REQUIREMENTS AND GUIDELINES FOR THE ACADEMIC
PROGRESS OF GRADUATE STUDENTS IN INDUSTRIAL
AND ORGANIZATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY
August 2009
The primary objective of the graduate program of the Industrial and Organizational Psychology (I/O) Interest Group is to provide research-oriented graduate-level training for those students who intend to pursue academic and professional careers in this field. Graduate training focuses on four key skill areas:
1. understanding of psychological constructs related to attitudes and behavior in organizations and the processes by which constructs are developed
2. understanding of theories related to attitudes and behavior in organizations and skill in theory development
3. understanding of analytic and research design tools and techniques and skill in their application
4. understanding of how persons, teams, and organizational systems influence one another
Development of knowledge and skill in these areas is achieved through a variety of means, including formal coursework, project work, thesis and dissertation work, and independent and self-directed work.
The following requirements and guidelines are designed to facilitate the development of these skills to achieve our overall objective. They have been formulated with the expectation that you will complete the M.A. program in two years and complete the Ph.D. program in two to three years beyond the M.A. program. The expectation is that the Ph.D will be earned within five years of beginning the program.
Although there are a number of required courses for graduate study in Industrial and Organizational Psychology, the specific courses and other work in the various areas of relevance to I/O psychology for each student will vary, depending upon his/her unique background, abilities, skills, interests, and goals. By the end of your first semester of residence in the program, you should form a master’s level guidance committee of three faculty members, and together with your committee develop an appropriate masters plan of study. Once you complete your master’s thesis and have been admitted into the doctoral program, you will then form a Ph.D. guidance committee of three faculty members and with that committee develop an appropriate Ph.D. plan of study.
The next section (II) of these guidelines is written for students entering MSU with a B.A. or B.S. degree. A small section (Section III) addresses the requirements that are relevant to students entering MSU with a Master's degree from another program or institution.
Coursework Requirements
In pursuing the Masters and then the Ph.D. degrees, you must successfully complete a set of course requirements. The requirements to obtain a Ph.D. in I/O Psychology are listed below. Your Master’s Guidance Committee and Ph.D. Guidance Committee will help you to apportion the course requirements to meet the Department of Psychology standards to obtain a master’s degree and a Ph.D. degree.
· General Psychology. You are required to take two courses in other areas of psychology where the constructs studied and the theories examined have particular relevance for I/O psychology. It is expected that you will take a minimum of two courses from the following list: History of Psychology (PSY 805), Higher-order Cognitive Processes (PSY 803), Social and Personality Psychology (PSY 834), Personality Processes and Social Behavior (PSY 836), Social Cognition (PSY 837), Group Processes (PSY 840). Other nonrecurring courses (e.g., seminars) may qualify as fulfilling the general psychology requirement. For consideration of a course not listed here, provide the I/O Psychology area program head with a course syllabus for approval by the I/O faculty. Unlisted courses should follow the spirit of a substantive course in general psychology; methods courses in other interest groups, for example, would not be seen as meeting this requirement. Students expecting to be licensed as psychologists should consider courses required for state licensing. National licensing guidelines followed by most states have been written; details are available at www.siop.org.
· Statistics, research methods and their application to problems in industrial and organizational psychology. You are required to complete the following courses before completing your M.A. work: PSY 815, 818, 865. Students are also strongly urged to consider a Department of Psychology concentration in Quantitative Methods (QMES). Beyond the courses required by the I/O program, a QMES concentration requires two additional courses in advanced quantitative statistical techniques. Typically, these courses will be offered as sections of PSY 992 in topical areas such as multivariate design, general linear model, structural equations modeling, categorical data analysis, meta-analysis, regression methods, cluster analysis, configural frequency analysis, and longitudinal data analysis. Students must conduct an independent project on a topic reflecting their interests in quantitative methods and/or evaluation science (see departmental section on QMES Concentration for details).
·
Independent Study. You are also required to take PSY 890 both
semesters your first year. This course
provides you with an opportunity to be involved in a research project during
your first year. The course is also
structured to provide exposure to the research programs of faculty in I/O and
· Theory and research in Industrial and Organizational Psychology. At the M.A. level you will complete PSY 860, I/O Psychology. You are required to take 5 other courses in industrial and organizational psychology to obtain the Ph.D. Courses are offered to reflect the following areas: motivation, learning and performance; individual differences and assessment; developing people; systems and levels; cultural context, and work attitudes and well-being While course choice should reflect individual career plans, covering all of these areas will provide a more well-rounded background. Note that a course that fulfills the I/O requirement cannot fulfill any other requirement such as the general psychology requirement . Although you are required to take 5 of these courses to obtain the Ph.D, we encourage you to take as many of these courses as possible. Also, students are encouraged to design self-directed independent study, in consultation with faculty, when courses do not cover a specific interest.
· Additional Course. You must take ONE other course in addition to the above requirements. Depending upon your interests such a course might be a special topics seminar in I/O, a course in another area of psychology (not counted toward the general psychology requirement), or a course in another department.
Other requirements:
· Professional Skills and Field Experience. There are no standard requirements in this area. Depending upon your background, interests, and career goals, a variety of courses and/or practical experiences designed to facilitate the development of practical skills may be relevant, such as leading management development groups, interviewing employees, administering tests, collecting data, and conducting a job analysis. You and your guidance committee must determine the extent to which such work is appropriate in your case. At regular intervals, a Professional Skills Development course will be offered that will provide focused skill development through guided experiences.
Because organizational psychology is concerned with the behavior of individuals as members of formal organizations, you are expected to obtain as much exposure to and experiences in field research settings as possible. Again, there are no standard requirements in this area but you and your guidance committee are expected to determine the extent to which such work is desirable and feasible for you.. For example, either your M.A. thesis or Ph.D. dissertation could be conducted in a field setting. You should consider how such experiences might fulfill licensing requirements
· Student Research and Teaching Assignments. Assignments are meant to meet your training needs as well as the needs of the department or a given research endeavor. Research assistantships provide professional skill training as well as field and practice experience. Teaching assistantships provide skill training in dealing with others, instruction delivery and design, and developing tests. Students can also apply to teach their own undergraduate course (e.g., an introduction to I/O psychology) in the summer sessions. Teaching experiences can be beneficial to students regardless of their career aspirations. Consequently, the aim is to balance your research and teaching assignments throughout your time here in the program.
· Research Competence. As noted above, at the M.A. level, you are required to register for Independent Study (PSY 890) your first two semesters in the program. A major objective of this course is to involve you in a significant way in some ongoing faculty research project. Perhaps the most important aspect of graduate training involves acquiring research competence, which is done most expeditiously through continuous involvement in the research process throughout graduate school. During the first weeks of graduate school, you select (or are assigned to) a 890 project with a faculty member who serves as your research advisor. Under the direction of this research advisor in PSY 890, you should undertake an increasingly significant role in others' research, with the eventual goal of initiating your own projects. Participation in research projects(s) is required throughout your graduate program.;
When you begin your M.A. thesis research, you should enroll in PSY 899 (thesis credits). As soon as you are prepared to begin your thesis work, you should form a master's thesis committee. This committee consists of at least three faculty members, some of whom may be the same people who are on your M.A. guidance committee. The chair of this committee must be an I/O faculty member. You should work closely with your chair to develop a defendable research proposal. You should submit a thesis proposal to the thesis committee, which details the problems to be addressed, hypotheses (if any) to be tested, and the methods to be used in the study. The proposal is written in a format that serves as the introduction and method of a completed thesis. Oral defense of this proposal to the thesis committee must take place before the research is conducted. Thesis research will typically be an empirical investigation with the potential of publication in the standard journals of the field.
After you submit a final thesis draft, the thesis committee administers an oral examination based on the thesis and makes two recommendations to the psychology department. One recommendation concerns the student's successful completion of the thesis requirement. The second is the committee members' recommendation regarding admission into the doctoral program. The entire I/O faculty must then approve the second recommendation for you to be formally admitted into the Ph.D. program.
You are encouraged to translate the results of any research in which you have participated into professional contributions. These contributions can include journal articles or papers presented at professional meetings and conventions. In addition, students are encouraged to present their studies to the I/O community here at MSU through weekly brown bags throughout the fall and spring semesters.
·
International experiences. Students are encouraged to approach the
study of organizational psychology from a global perspective. In addition to seeking coursework that
provides an international perspective on psychology topics, students may chose
to spend a term at a doctoral program in organizational psychology outside the
M. A. progress.
The following guidelines are intended to help you gauge your progress toward meeting M.A. degree requirements relative to I/O program expectations for good progress. These guidelines provide a gauge for typical progress, though the I/O faculty reserve the right to add additional stipulations to help prompt progress as conditions may warrant. Faculty meet with each student each spring to provide formal feedback as to progress and to discuss next steps to advance in the program. The goal is to work with you to successfully complete your thesis by the end of your second year in the program. This allows you to have more flexibility in pursuing avenues to contribute to your development as an I/O Psychologist (e.g., additional field experience, internships, global experience).
1. You should form your M.A. guidance committee and submit a Plan of Study for the M.A. (i.e., course work plan) to your guidance committee for approval by the end of the first semester of your first year.
2. You should plan on defending your M.A. thesis proposal by the end of the first semester (Dec. 15) of your second year. If this timeline is not met, a letter making clear the consequences of a lack of progress as described in point 3 and 4 below will be sent to you.
3. If your M. A. thesis proposal has not been successfully defended by the end of the second semester (May 15) of your second year, you will be informed that the I/O faculty will not recommend you for advancement to the Ph.D. program. You will be considered a terminal M.A. student. If this happens to you, you may petition for reconsideration for entry to the Ph.D. program at the completion of your M.A. thesis, assuming there are legitimate extenuating circumstances. Reconsiderations, however, are not expected to be common.
4. If your thesis has not been successfully defended (i.e., final oral defense) by the end of the second semester (May 15) of your third year, you will be informed that you will not be funded by the I/O program and faculty, pending completion of the thesis. If you are subsequently admitted to the Ph.D. program, you may be funded again if graduate support is available and other requirements have been met
.
Summary. Therefore, to obtain the MA, you must take 815, 818, 860, 865, 890 (2 credits fall and 2 credits spring of your first year), 2 other courses (from those listed as fulfilling course requirements) and 8 credits of 899 (master’s research thesis credits). You must successfully defend your proposed thesis and then successfully defend your completed thesis.
Doctoral
Guidance Committee and Program of Study
During the first semester following your admission to the doctoral program, you should form a four member doctoral guidance committee. Your Doctoral Guidance Committee must consist of four MSU faculty, at least three of whom are regular (non-adjunct or Emeritus) members of the psychology department. The chairperson of the committee must come from the I/O Interest Group. No more than one of the four faculty may be Adjunct, Emeritus, or from outside the Psychology Department. You and your guidance committee will jointly develop a doctoral program of study, consisting of courses, seminars, research and professional experiences that will facilitate the development of your competence in areas outlined earlier in this document. Failure to provide a completed plan of study by one year after your admission to the doctoral program will result in denial of registration in any research level courses (PSY 999). We expect you to compete your Ph.D. degree within five years of being admitted into the program so that you can pursue your career goals. Failure to complete a dissertation in five years from the time you entered graduate school with a bachelor's degree (or three years if you entered with a master's degree) will most likely result in loss of further financial support through the program.
It is expected you and your guidance committee will develop a program of study which best fits your unique background, skills, and interests. Courses placed on your master’s plan of study cannot be placed on your Doctoral plan of study. Doctoral students are encouraged to obtain appropriate employment and/or internship experience.
Comprehensive Examination
You must pass a comprehensive examination in industrial and organizational psychology, which is developed and administered by the doctoral guidance committee. It is expected that you will pass this examination by the 3rd semester after your admission to the doctoral program.
This examination will be comprehensive and tailored somewhat to your unique interests and goals. In general, the examination reflects the guidance committee's expectations of competencies from someone with the Ph.D. in I/O psychology who has the type of experiences and interests/goals you do. The exam is one more step in the validation of your program of study and is never viewed in isolation from other features of your program.
Comprehensive exams serve at least two goals:
· Developmental, in the sense that you are encouraged to read in new areas of Psychology. You will also be asked to integrate material discussed or read in various courses in graduate school.
· Evaluative, in that faculty assess the degree to which you demonstrate mastery of some basic content and can integrate that content adequately.
Each of these goals are considered equally important.
Most frequently the comprehensive examination requirement will be satisfied by an open-book exam consisting of questions composed by the faculty in the interest group and your doctoral guidance committee. Persons taking this form of the exam will be allowed ten calendar days to answer these questions.
Exams will be scheduled twice a year, the last two full weeks in October and March. If all students involved agree that a better date would be two weeks earlier or later they can request such a change. Students wishing to take the exam must notify faculty at least three months prior to the exam if they wish to take it. The exam will consist of general questions to be answered by all individuals taking the exam at the time as well as questions that allow for choice on the part of the examinee as to the question(s) he/she answers. The intent of the latter type of questions is to accommodate individuality in student interests.
Faculty will meet to construct the comprehensive exam and discuss expected answers to all questions on the exam. Each faculty person on the committee will grade all items on the general portion of the exam for those students on whose guidance committee he/she serves and as many other items as appropriate given his/her interests/expertise. After grading exams independently, faculty will meet to discuss students' performance. Each question will be evaluated on a PASS, MARGINAL, or FAIL basis. In the case of marginal performance, faculty may require an oral examination or additional written work. In the case of failure, additional activities (e.g., oral exam, rewrite question, answering additional questions) will be required at the discretion of your committee. Finally, you are encouraged to request additional feedback concerning your performance from the chairperson of your guidance committee as well as others on your committee if desired.
Other options exist for the fulfillment of all or part of the comprehensive exam requirement (but are less frequently used). One of these options is to write a review(s) on some topic(s) approved by your guidance committee. Reviews should be of sufficient quality to merit publication in Psychological Bulletin or Psychological Review. For this less-traditional comprehensive examination, you will write a short proposal outlining what you would do, what literature(s) or research would be integrated, and what your final product would look like. (Faculty will consider this proposal at the time they would normally construct the comprehensive examination.) You are encouraged to discuss such proposals well in advance of the examination with your guidance committee. If your plan is approved, evaluation and feedback for the less traditional options will be given after the regular March or October exam dates or at another appropriate time to be determined by your guidance committee. Approval of such proposals typically will include the requirement that you answer one or more questions in the normal format. In any event, these student-initiated options will be followed by an oral exam.
Ph.D. Thesis and Thesis Committee
You are expected to form a doctoral dissertation committee no later than one year after admission to the doctoral program. To form a dissertation committee, students develop a dissertation proposal with assistance of your chairperson, or major professor. Your proposal details the dissertation problem and the method you propose for studying it. This proposal is generally submitted to other faculty members, at least three of whom must agree to serve on the dissertation committee. Membership on the dissertation and doctoral guidance committees may be identical, overlapping, or completely independent. You meet with your dissertation committee to defend your proposal and if approved, the proposal is signed by all members of the committee and placed in your file. You will not be allowed to have a formal dissertation proposal meeting prior to the completion of comprehensive exams.
After completing a draft of the Ph.D. dissertation, the dissertation committee administers an oral examination based on the dissertation. The Department of Psychology requires that you either (a) extend an invitation to all members of the department to attend the oral examination or (b) present a colloquium to the department on your dissertation. It is expected that students will normally complete their Ph.D. dissertation work by the fourth semester in residence after admission to the doctoral program, excluding summers. Given earlier progress in completing a masters and comprehensive exams, it may take more or less than four semesters to complete the Ph.D. dissertation.
Summary. To obtain the PhD., you must meet the course requirements as noted above ((815, 818, 860, 865, 890, 2 general psychology, 5 I/O seminars, and 1 additional course), successfully complete your masters thesis, pass the comprehensive exam, and successfully defend a doctoral dissertation.
Students entering the I/O program after residence in another graduate program will be asked to provide evidence of the completion of the same requirements outlined above, although some of these will likely be completed at your previous institution. For example, students with Master's degrees will sometimes have satisfied all or most of the general psychology and quantitative course requirements. You should consult with your faculty advisor as to the degree to which requirements have been met and what further course work or research experiences might be advisable. Further, you should form a guidance committee within two semesters after entry into the program so as to insure approval of a plan of study that meets all requirements.
The program has a number of formal and informal mechanisms for providing feedback to you with respect to progress through the program. An obvious example is formal grades at the completion of each course. Also, as you work on research, continuing contacts with your research advisor and committee provide a good deal of informal feedback.
In the doctoral program, three major evaluations are made. First after the completion of the master's thesis, the student's master's thesis committee votes on admitting the student to doctoral candidacy. The full I/O faculty must support admission to the Ph.D. program. Second, once in the doctoral program, the student must complete a comprehensive exam. Finally, a dissertation must be completed and approved. The evaluation in each case is made by the appropriate committee (i.e., full faculty, comprehensive exam,, or dissertation committee, respectively).
In addition, in the spring semester of each academic year, the members of the I/O Interest Group faculty meet to consider each student’s progress. Progress is assessed by ascertaining the degree to which you are meeting the commitments made to your guidance committee in your plan of study, satisfactory course work, performance on teaching/research assignments, progress on your own thesis or research efforts, and performance in other consulting, internship, or fieldwork. An effort is made to collect relevant information from students and faculty. In this regard, you should take responsibility to communicate your achievements. The intent of these annual evaluations is to make a joint faculty-student assessment of your progress and future educational needs and goals.
You are responsible for keeping the Department of Psychology informed of progress through your graduate training. This includes submitting and updating if necessary your masters and Ph.D. plans of study. In addition, there are forms regarding masters proposal and defense, and forms regarding your Ph.D. proposal and defense that must be completed and submitted to the department. . Appropriate recording forms are available on the Department's web site at http://psychology.msu.edu/GraduateProgram/forms.html.
In summary, students obtain skills in I/O psychology through a variety of mechanisms over time. The matrix below provides an organizing framework for thinking about and tracking your skill development; any individual student might obtain skills through different mechanisms while in the program.
Developing an I/O Psychologist:
DEVELOPMENTAL OPPORTUNITIES
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Coursework |
Research Experience |
Field Practice |
Internship/ International Experience |
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I/O THEMES |
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Motivation, Learning and Performance |
|
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|
|
Individual Differences and Assessment |
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|
|
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Developing Others |
|
|
|
|
|
Systems and Levels |
|
|
|
|
|
Cultural Context |
|
|
|
|
|
Work Attitudes and Well Being |
|
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Analytic and Research Design Skills |
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The typical student's progress through the industrial/organizational psychology program might proceed as follows:
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Year 1 1) Course work (PSY 860, 815, 818 , 890) 2) Formation of guidance committee and plan of study approval 3) Research collaboration with faculty 4) Begin to develop a thesis proposal 5) Annual performance review |
Year 2 1) Continued course work – Psychology 865 and other courses to meet requirements 2) Master's thesis proposal defended, research conducted, and thesis defended 3) Formal admission to doctoral program upon master's thesis completion 4) Annual performance review |
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Years 3-4 1) Form the doctoral guidance committee 2) Complete course work 3) Take comprehensive examinations 4) Internship and/or international experience [optional] 5) Annual performance review |
Years 4-5 1) Form doctoral dissertation committee 2) Prepare and defend dissertation proposal 3) Conduct dissertation research & defend dissertation 4) Annual performance review 5) Job search |