Doctor of Education (EdD) in Educational Research

Advanced Credit

The applicant must make Advanced Credit requests as part of the admission process. Credit will not be given for course work taken as part of another completed degree/diploma, or for courses taken to bring grade point average to a required level for admission.

Flexible Grade Option (CG Grade)

Graduate Programs in Education in the Werklund School of Education will not permit the Flexible Grade Option (CG Grade) for any course offered by the School.

Students may not choose the CG grade for a course taken extra to load.

The use of the CG grade will affect students’ eligibility for internal awards.

Credit for Undergraduate Courses

Graduate Programs in Education does not normally accept undergraduate courses for credit toward graduate degrees.

Time Limit

Expected completion for students in the EdD program is four years with a maximum completion time of six years.

Supervisory Assignments

A supervisor is normally appointed at the time of admission.

Required Examinations

Candidacy

Admission into Candidacy in the Werklund School of Education Graduate Programs: 1) requires that students have abilities to conceptualize, interpret, critique and synthesize comprehensive, substantive knowledge that is relevant to the discipline and practice of educational research; and 2) ensures that students have a well-developed plan for their dissertation research, a sound proposal with a well-developed research question, and consideration of ethical issues that demonstrate the ability to pursue and complete original independent research at the doctoral level.

In compliance with the Faculty of Graduate Studies Candidacy Regulations, the requirements for Admission to Candidacy at the Werklund School of Education is a 4 stage process:

1. Completion of all course requirements as identified in the calendar;

2. Field of study (FoS) written paper;

3. A research proposal approved by the Supervisory Committee (recognizing changes may be made after successful completion of the Candidacy exams);

4. An oral examination of the research proposal;

Ethics approval is required for all research projects involving the use of human subjects, before data collection begins. To initiate the ethics approval process, the student, in consultation with the supervisor, must submit an application to either the Conjoint Faculties Research Ethics Board or the Conjoint Health Research Ethics Board. Applications to the CFREB or CHREB are created and submitted online using IRISS.

All Candidacy requirements must be completed within 28 months of the start of the program.

For further information, please consult the Graduate Programs in Education website.

Thesis

The Doctoral thesis is the focus of the degree program. In consultation with the supervisor, the student should formulate an appropriate thesis topic as early as possible in the program.

Thesis Examination

In addition to the Faculty of Graduate Studies regulations for Thesis Examinations, the program requires:

Scheduling of the Examination

All members of the Supervisory Committee must have approved the student’s draft thesis document before an examination can be scheduled.

Composition of the Committee

The Internal Examiner may be internal to the home program.

Financial assistance may be available to qualified students. For information on awards, see the Awards and Financial Assistance section of this Calendar.