School of Psychology

Industrial and Organizational Psychology Program

Dissertation

Other Resources

Dissertation Questions

Defense

Once you have completed your research and your advisor has approved your document, you are ready to defend your dissertation.  The dissertation defense meeting is a test of the student’s expertise in the research area, and a critique of the final research project.  Students must provide rationale for key decisions that are supported by theory, previous research, and professional practice.  This is accomplished in the form of a PowerPoint presentation to the committee that summarizes the research questions and presents the results.  In addition students are expected to fully discuss the implications of their findings and to field questions from the committee.

The final paper should be delivered to each committee member for review at least one month in advance of your dissertation defense. Your committee will review your document and prepare questions.  During the presentation, the student will be asked questions about the project, and they should be prepared to answer these questions in an informative manner.  The dissertation is then graded pass/fail by the committee based on the quality of the student’s research and defense presentation.

During the defense, it is not uncommon for the committee to identify changes that the student must make for final approval. Once the changes have been made and the committee has approved the project, the student can submit 5 copies of the dissertation to the Office of Graduate Programs. For more information on submitting the dissertation and costs of binding click on: http://www.fit.edu/grad-programs/thesis.htm