Industrial/Organizational Psychology Curriculum

On this page…

I/O Coursework

Students enrolled in the Industrial/Organizational (I/O) Psychology program at East Carolina University complete a total of 45-semester hours of coursework. You may choose to complete either an internship or a thesis, however, we encourage you to consider doing both. NOTE: While the internship is not required, it is highly encouraged and most of our students choose to complete one.

Internship Experience

You can complete an internship that provides practical experience in an organizational setting. An internship is an opportunity to do professional work under the supervision of another professional, and may entail either personnel research or applied activities, such as training, selection and appraisal, job analysis, or other similar functions.

Internship Criteria

An internship must meet the following minimal criteria:

• Prior to beginning the internship, a contract (PDF) must be completed and signed by all relevant parties.
• One semester of full-time employment in an organizational setting. Internships generally occur during the summer (May through August) following the first year of coursework. A full summer’s assignment (no less than 10 weeks) will be considered equivalent to one semester.
• Students are usually placed on the company’s payroll, and the assignment may require you to relocate for the semester.
• An on-the-job supervisor who is familiar with the requirements of the internship program must supervise the internship. A psychologist (or other human resource professional) employed by the organization will supervise you, or they will work under the supervision of an ECU I/O faculty member. The provision of supervision must be approved by the I/O Program Director prior to the beginning of the assignment. Each supervisor will be asked to summarize your performance in a feedback report (PDF) provided to the Program Director and you. You will be evaluated on job performance, attitude, and professional growth.

Internship Placement Procedures

Although the program can facilitate the internship assignment, self-placements, arranged by you, are encouraged with prior approval from the Program Director. Written evidence that the placement will meet the minimal requirements for an internship assignment is required prior to you accepting the position. This statement should include:

Course Credit

To receive course credit for the internship opportunity, you must enroll in PSYC 6970 and complete any course-related work (e.g., Job Analysis (PDF)). Specifically, to get credit for PSYC 6970 (I/O Internship), you must conduct a job analysis and electronically submit the final report (signed off by your supervisor) to the I/O Program Director. Additionally, you must give a presentation on the job analysis. Thus, the job analysis report and presentation are required for everyone who does an internship. PSYC 6970 is the course that internship students are registered in for the fall of their second year, and the job analysis report and presentation are required in order to get course credit.

Thesis

The Master’s thesis is an optional component of the educational experience for the Industrial/Organizational (I/O) Psychology graduate student. The thesis requires you to work closely with a faculty member on a research project that will be evaluated by a committee of faculty members. The objectives of the thesis project include:

Committee Chair and Members

It is critically important for you to identify an area of interest and conduct additional readings in that area as early as possible. Although not a requirement, you will usually find it advantageous to select a topical area in which a faculty member in the program has substantial research expertise. Once you have chosen a suitable area for thesis research and a faculty member who is able and willing to provide direction, you should formally ask that professor to serve as the chair of your thesis committee. In consultation with the thesis chair, you will then select at least two additional faculty members and formally ask them to serve on the committee.

All committee members must meet the requirements for and currently hold ECU Graduate Faculty status. Although the thesis chair is responsible for directing your project, all committee members are expected to provide resource and evaluative functions during the thesis project. Furthermore, all committee members will attend the proposal meeting, discuss your performance, attend the oral thesis defense, and vote regarding the acceptability of the thesis.

Proposal Preparation

Once a thesis topic has been identified and a committee established, you will work with the chair and committee members, as necessary, to prepare a proposal. The proposal should include the following sections: (1) Introduction, (2) Literature Review (including specific research hypotheses), (3) Proposed Method (including proposed data analysis plan), and (4) References. The proposal should be formatted based upon the most current APA Publication Manual and the Graduate School Manual of Basic Formatting Requirements for Theses and Dissertations.

Proposal Meeting

As soon as the proposal has been prepared to the extent that you and chair feel confident about presenting it for review, a committee meeting should be scheduled. Each committee member will receive a copy of the proposal at least one week prior to the proposal meeting. During this meeting, you will present the thesis proposal and respond to questions from the committee members. The format of the meeting is to be decided by the thesis chair—ranging from a formal presentation to a working meeting.

The committee will recommend changes, if any, that need to be made to the proposal (e.g., depth of the literature review, design of the study, nature of the hypotheses). Once all of the committee members have approved the proposal, you are responsible for completing and submitting the ECU Pre-Thesis Research Approval Form (PDF). Furthermore, it is your responsibility to ensure that all research has been approved by the University and Medical Center Institutional Review Board (UMCIRB) or the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC), as applicable, prior to the start of data collection. The proposal meeting must be conducted prior to data collection.

Completing the Thesis

Following the proposal meeting, you are responsible for keeping the committee chair informed of your progress with data collection and analysis and, if necessary, you should discuss the project with any of the other committee members. Once the study has been completed, you will begin preparing the final manuscript. Early drafts should be developed by you in close consultation with the committee chair and include (1) Results, (2) Discussion, and (3) Conclusions, as well as (4) an updated Method section. These early drafts are not typically shared with other committee members unless requested by the thesis chair. Refer to the most current APA Publication Manual and the Graduate School Manual of Basic Formatting Requirements for Theses and Dissertations for specific guidance on manuscript formatting requirements.

Once a final draft has been approved by the thesis chair, you will provide each committee member with a copy of the final manuscript at least one week prior to the scheduled thesis defense. The thesis defense may not be scheduled until this final copy has been distributed. You are responsible for e-mailing an official notice identifying the time and location for the defense. This notice should be sent at least one week prior to the defense and should include (1) the title of the thesis, (2) the name of the student, (3) the name of the thesis chair, and (4) the names of all other committee members. This notice is usually sent via email notification to all faculty and graduate students via the ECUPSY-L listserv (address your email to ECUPSY-L@Listserv.ecu.edu). Below is an example of the typical notice that is sent:

Re: Thesis Defense: Evoked Potentials, Expressed Anger, and Circulating Androgens
Faculty and graduate students are cordially invited to attend the defense of Ima Student’s Master’s thesis, “Evoked Potentials in the Nucleus Spurious: Relationship with Expressed Anger is Moderated by Level of Circulating Androgens.” The defense will take place in Rawl 303 from 2:00 PM until 3:00 PM on Tuesday the 30th of February, 2007. Dr. Martha McClintock is chairing the thesis committee, and Drs. Gustav Fechner and Pierre Flourens are serving as thesis committee members. A copy of the thesis is available for public review in the graduate seminar room (Rawl 303).

Thesis Defense

If you choose the thesis option, then a final oral examination (referred to as a thesis defense) administered by the Thesis Committee must be completed. You are expected to make a formal presentation. The presentation should focus on (1) the research problem, (2) hypotheses, (3) methodology, (4) analyses, (5) interpretation of the data, and (6) implications of the findings. Following the presentation, you will address questions from the committee members. The committee will then deliberate in private regarding the acceptability of your thesis. If approved, you will make all requested changes and submit the final thesis for appropriate signatures. Additionally, committee members will complete the ECU Thesis Scoring Rubric (PDF). If the thesis is not approved, you will need to make the requested changes and schedule a second thesis defense.

Depositing the Thesis

Following the defense, you must complete any corrections or additions that are indicated by the committee. Once the final draft of the thesis is completed, you should obtain the appropriate signatures from the committee and submit the manuscript to the Department Chair for review and signature. You should allow at least one week for the Department Chair to read and return the thesis. You will then follow the Graduate School’s procedures for electronic submission of the thesis. The Graduate School will check to ensure that all of the required sections of the thesis are included and will provide you with a receipt certifying completion of the thesis.

Thesis Hours

Students choosing this option will register for PSYC 7000 for thesis course credits during the fall and spring semesters of their second year. The grade of S will denote satisfactory progress in research, and credit hours will be included in overall attempted and earned hours. This will ensure that graduate students making satisfactory progress will remain eligible for federal financial aid for the longest period of time allowable. The grade of U will denote unsatisfactory progress in research; credits will not be earned but credit hours will be included in attempted hours. Upon successful defense of the thesis and approval by the Graduate School Dean, the grade of R will be assigned by the Registrar’s Office upon receipt of the Thesis/Dissertation Acknowledgement Form from the Graduate School. Grades of S, U, and R will carry no quality points and will not be included in the calculation of grade point averages.

Throughout this process, you should meet department and university deadlines and follow the format requirements of the department and the university. You should check the Academic Calendar and note the deadline for submitting theses to the Graduate School for the semester you wish to graduate, and allow time to make corrections requested by your Committee prior to submitting to the Department Chair.

The Graduate School states the following regarding continuous enrollment (or registration): Graduate students who have previously registered for all credits in a graduate degree program but who have not completed all requirements (e.g., thesis, professional paper, internship, etc.) must continue to register each semester (except summer terms) until all degree requirements are completed and filed with the registrar. Students must be enrolled for at least one credit hour during the semester of graduation except summer, if registered for the prior spring semester. Students who do not complete all degree requirements prior to the published commencement date of the intended term of graduation but complete all degree requirements prior to the first day of class of the subsequent term may petition the Graduate School for a waiver of the registration requirement for that term.

Internship and Thesis

Our program provides you with many opportunities. That is, you may complete either an internship or a thesis… or you can take advantage of both opportunities by completing both an internship and a thesis. The summer internship provides you with the opportunity to take the KSAs that you have learned in your coursework and apply them to the actual workplace. The thesis provides you with the opportunity to hone your research skills. Of course, doing both provides you with even richer opportunities! If you choose to complete both a thesis and an internship (instead of one of the other), then please have our graduate administrative assistant update your DegreeWorks entry.

Comprehensive Exams

The comprehensive exam is administered during the spring semester (April) following the second year of coursework.

Format

You will have three hours to complete the exam. The primary purpose of this exam is for you to provide the most correct and succinct answer to the provided questions. The format of the exam requires you to answer three out of five questions. One of the five questions is designated as required (i.e., it must be answered by all students), and the student is asked to select and answer two of the four remaining items.

Coverage

The comprehensive exam consists of essay questions related to the following topical domains:

The exam items are written by faculty who teach the graduate classes listed above. You may approach any of the professors involved to seek study guides/reading lists.

Grading

If you receive either an A or a B from the first reader (grader) on each of the three questions, this constitutes your final grade on the examination. If you receive either a C or an F from the first reader, the examination automatically progresses to a second reader. If the second reader returns the same letter grade (any pluses or minuses will be ignored), this constitutes your final grade. If the first and second readers’ evaluations differ, then the examination goes to a third reader, in which case the final grade is simply the median of the three grades given.

Students who receive on three exams:

You are allowed to retake the exam one additional time, no sooner than the subsequent semester (excluding summer semesters). If the second attempt is unsuccessful, you will be terminated from the program.