Degree Requirements

Alternate Year Schedule
Students need to keep in mind that nearly all sociology program graduate courses are taught on an alternate year schedule. Therefore, it is important to register for courses that need to be included in your program of study as they are offered, since in some cases they may not be offered again prior to the time when your degree program should be completed.

MS Degree in Sociology

Master's Degree Requirements in the Catalog

Thesis

Students must complete and satisfactorily defend a thesis. The thesis must be a contribution to the field of knowledge. It can be based either upon the student's own research or on a treatment and presentation of known subject matter from a new point of view.

Students will present their thesis proposal at a meeting of their Supervisory Committee. These proposal presentations may be made open to the public if the student and Committee desire it, but typically these are not public meetings. Copies of the proposal should be given to Supervisory Committee members no later than two weeks prior to the date of the proposal hearing.

The chairperson of the Supervisory Committee will chair the proposal hearing. At the conclusion of the proposal presentation the Supervisory Committee will evaluate the proposal and indicate approval or disapproval by majority vote.

If their research involves human subjects, each master’s student and their committee chair will submit the appropriate application for research approval to the USU Institutional Review Board along with a copy of the approved thesis proposal.

The completed thesis will be presented at a formal thesis defense seminar when the thesis has been reviewed by the Supervisory Committee and determined to be sufficiently complete to merit a defense hearing. The thesis presentation is open to the public and should be publicly announced within the Department at least one week prior to its occurrence. The supervisory committee will be responsible for determining whether persons other than the student and committee members are permitted to remain during the remainder of the examination process.

An oral examination will be conducted by the candidate's Supervisory Committee after the completion of the thesis presentation. This examination will be largely focused on the thesis, but may include questions concerning the general field of sociology.

Copies of the thesis should be given to members of the Supervisory Committee prior to the date when forms for scheduling the defense are to be submitted to the School of Graduate Studies. Forms required for scheduling of the defense must be signed by all committee members and turned in to the School of Graduate Studies no later than ten working days prior to the desired defense date.

At the conclusion of the examination the Supervisory Committee will vote. Majority vote will prevail. If approved with minor revisions, any recommended revisions will be accomplished under the direction of the chairperson of the Supervisory Committee.

Doctor of Philosophy in Sociology

PhD Degree Requirements in the Catalog

Major Specialization Area Comprehensive Examination

An important part of graduate study is development as an independent scholar who is familiar with the breadth of the chosen discipline, able to synthesize and communicate knowledge in specialized areas, and develop and execute their own research inquiries. Recipients of the PhD degree should also demonstrate a professional competency in advanced sociological theory and research methods. As a result, before being admitted to candidacy, doctoral students must pass a written comprehensive examination in their major area of specialization.

Comprehensive examinations are tests of a student's command of both general and specialized areas of knowledge. While comprehensive examinations may be based in part on material covered in coursework, they also reflect the need for students to supplement course work with considerable personal study. The exams are designed to assess a candidate’s mastery of a substantially broader range of theoretical and research literature in their chosen areas of emphasis than can be covered in just a few courses. Therefore, students who expect to do well on the exams will find it necessary to devote significant effort to in-depth study and independent preparation in the months prior to taking these exams.

The written comprehensive exam will be developed, administered, and evaluated by all sociology faculty on the candidate’s supervisory committee. Non-sociology members of the committee may participate as appropriate. The Supervisory Committee may solicit input and recommendations from other faculty when such input is necessary and appropriate. In this event, participating non-committee faculty members will not have an official vote on the outcome of an examination but will serve in an advisory capacity.

The Supervisory committee will incorporate questions addressing

  • elements of general sociological theory
  • elements of research methods
  • as well as a broad range of topics within the specialty area.

Timing of examinations will be determined in the normal course of student advisement by the supervisory committee subject to the following conditions:

  • Comprehensive examinations are offered during the Fall and Spring semesters only. Summer comprehensive exams are only possible in extenuating circumstances and with written approval from the full supervisory committee and the DGS.
  • The student should normally have completed all theory and methods coursework requirements as well as all other coursework in the specific specialty area as approved by his or her Supervisory Committee in their Program of Study prior to taking their comprehensive examinations.
  • Students petition the Chairperson of their Supervisory Committee to schedule their comprehensive examination no later than 4 weeks before the proposed date of the exam. This will allow adequate time for student consultation with supervisory committee members regarding format and content expectations and for development of the examination.
  • Students have the right to be informed in writing by the Chair of their Supervisory Committee shortly after receiving approval to schedule the exam regarding details of the examination process such as timing, length, format, grading, and notification time. Supervisory Committee members will have the responsibility to determine exam content and format details. The full Supervisory Committee will meet with students to review expectations regarding comprehensive exam content and format.

The development of the comprehensive examination questions is a Supervisory Committee process. It is the responsibility of the chair to oversee this process. The format of the exam will be determined by the committee prior to the solicitation of exam questions by the committee chair. The chair should make every effort to solicit questions from each committee member well in advance (at least 2-3 weeks) of the time an exam period is scheduled. The committee members should respond to the call for questions from the chair in a timely fashion.

The chair will circulate a final exam draft for final approval no less than 2 days before the scheduled exam. Committee members should respond to the chair's request for final approval immediately. If there are disagreements concerning an exam question or format of the exam that cannot be resolved informally through discussion, the chair will convene the committee as soon as possible prior to the administration of the exam to discuss the concerns, propose solutions, and work for consensus. Majority vote for exam format and content will prevail in cases of disagreement when consensus cannot be reached. In the event of a tie, the chair can make the final determination for exam format and content.

The administration and evaluation of examinations shall be the responsibility of the examination committee subject to the following conditions:

  1. Each member of the Supervisory Committee shall read and 48 evaluate the examination independently. The evaluation options for the written examinations will be:
    • Pass with distinction
    • Pass
    • Conditional Pass (see (c) below)
    • Fail
  2. The chair of the Supervisory Committee will convene or poll the committee to vote on the grade for the examination(s) within two weeks of the examination date. Majority vote is required to award a passing grade. Supervisory Committee examination decisions are final.
  3. In the event of a conditional pass in the written examination the options may include an oral examination, remedial coursework, a written paper, review of special readings, some combination of the above, or other work as specified by the committee. With the exception of remedial coursework, this work must be completed and evaluated within 12 weeks of the date that it is assigned. The committee can require the student to retake the examination if his/her work is not completed within the required time frame.
  4. The chair of the committee will notify the DGS of the outcome of the comprehensive examination(s) and any subsequent work associated with a conditional pass.
    The DGS will, in turn, provide official notification of the results to the student, and the GPC will save a copy of the notification in the student’s SGS file.
    Debriefing of students is the responsibility of the examination committee.
  5. If a student wishes to clarify the reasons for a decision on their written comprehensive examination, they may request a meeting of the full Supervisory Committee.
  6. Students will be permitted one retake of their major comprehensive examination. Retake examinations must be completed within one year of a failed exam.
  7. If a student fails a retake exam, within 2 weeks the DGS will make a recommendation to the GEC regarding whether (a) the student failing the retake examination in any area should be dropped from the program, (b) the student will be allowed to continue, but must pass a comprehensive examination in a new area, or (c) another resolution or outcome. The GEC will make a final decision. The Department Head or delegated representative will notify the student of the final decision regarding such recommendations.

Dissertation Proposal

Following successful completion of all course and comprehensive examination requirements, a doctoral student is required to develop and formally present his or her dissertation proposal to their Supervisory Committee for approval.

This proposal presentation will be made at a meeting convened by the chairperson of the candidate's Supervisory Committee, attended by all members of the Supervisory Committee. This meeting may be held as a colloquium open to the public, or as a private meeting, at the discretion of the Committee and the student. The colloquium will be chaired by the chairperson of the candidate's Supervisory Committee.

The candidate is responsible for supplying members of the Supervisory Committee with copies of the dissertation proposal no later than one week prior to the date of the colloquium.

At the conclusion of the colloquium, the Supervisory Committee will evaluate the proposal and indicate approval or disapproval. Majority vote will prevail.

A copy of the approved dissertation proposal must be submitted to the DGS and the GPC.

If their research involves human subjects, each doctoral student and their committee chair will submit the appropriate application for research approval to the USU Institutional Review Board along with a copy of the approved dissertation proposal. If the approved dissertation proposal involves human subjects data collection already approved by the USU IRB, the student and their major professor are responsible for submitting an amendment the IRB indicating that this research will be used for a dissertation.

Admission to Candidacy

After successful completion of all required substantive coursework, the written comprehensive examination, certification of the minor specialization requirements, and approval of a dissertation proposal by their Supervisory Committee, doctoral students should complete the Application for Candidacy Doctoral Degree form and submit it to the School of Graduate Studies. If approved by the SGS, candidates may list themselves as being ‘ABD’ on their curriculum vitae. At this point, doctoral students will not be required by the department to take additional coursework and are expected to devote their energies toward work on their dissertation project.

Dissertation Defense

Once a dissertation proposal is approved, doctoral students will conduct the appropriate research activities and write a dissertation that meets the appropriate professional and institutional standards for doctoral degrees in sociology.

Students should submit a copy of the dissertation to all members of the Supervisory Committee prior to the date when the forms for scheduling the defense are to be submitted to the School of Graduate Studies; those forms must be submitted to the School of Graduate Studies a minimum of 10 working days prior to the proposed defense date. The scheduling of the final dissertation defense should be publicly announced by the chairperson of the Supervisory Committee at least one week prior to the date of the defense.

The Supervisory Committee will conduct the final examination and will be the only voting members. The examination will be chaired by the outside member of the Supervisory Committee (as designated by the School of Graduate Studies).

The student’s presentation of the dissertation findings will be open to the public. The supervisory committee will be responsible for determining whether persons other than the student and committee members are permitted to remain during the remainder of the examination process. Guidelines for doctoral dissertation examinations include:

  • The examination will be primarily focused on the dissertation and that portion of the candidate's field of specialization in which the dissertation falls. However, other substantive, theoretical or methodological areas in the general field of Sociology may be covered.
  • At the conclusion of the examination the Supervisory Committee will vote. Majority vote will prevail. If a grade of pass is awarded, any recommended minor revisions will be completed under the direction of the chairperson of the Supervisory Committee.
  • The results of the examination are recorded on the Record of Examination Completion form, with any additions or changes required on the dissertation noted. This form is submitted to the USU School of Graduate Studies.
  • After all content revisions are completed and the cover page is signed by all members of the supervisory committee, doctoral candidates are required to submit to the DGS, or designated departmental thesis format reviewer, for format review a final copy of their dissertation, formatted to comply with all USU School of Graduate requirements.
  • The candidate is responsible for meeting all other graduation requirements and deadlines established by the School of Graduate Studies.