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Guidelines for Graduate Student Research Projects

Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Prescott, Arizona Updated November 2011, Effective January 1, 2012

Table of Contents Overview ..........................................................................................................................................3 Introduction ..........................................................................................................................3 The Difference between a GRP and a Thesis ......................................................................3 Steps in the Completion of the Research Requirement .......................................................3 Deadlines for GRPs and Theses ......................................................................................................6 Examples ..........................................................................................................................................7 Proposal Guidelines .............................................................................................................7 Title Page Example ..............................................................................................................8 Signatory Pages ................................................................................................................................9 Committee Approval Page Example..................................................................................10 Proposal Approval Page Example .....................................................................................12 First Three Chapters Approval Page Example...................................................................12 Defense Confirmation Page Example ................................................................................13 Final Document Signatory Page Example .........................................................................14 GRP/Thesis Checklist Sample .......................................................................................................15

OVERVIEW Introduction The graduate program in the Department of Safety Science offers the degree of Master of Science in Safety Science (MSSS), which is a 36 credit-hour program. In addition to course work, this degree requires the completion of a research project, either a three-hour Graduate Research Project (GRP, with 33 hours of course work) or a six-hour Masters Thesis (with 30 hours of course work). Those students who are planning to do a GRP should have registered for a total of three hours of MSF 690 before graduation. Those planning to do a thesis should register for six hours of MSF 700 before graduation. Students completing a GRP should plan to complete this requirement in their last semester in the program, but may be approved to do so earlier. A thesis is usually completed over the last two semesters in the program. The detailed information in this handbook is intended to assist graduate students in the completion of this research requirement, and in no way supersedes the direction given by the students committee. The Difference between a GRP and a Thesis The difference between a GRP and a thesis is primarily a question of scope, but there are other distinguishing features. If the student aspires to later pursue a doctorate, a thesis should be considered since this is good preparation for writing a dissertation. A thesis is a project that requires the collection and analysis of data in an original fashion. This work should be suitable for submission to a peer-reviewed journal for publication. In contrast, a GRP does not necessarily involve original work in the form of collection and analysis of data, though it is strongly encouraged. If it does, it will be on a scale smaller than a thesis. A GRP may also consist of the results of an internship, such as the design of a safety program for a specific industry or a report developed from a hazard analysis. Both of these examples are appropriate GRP topics, but are not appropriate for a thesis. Steps in the Completion of the Research Requirement 1. IDEA: Students should generate ideas for research in consultation with the graduate faculty. This will allow the student to arrive at an idea that is consistent with the curriculum of the MSSS program and is of genuine interest to the student. It is wise to begin this process as early as possible. 2. COMMITTEE SELECTION: Student must request and receive signed consent from three persons to act as his or her committee. The committee will supervise the students research project by reading it, making suggestions, and acting as the examining board in the oral defense. This committee must consist of three members of the Safety Science Departments graduate faculty, one of whom must chair the committee. The role of the committee chair is to act as the primary point of contact for the student, serve as the overall coordinator of the committee, and has final authority for project approval. Any variance in the composition of the committee must receive prior approval from the Chair of the Department of Safety Science. The professional and academic expertise of each person in relation to the proposed research topic should be considered when selecting committee members and a committee chair. The committee must be officially formed by the due date (see Deadlines for GRPs and Theses), and the student should have received signed acceptance from a Safety Science faculty to be the Chair of the committee. A

copy of the committee selection form, signed by the entire committee, should be placed on file with the Department of Safety Sciences Administrative Assistant on the committee organization date. 3. PROPOSAL: The student will write a proposal and have it approved by all members of the committee. The proposal need not be more than a few pages (3-5). The proposal should consist of: an introduction a clear problem statement (a hypothesis, but not necessarily) proposed methods for investigating the problem The format for the proposal should conform to the most recent edition of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association. Note that a committee member may remove him or herself from the committee at this stage (or any previous stage) of the process. If this happens, the student must then choose an alternate member. A copy of the proposal approval page signed by the entire committee should be placed on file with the Department of Safety Sciences Administrative Assistant on the proposal approval date. 4. INSTITUTIONAL REVIEW BOARD (IRB): For all projects that require the use of human subjects, the student must submit an approval form through the Universitys Institutional Review Board (IRB) and receive study authorization from the IRB. Forms for this process can be obtained by contacting a Prescott campus IRB committee member (currently, Dr. Gary Northam). It should be noted that almost all research conducted in the Department of Safety Science will require the submission of these forms. As this process takes time, students are recommended to prepare this paperwork for submission as soon as possible, so that project progress is not hindered. If there are any questions, the student should consult his or her committee chair. 5. RESEARCH: The entire research project should be conducted in close consultation with the committee. If the committee is not consulted on a regular basis through this process, the chance of approval of the final product diminishes. It is strongly advised that students schedule to meet their chair and/or committee on a regular basis throughout the semester to review progress. 6. DOCUMENT PREPARATION: An acceptable draft of the first three chapters of the project must be presented to the committee for approval. This submission should have a signatory page, signed by the entire committee, as approval for the student to continue with the project. A copy of this approval page signed by the entire committee should be placed on file with the Department of Safety Sciences Administrative Assistant by the published due date. A final draft of the research paper will be submitted to all committee members for final corrections and approval on or before the due date. Requested changes will be provided to the student on or before the day of the defense, so there is no signatory page required for this submission. The entire paper should conform to the most recent edition of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association. The student should not begin writing the GRP or thesis until he or she has the approval of their committee. However, the process of writing should begin as soon as possible, at least by the beginning of the semester of anticipated graduation. The student should submit each section to the committee, and should not move on to subsequent

sections until the committee has approved that section. Even if the student begins submitting sections at the beginning of the semester of graduation, this will not guarantee that the committee will approve the final document by the end of the semester. Despite any plans that the student may make to leave campus or begin work, the committee cannot guarantee that this process will be completed in any predetermined time frame. The student will be allowed to finish when and only when he or she has satisfied the committee. 7. FINAL DEFENSE: The oral defense will be scheduled after the committee chair and committee members agree that the student is near enough to project completion to schedule the GRP/thesis defense. The committee will sign the defense confirmation form, and faculty members will draft the defense schedule at this time. A copy of the defense confirmation form, signed by the entire committee, should be placed on file with the Department of Safety Sciences Administrative Assistant on the defense confirmation date. The student is responsible for arriving at a mutually agreeable time with the committee, and issuing invitations to the graduate faculty, the administration of the College of Aviation, the deans of the Colleges of Arts and Sciences and Engineering, and the entire graduate student body. Again, note that this is the students responsibility. The final defense of the GRP or thesis will require a formal presentation using PowerPoint or other presentation software; this presentation will be limited to 30 minutes, with another 15 minutes allowed for questions from the committee and the audience. Students are encouraged to review their presentation with members of their committee before the actual defense. After the defense, the students committee will advise the student whether he or she has passed and what revisions are necessary. The committee may then sign and approve the students GRP/thesis as is (or with specified revisions). However, the committee may not approve the document, and the student will be required to make changes before committee signing, or the student may be required to complete their project the following semester. 8. COMPLETION: Finally, the student must complete all necessary paperwork for graduation (assuming that all coursework has been completed as well). For a GRP, a hard copy of the paper along with an electronic copy (PDF, word document, etc.) must be provided to the Department of Safety Sciences Administrative Assistant. For a thesis, a bound copy must be provided to the library and both a bound copy and electronic copy to the Department of Safety Sciences Administrative Assistant. Copies of either the GRP or thesis may be provided to other recipient(s) as deemed appropriate by the student. 9. GRP/THESIS ENROLLMENT: Once a student has enrolled for 3 hours of GRP (MSF 690) or 6 hours of thesis (MSF 700) credit, the student must continuously enroll for 1 credit of GRP or Thesis until the course is successfully completed. This policy is outlined in detail in the Graduate Research Project Grading and the Thesis Grading sections of the University catalog.

Deadlines for GRPs and Theses

Deliverable Committee Organization Proposal First Three Chapters (Introduction, Literature Review, Methods) Defense Confirmation GRP/Thesis Completed and Delivered to Committee GRP/Thesis Defenses

Fall 2011 Completion April 15, 2011 September 9, 2011 October 21, 2011 November 10, 2011 December 2, 2011 December 9 and 10, 2011

Spring 2012 Completion December 2, 2011 January 20, 2012 March 3, 2012 March 30, 2012 April 20, 2012 April 27 and 28, 2012

EXAMPLES The MSSS department has a specific format for the final project cover page, different from APA format. Guidelines for the cover page and for the research proposal are provided below. Students are encouraged to review previous student projects, available in RASC II, for examples of completed projects. However, APA format changes often, and students should not rely on these examples for APA formatting.

Proposal Guidelines There is no title page required for this submission; a simple page header with pertinent information is adequate. The remainder of the proposal should follow APA format for the introduction (a brief background of the subject of study), problem statement (with a verbal or quantitative hypothesis, if needed), methods the student plans to use for completing the study, and a bibliography. These sections, in total, should be approximately 3-5 pages long. The bibliography should include any sources cited in the proposal, along with sufficient citations to display that the student has conducted research and that there is available background on the topic. An annotated bibliography may be required by some committee chairs. This would consist of each APA-formatted citation (around 15-20) followed by a short annotation. Annotations will likely be a summary, assessment, and reflection of the source. These should be in paragraph format and need not be more than a few sentences long.

Write the full title of the project in all caps. The title should be concise, but use a second line as shown, if needed.

Title Page 1st page of the report Note: All lines are centered. Do not put a page number on this page

TITLE LINE 1 TITLE LINE 2

GRADUATE RESEARCH PROJECT (OR THESIS)

Presented to the MSSS Graduate Committee Of Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements

For the Degree of

Master of Science in Safety Science

By

STUDENTS FULL OFFICIAL NAME, DEGREE(S) ALREADY HELD

Prescott, Arizona May 1, 2012

Use appropriate abbreviations, for example: JOHN JAMES SMITH, B.S. IN AERONAUTICAL SCIENCE

Date of graduation, not defense

SIGNATORY PAGES The following signatory pages are examples of the required documentation of each stage of the project for every Graduate Research Project or Thesis. Each student should complete a duplicate of each form with the appropriate information filled out. Semester due dates can be found in the course catalog. It should be noted that these dates are for form submission, and students will likely have to supply the required material to their committee much earlier in order for the committee to have time for review. It is the students responsibility to work with their committee to develop this timeline. Students are advised to make a copy of each signed form for their own records before submitting the original copy to the graduate admissions office. The final approval page should be placed in the final report for submission, as the first page after the title page.

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Committee Approval The committee for Authors Name, for the topic of Topic, will be comprised of the following members: Approval of Committee:

Committee Chair

____________________________________________________ Date Full Name, Relevant degrees held Position, Department Affiliation

Committee Member

____________________________________________________ Date Full Name, Relevant degrees held Position, Department Affiliation

Committee Member

____________________________________________________ Date Full Name, Relevant degrees held Position, Department Affiliation

Note: Committee members may decline membership on the committee after signing this form. Students may also elect to change committee composition by resubmitting this form (although this may delay graduation). Changes in Committee Chair must be made in consultation with and upon approval by the department of safety science chair.

Submitted to Graduate Admissions Office on ______________

(Initials) _______

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Submitted to Graduate Admissions Office on ______________

(Initials) _______

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Proposal Approval The committee for Authors Name, under the title of Project Title, approves the proposal for study. Approval of Committee:

Committee Chair

____________________________________________________ Date Full Name, Relevant degrees held Position, Department Affiliation

Committee Member

____________________________________________________ Date Full Name, Relevant degrees held Position, Department Affiliation

Committee Member

____________________________________________________ Date Full Name, Relevant degrees held Position, Department Affiliation

Submitted to Graduate Admissions Office on ______________

(Initials) _______

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First Three Chapters Approval The committee for Authors Name, under the title of Project Title, approves the first three chapters for study. Approval of Committee:

Committee Chair

____________________________________________________ Date Full Name, Relevant degrees held Position, Department Affiliation

Committee Member

____________________________________________________ Date Full Name, Relevant degrees held Position, Department Affiliation

Committee Member

____________________________________________________ Date Full Name, Relevant degrees held Position, Department Affiliation

Submitted to Graduate Admissions Office on ______________

(Initials) _______

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Defense Confirmation The committee for Authors Name, under the title of Project Title, confirms that progress for this study is sufficient for completion by the tentative defense date. Approval of Committee:

Committee Chair

____________________________________________________ Date Full Name, Relevant degrees held Position, Department Affiliation

Committee Member

____________________________________________________ Date Full Name, Relevant degrees held Position, Department Affiliation

Committee Member

____________________________________________________ Date Full Name, Relevant degrees held Position, Department Affiliation

Submitted to Graduate Admissions Office on ______________

(Initials) _______

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TITLE OF GRADUATE RESEARCH PROJECT/THESIS The graduate research project of Authors Name, in contribution to the College of Aviation, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, under the title Title of Graduate Research Project, is approved as partial fulfillment of the Master of Science in Safety Science.

Approval of Committee:

Committee Chair

____________________________________________________ Date Full Name, Relevant degrees held Position, Department Affiliation

Committee Member

____________________________________________________ Date Full Name, Relevant degrees held Position, Department Affiliation

Committee Member

____________________________________________________ Date Full Name, Relevant degrees held Position, Department Affiliation

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GRP/Thesis Checklist (For guidance only, not all-inclusive) Committee Selection Due date: __________________________________ Proposal Due date: __________________________________ IRB Forms submitted (if required) IRB Approval (if required) First Three Chapters Due date: __________________________________ Defense Confirmation Due date: __________________________________ Final Draft Due date: __________________________________ Defense Date/time: __________________________________ Scheduled meetings with committee and notes: ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ Checklist for GRP/thesis content: Title page Approval page Acknowledgements (if appropriate) Abstract List of figures List of tables Table of contents Chapter 1: Depending on the study, and the expectations of the committee chair, this section may include: an introduction, statement of the problem, need for the study, hypothesis/null hypothesis, limitations/delimitations, objectives, and definitions of terms Chapter 2: Review of Literature Chapter 3: Methodology Chapter 4: Results

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Chapter 5: Summary, conclusion, and recommendations References Appendices (as needed) Checklist for final defense: Arrive on time, in business dress, with the following: CD/flash drive/etc. of presentation Any necessary handouts for the presentation Appropriate number of copies of final project for the committee 2 extra (unbound) copies of the final signatory page Checklist for completion of program Graduation paperwork completed by due date All courses and coursework completed Hard copy (or bound copy) and CD copy of GRP/thesis turned in to Graduate Admissions A hard-cover bound copy of the thesis turned in to the library (for a thesis only)