -- but only a few students have been known to answer -- and pass -- all comp questions within several months. On the other hand, some students have been in the graduate program several years and have yet to submit their first comp). Upon completion of their M.A., students should consider completing a new comp every 3-4 months. Before students will be allowed to defend their review paper (see Comprehensive Oral Defense below), they must have completed and passed at least three written comps. So, it is wise to plan ahead to avoid scheduling problems later.

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Comprehensive Oral Defense. The Comprehensive Oral Defense, or Comp. Orals as many students call this requirement, is perhaps one of the more rigorous requirements and demands scholarly skills that a graduate student will develop in the HDFL program. The purpose of the Comprehensive Oral Defense is to enable the student to develop skills in organizing a large amount of literature in an understandable and logical fashion. It is a review and synthesis of a selected body of literature and a chance for the student to suggest where new research should be directed in the future. Most students select the option of reviewing a large amount of literature. Others defend an original grant proposal they have written. Such a proposal would also include an in-depth review of the literature relevant to the proposal. Students are encouraged to ask other students who may be taking their Comp. Orals if they can "sit in" the oral defense. Some students will be open to this, while others may be reluctant. Sitting in on another student's orals can be a fruitful activity as it allows one to observe the types of questions asked in the orals, and it provides models for students to imitate (or not imitate). Students are also encouraged to survey other major review papers that have been published in such journals as the Health Quarterly Review, Psychological Review, or Milbank Quarterly. Students are free to select the subject of their review papers in consultation with their advisor. Many students choose an economical route -- that is, they perform a review in the area of their dissertation research. Thus, they get a "two-fer": the defense of the review paper meets the comprehensive oral requirement and the literature review also serves as an introduction or chapter of their dissertation.

According to Department requirements several tasks must be completed before the Oral Comp defense can be held:

1. Meet the residency requirement for Graduate School

2. Complete the M.A. Thesis and Oral Defense

3. Pass the three editorial critiques

4. Complete the teaching skill

5. Complete the Foreign Language or Research Skills (FLORS)

6. Pass at least three written comprehensives

7. Complete all required courses for your Track

Comp. Orals are similar to M.A. orals, except that Comp. Orals require a five-member committee instead of a three-member committee. One of the five members must be a faculty member from outside the HDFL department. It is wise for the graduate student to cultivate collegial relationships with faculty outside of the department during his or her tenure in graduate school. Depending upon mutual interests and experiences, such relationships might well produce just the right candidate as an outside member of your committee. Alternatively, your faculty advisor can suggest outside department faculty members for your Comp. Orals.

Students should be aware that there is a required five-month interval between the date of the comprehensive oral defense and the date of the dissertation oral defense.

The graduate student is an official "Doctoral Candidate" once the Comp. Orals have been successfully defended and passed. This is good news for students financially, as the they can now take smaller credit-hour enrollments each semester, however, students must be continuously enrolled until they pass their dissertation orals and the Ph.D. is conferred. Wanda Lowe is the person to check with concerning post Comp. Oral enrollment requirements.

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Dissertation Defense. The dissertation is considered the first major empirical research project for which the student has primary responsibility. The advisor continues to offer counsel and has a formal collaboration, but on a lesser degree than with the M.A. thesis.The dissertation is a scholarly piece of originally conceived and developed research.It showcases the student's ability to analyze and address a specific problem. Upon completion of the dissertation data collection and analysis, the text is written by the student and feedback is provided by the advisor. Once the final version of the dissertation document is ready, it is submitted to a committee, and then defended orally, much like the M.A. thesis. However, unlike the thesis committee, the dissertation committee has 5 members. Four faculty members are invited to join the committee from the department, and one faculty member is asked to serve from outside the department. The student's advisor serves as Chair of the orals committee. It is not unusual for a student to have the same committee for both Comp. Orals and Dissertation Orals.

Students must contact Amy Robbins to check their graduate file status at least two weeks before the planned dissertation defense date and to confirm that committee members are acceptable by the KU Division of Graduate Studies. This check helps to ensure that all of the necessary prerequisites have been fulfilled. Another Application for Degree (AFD) form must be obtained from the College Graduate Division Office (102 Strong) and completed by no later than early April for a May conferral, mid-July for an August conferral, and late November for a December conferral.A Ph.D. packet should also be obtained from the Graduate Division; it contains guidelines for dissertation format and forms to be completed and submitted before graduation.

After scheduling orals from the advisor and clearing his/her graduate file status, the student should meet with Amy Robbins at least 2-3 weeks before the Dissertation Defense to determine possible times, dates, and rooms for the defense. It is then the student's responsibility to contact and arrange for the presence of all committee members, send out written memos notifying members of the date, time, and place of the oral defense, and to deliver a copy of the dissertation to each committee member. The defense needs to be scheduled at least two weeks before the actual defense date. This is a Graduate School requirement so that an announcement of the defense can be published in the Lawrence Journal World. It is also courteous to give committee members two weeks to read the dissertation. Remember, faculty members have many other departmental and teaching commitments and would appreciate the extra time to review your document. Faculty may also be less inclined to serve on the committee unless two weeks' notice is provided for the defense date.If you have any questions about this see Amy Robbins!

Following the oral defense and acceptance of the dissertation, copies of the document are submitted to the department and Graduate School. The student must submit to the Graduate School two unbound copies, plus a $25.00 binding fee. The department requires that one unbound copy and one bound copy be submitted. It is customary that bound copies of the final version of the dissertation document be provided to all members of the committee who wish to have one. Provision of a bound copy of your thesis or dissertation to your committee chair is a must! Remember that an AFD form should follow these submissions to complete the application for conferral of the Ph.D.

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The Research and Training Center on Independent Living (RTC/IL)

The Research and Training Center on Independent Living was founded in 1980 by Dr. James Budde, its present Director. Throughout the past 20 plus years the RTC/IL has enjoyed success in generating grants, developing sound research and training products, and disseminating these products to over 450 independent living centers (ILCs) throughout the U.S. and the world. The RTC/IL has been fortunate to have excellent staff and graduate students conducting research and training activities during the course of its existence. Many of the graduate students working at the RTC/IL have been HDFL students and upon graduation have found jobs as academicians, administrators, senior staff at other national Research and Training Centers, and competent researchers in other well-known national research centers. You are following in the footsteps of some excellent national researchers!

The RTC/IL serves as the platform for obtaining and conducting research projects.The majority of the research or training projects that are conducted under the RTC/IL are directed by a senior staff person, usually a research associate who has obtained his or her Ph.D. degree.

These individuals take the primary administrative role on the project and are referred to as the Principal Investigator (P.I.). Principal Investigators also take the lead in developing the grant applications and budgets, and coordinate their research team to carry out the specified grant objectives. Research Assistants play an integral role in the development and execution of research objectives.As Research Assistants develop their confidence and competence, they may be assigned to greater responsibilities in overseeing research project objectives.

Students will usually be working under their advisors who also serves as P.I.s forparticular projects. On an occasional basis, an RGRIL graduate student may be involved with a project that is being directed by another RTC/IL staff member who has P.I. status. If an RGRIL graduate student is thinking about working on a project led by another RTC/IL staff member, the student must first secure permission from the RGRIL advisor. Those RGRIL graduate students with more "senior status" may eventually take on the coordination of day-to-day functions of a specific grant project.

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Several years ago, the HDFL graduate curriculum committee surveyed HDFL graduate students about the critical advising elements that they believed their graduate advisors should have as part of their repertoire. Several of these elements are outlined below:

· Advice in complying with degree and program requirements. The advice would include working with students to set up a timetable for estimated completion of the degree program; suggesting appropriate coursework that provides students with the necessary skills to advance their research program; discussing approaches that can be taken to meet FLORS requirements; making external manuscripts available for editorial critiques; and assistance in shaping writing skills (e.g., through feedback on comps, thesis, review paper, and dissertation). Students are entirely responsible for the various activities associated with enrollment, fee payment, student loans, appropriate credit hours, requirements for residency, timing and arranging for oral defenses, binding of manuscripts, etc. Information on these issues is available from Wanda in HDFL and the College Graduate Division located in 102 Strong Hall. The Director, Kathy Mason, is an invaluable asset to graduate students with specific questions about graduate requirements.

· Advice in meeting career goals. The ultimate outcome of student's acquisition of the research skills learned in the RGRIL is preparation for a professional career. The advisor seeks to assist the graduate student develop research skills to their highest competency level, thus making him or her competitive for research, academic, or administrative positions.

· Supervision of research and dissemination. Supervision of each student's research is done both formally, through scheduled Research and one-to-one meetings, and informally, through day-to-day contacts and interactions.Meetings with project teams and outside professional consultants will also be arranged as needed to shape the student's research skills and to provide positive and corrective feedback. During the student's first few years in the graduate program, the advisor is more heavily involved in directing and shaping the student's research. As the student's competencies and skills increase during the later years, the advisor's involvement in the student's research becomes less direct.

· Visibility or national standing in a scientific area. relatively new research group, it enjoys a national reputation for conducting research and training activities that are respected by the constituencies we serve. Our agenda focuses on systematic research that addresses issues facing people with disabilities. Our research is disseminated to national audiences through publications in nationally recognized peer-reviewed journals, and through annual presentations at major national conferences. Our research and associated intervention products are also distributed nationally through the dissemination department of the RTC/IL in its research and training products catalog and on-line web site that is available to other rehabilitation researchers, disability advocates, ILC's, and interested individuals. Frequently, research projects may result in regional and national training workshops and consulting to interested agencies. As opportunities become available, students will conduct training and technical assistance workshops as requested.

· Knowledge of a scientific area. The RGRIL group regularly reviews various books, chapters, articles, and other written pieces that are pertinent to the fields of behavior analysis and disability studies.These readings will supplement student's coursework and will provide current research approaches to problems facing people with disabilities in a variety of settings. In addition, as opportunities present themselves, invited speakers and guest consultants will be available to the RGRIL to provide outside analysis and suggestions for research procedures, methodology, and design.

· Availability and quality of attention devoted to the student. As an advisor, it is my goal to meet with each student every other week. I schedule student meetings before each semester. As with the case of many research groups, graduate students take the initiative in seeking meetings with their mentors and frequently set the agenda for the tasks they wish to be accomplished in the meetings. I do welcome the student contact and wish to make myself available to my students.However, sometimes I may have departmental or RTC responsibilities that prevent me from meeting students at a moment's notice.My preference is to schedule our meetings and accomplish as many questions and tasks during that meeting as possible.

· Quality of feedback to students. As part of the advisor-mentor role, I will strive to provide timely and quality feedback to students regarding writing tasks such as written comps, thesis, oral comps, dissertations, and other products such as grant proposals, etc. My feedback will be at different levels. Sometimes it will be conceptual or methodological. My feedback will also take the form of detailed editing and recommendations for compliance with the current APA Guidelines for publication (5^th ed). I recommend that you carefully study this manual, as it will be your guide to writing for professional peer-reviewed journals. Unless a journal requires some other format, it is imperative that you write in APA style when writing professionally. The department and I require you to adhere to APA guidelines when submitting your written texts (such as comps, thesis, comp orals, etc.).

· Quality of responsiveness to feedback from students. As you have learned, or will learn, graduate school can be a very stressful life event.As your advisor-mentor, I will do my best to be a positive guiding force for you as you set your academic pathways towards fulfillment of course requirements and developing your skills as a competent researcher. When I was a graduate student I wanted my advisors to be available at a moment's notice, on a 24-hour on-call basis. (Almost!)Now, after several years on the other side of the fence as a faculty member and Principal Investigator, I realize that faculty members have other responsibilities besides being at the beck and call of graduate students. Please realize that I will try to be as responsive to your requests for feedback and also to be proactive in guiding you through your graduate studies.There will, however, be those times when I will not be available, due to other responsibilities.

· Ethical student-advisor interactions. I earnestly endeavor to keep the RGRIL free from any type of unethical coercion or harassment between faculty and graduate or undergraduate students. I expect this same ethical behavior from all of my graduate students. If you have even the slightest perception that there might be a problem, please bring it up so we can discuss it.The junior-colleague model encourages ongoing dialogue between the advisor and the student. This communication is critical to the success of the long-term professional relationship that develops over the course of several years of graduate school.As your advisor, I would not ask any student to do a task, which I have not done, or would not do myself.

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The Student's Role Like the advisor, the graduate student also has a role to play. No doubt you have carefully considered the decision you have made in coming to graduate school.Graduate school is like no other job you have ever had. It often entails a juggling of responsibilities you may have in working for a particular grant that pays you an academic stipend. In addition, it includes accomplishing requirements to progress through your graduate program.Ideally, your work as a research assistant goes hand in glove with accomplishing part of your graduate research requirements (e.g., thesis and dissertation). Thus, the work you do for the Research and Training Center, and the work you do for your graduate program may become indistinguishable. You are in a trusted position as a research assistant. As a professional-in-the-making you are not required to punch in and punch out on a time clock.The bottom line in your work as a graduate student and research assistant is to get the job done.Unlike the typical 8-5 work day, you are expected to carry out your assigned responsibilities in a competent and timely manner. This will most likely necessitate work during the evenings, weekends, and occasionally on holidays.

One sage said that "Graduate school is a 24-hour-a-day job." This is not an overstatement by any means. If you want to earn your terminal degree, be prepared to pay a price for it!You cannot advance yourself academically "on the cheap" or by taking short cuts. You will only cheat yourself and become a poor reflection of the HDFL graduate program, which is known for training high-quality students.

Commitment to the program, the research group mission, and the advisor is the hallmark of a student who wishes to progress through the program in an expeditious fashion.This commitment is a mutual obligation between the student and the advisor.;

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Advisor's Expectations of Students

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1. Helps keep you funded while you are in graduate school;

2. Helps acquaint you with specified research literature;

3. Requires that you think critically about research issues such as procedures, participants, settings, research designs, anticipated outcomes, etc.;

4. Gives you experience that will serve you well in your professional career -- whether as an academician, researcher, or administrator;

5.Helps you develop collaborative relationships with other researchers within the university and across universities and other external entities (it increases your network of professional contacts);

6. Will certainly be a positive item in your professional resume or curriculum vitae.

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Human Subjects Committee- Lawrence (HSC-L). Anytime new research is being conducted, it is a requirement that it first be approved by our Human Subjects Committee on the Lawrence Campus.In short, this is called HSC-L. This committee reviews all research proposals to determine if any of the proposed procedures might be unethical or harmful to human research participants. Additionally, the Committee ensures that the researchers are providing participants with informed approved consent forms in which the participants voluntarily sign, indicating their full understanding and non-coerced participation in the proposed research activities.For more information on the HSC-L guidelines and research forms to submit to this committee go to the following two sites:

To go to the HSC-L forms site to download required forms to perform research, go to:

http://www.research.ku.edu/kucr/forms/comp/hscl.shtml

and

To go to the HSC-L forms sites to download required forms to taje the required Human Subjects Protection Training/Tutorial, go to:

http://www.research.ku.edu/tutor/hsp/index.shtml

If you have any other questions about this process you can contact HSC-L administrator David Hann at (785) 864-7429, dhann@ukans.edu if you have any other questions about whether you should go through HSC-L.

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Participation in Writing Manuscripts.While this expectation seems obvious,I want it known that students, especially those who have been in the research group for 1-2 years are expected to author or co-author at least one manuscript that will be submitted for publication to a referred journal such as JABA, AJCP, RCB, Rehab. Psychology, etc. The benefits of this expectation are quite obvious and do not need further reflection here.

Publication credit (authorship; Principle 6.23, a-c). (APA Publications Manual 5^th Edition, pp. 395-396).

(a) Psychologists take responsibility and credit, including authorship credit, only for work they have actually performed or to which they have contributed. authorship and other publication credits accurately reflect the relative scientific or professional contributions of the individuals involved, regardless of their relative status. Mere possession of an institutional position, such as Department Chair, does not justify authorship credit. Minor contributions to the research or to the writing for publications are appropriately acknowledged, such as in footnotes or in an introductory statement.

(c) A student is usally listed as principal author on any multiple-authored article that is substantially based on the student’s dissertation.

For more information on Authorship and Ethical Standards, please refer to APA Publications Manual 5^th Edition (2001). Appendix C (pp 387-396).

For a more detailed description of this process please refer to:

Fine, M. A., Kurdek, L. A. (1993). Reflections on determining authorship credit and authorship order on faculty-student collaborations. American Psychologist, 48, 1141-1147.

The Schiefelbusch Institute on Life Span Studies also has a policy on co-authorship that I would be happy to share with anyone who is interested.

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Participation in Presentations at Conferences, Workshops, and Proseminars. Again, this expectation might seem obvious. But I want to avoid any miscommunications for the RGRIL students. Presentations are a natural outflow and result of the particular research and/or training activities you have been conducting. A natural course of the research and training process is the dissemination process.This includes publishing and presentations before various target audiences including fellow research scientists, consumers with disabilities, policy makers, and yes, even our colleagues in our own backyard.I will bring information about opportunities for conference submissions and presentations to the research group meetings. Students will select those conferences that are relevant and appropriate to the RGRIL mission.My expectation is that students will conduct at least one national presentation each year, depending on travel funding availability, especially those who have been in the research group for one or more years. While I will usually try to discuss these presentation opportunities and reach group consensus, occasionally I will make an executive decision to commit the research group to a particular presentation. I will do my best to provide the research group members as much advance notice as I can for these presentations. I expect that these requested presentations would occur on an infrequent basis.

Again, the benefits of these presentations are fairly obvious. A short list of these benefits include:

1. Opportunities for you to describe your research to others;

2. An exciting opportunity to travel, have some fun, and meet other professionals and scientists who are interested in similar research topics;

3. Refinement of your presentation skills under modest audience countercontrol;

4. Professional entries for your resume or curriculum vita.

Travel Fund Allocations As travel funds are available, I will make every effort to provide at least one conference trip for each graduate student. Students must check their intended travel plans with me before responding to a request for presentations. Typical conferences that we might attend include: ABA, The Biennial Conference on Community Psychology (Research and Action), American Public Health Association, and American Congress on Rehabilitation Medicine. Depending on the level of grant funding, student reimbursement will be made for part or all of the approved trip expenses. Students must note that this policy does not constitute an ENTITLEMENT. Alternately, the Graduate students are allowed a one-time amount of approximately $300 to present at a national conference. Check with the Graduate School office in Strong Hall for more details.

If we have limited travel funds they will be distributed to students in a prioritized fashion. The priorities are presented from the top priority to the lowest priority: (a) first authors of accepted papers or posters; (b) first authors of papers or posters submitted but not accepted; (c) non-senior authors of accepted papers or posters; and (d) other students. Students with other non-private sources of travel funds, such as a Graduate School award (see the appendix for a copy of the application form), may have these funds supplemented, but the first priority is to cover unfunded students.

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Physical Presence in the Research Offices. This expectation might wrongly strike some students as a lack of trust of how a student is conducting activities related to project goals and objectives. I believe your physical presence in the research offices is needed to increase inter-member group communication, provide a sense of team cohesiveness, and on the more pragmatic side -- it's effective utilization of office space. Competition for office space in the premium Dole Building offices is fierce. If my students are not utilizing the offices I have fought for, then I have no defense to give for others who might wish to obtain more office space. If you don't use it, we might lose it, or I may consider reassigning your office to someone else if it is not used on a regular basis.

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General Office Issues

Use of Computers and Printers. The RGRIL group members have numerous computers and inkjet printers for their use. I have made at least one computer available for each student office (one computer and printer per two students). I suggest that students make every effort to share their computers in an equitable fashion. For example, while one student is using the computer, the other could be reading journals or perhaps collecting data. The RGRIL has a comprehensive library of software for its use. However, due to the expensive nature of this software, it is not allowed to float around freely. If you have a problem with your computer, see Amy Robbins from HDFL first to see if we can get the KU computer tech for HDFL to fix the computer. If this is not possible, please check with Pam Willits.

Copying. RGRIL members must separate any personal copies that they make from those copies that are related to normal day-to-day business. If you make personal copies, please inform Joan Ring, so she can key in the number you need on the copy machine. Please note that if copies of articles made for graduate student research are paid for by grant funds (e.g., are made by a student hourly off a library card), those copies technically belong to the RTC/IL. When the student graduates or leaves the RGRIL group, he or she should leave the research copies in reprint files. If the student wishes to keep copies of the articles, then copies of the copies should be made by, charged to, and kept by the student. Alternately, students can make their HDFL copies at one of two copy machines in 4001 Dole.

Use of the RTC/IL Library. The RTC/IL and RGRIL has an modest library on disability-related issues that you can use for grant or research purposes. These books are signed out on a honor-system basis, so it is important that you return them as soon as you are finished with them. If you have questions about the library talk to Glen or Dot. (Please note that there is also a student resource room and library in 4001Dole for HDFL students). As part of the RTC/IL library collection, we have established endnotes as a data manager and article retrieval system. See more below.

What does this mean to you as a graduate student? Well, for one thing, it may save you many trips to the library to retrieve journal articles on topics such as independent living, health promotion for people with disabilities, and behavior analysis. You can search the Endnotes database on the G drive either by using one to three keywords in your area of interest, or by searching for a particular item by author name, etc. Second, Endnotes allows you to import references meeting the formatting requirements of the APA Publication Manual directly into your Word documents. (Our current program incorporates the 4^th Revision of the APA Manual—we will be upgrading as soon as a new version of Endnotes incorporating the 5^th edition of the Endnotes manual is available.) In return for use of the Endnotes database, we ask that you sign out and return, on a timely basis, any items that you borrow. Also, we ask that you submit items you think would be of use to other RGRIL members so that they can be entered into the Endnotes database. If you have questions about Endnotes, see Dot Nary. We are currently updating a user-friendly instruction manual that will teach you how to use this time-saving tool.

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Student Memberships and Affiliations

RGRIL members should strongly consider becoming student members of our professional organizations such as ABA, KansABA, Community Psychology, and perhaps a rehabilitation organization such as NRA, or ACRM. Additionally, I strongly encourage you to start building your own library with journals relevant to your field of study. These journals often provide substantial student discounts and are quite a bargain. I suggest that you subscribe to the Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, and the American Journal of Community Psychology as a starting point.

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This policy is designed to ensure that research results are reported in a timely fashion. The research analysis and results will provide evidence to the funding agency that the funded project produced specified results. The research paper will also serve as the foundation for other future and related research activities. Additionally, the research results will be a benefit when disseminated to various constituencies (policy makers, fellow scientists, consumers with disabilities, disability organizations, etc.). The contingencies associated with this policy are designed to prompt the student to work on the project until it is published, yet allow for another option to report the research should the student not complete his or her responsibility.