Masters Thesis Option Program MTOP

1
Masters Thesis Option Program (MTOP)

• Karen Markey (Tues.)
• Jude Yew (Tues.)
• Noor Ali-Hasan (Tues.)
• Mark Ackerman (Fri.)

2
Tuesday Agenda

• Program timeline and questions
• Karen Markey
• Student experiences
• Jude Yew (20042005)
• Noor Ali-Hasan (20052006)
• Reception, meet selected faculty, and ask more
  questions
• C. Olivia Frost (Tues. only)
• Karen Markey
• Beth Yakel

3
Friday Agenda

• Generating research questions and choosing a
  method to answer them
• Mark Ackerman
• Reception, meet selected faculty, and ask more
  questions
• Mark Ackerman (Fri. only)
• Karen Markey
• Victor Rosenberg (Fri. only)
• Beth Yakel

4
The Origins of the MTOP

• An idea suggested to the Curriculum Committee by
  your student representative
• A program designed by the Curriculum Committee
• A program approved by the SI faculty in winter
  2004

5
Why apply for the MTOP?

• You are intrigued by the academic life, a life of
  collaboration, inquiry, discovery, and research
• You have a vexing problem in mind and want to
  solve it
• You seek a professional position with a research
  component
• You want to add something substantive to your
  portfolio

6
What the MTOP Cannot Do For You!

• A slam dunk for acceptance into a PhD program
• Your thesis wont be done until spring
• SIs academic program
• You still have to complete all other
  requirements, e.g., cognate, PEP, etc.
• A surefire way to earn respect, get accolades,
  heap on the extrinsic rewards
• This is hard work with much heartache, doubt, and
  uncertainty along the way
• You should be driven by intrinsic rewards and
  motivation

7
MTOP Timeline-1

• From now until mid-summer
• Identify possible research topics
• Talk to faculty who may be interested in your
  research and ask them what sources to read, who
  are the researchers actively working on your
  topic of interest, what are the important
  questions that need answers
• Read, write notes, read, write notes, tell a peer
  about your interests and ideas, revise idea,
  write notes, read
• Share your written ideas with a faculty member
• Find one or more faculty members to serve as your
  masters thesis advisor or on your committee

8
MTOP Timeline-2

• Or, from now until mid-summer
• Find a faculty member whose research interests
  you
• Volunteer to work on their research project(s)
• Ask them what research questions interest them,
  what they are able to do, what they arent able
  to do within the constraints of their present
  research agenda or what important questions will
  remain unanswered at the end of the project and
  why
• Ask them how you could investigate these
  unanswered questions
• Work with the faculty member to shape an
  enhancement of their current project that
  addresses these unanswered research questions

9
MTOP Timeline-2

• By August 1
• Write and submit a letter of intent to the
  Masters Thesis Option Committee (MTOC)
• (See the MTOP web pages for detail on the letter
  of intent)
• A problem statement that tells exactly what you
  want to do, including the research questions you
  want to answer

10
MTOP Timeline-3

• Between August 1 and fall semester, the MTOC
• Reviews letters of intent
• Chooses up to 12 students for admission to the
  MTOP
• Gets your advisor on board
• Informs applicants of acceptance or rejection in
  the MTOP
• At the start of fall semester, accepted
  applicants
• Enroll in an independent study
• Enroll in methods or statistics courses. Examples
  are
• SI 544 Introduction to Statistics and Data
  Analysis
• SI 566 Design and Practice of Social Science
  Research
• SI 724 Qualitative Methods

11
MTOP Timeline-4

• Fall semester, MTOP student
• Meets as many times as necessary to plan the
  research, generate hypotheses, construct
  data-collection instruments, draft IRB proposal,
  etc.
• End of fall semester, advisor
• Gives an S or U grade
• Recommends advisee(s) for continuation in MTOP
• (S grades do not guarantee continuation in MTOP)
• Idea has no promise
• No confidence in your ability to collect data
• Your life becomes more complicated

12
MTOP Timeline-5

• End of winter semester, advisor and committee
• Grade thesis (S or U)
• Award thesis designation on transcript (for S
  grades)
• Beginning of winter semester, continuation
  student
• Enrolls in second independent study
• Participates in a January public poster session
  or Showcase to inform others about your research
• Finds members for his or her masters thesis
  committee

13
MTOP Timeline-6

• Winter semester, student
• Meets as many times as necessary to discuss data
  collection, data analysis, findings, writing the
  thesis, etc.
• Distributes a draft thesis to committee members
  (week 9)
• Receives feedback from committee members (weeks
  10 11)
• Revises thesis as necessary (weeks 12 13)
• Participates in an oral defense with committee
  and interested audience (week 14)
• Revises thesis as necessary (exam week)

14
MTOP Timeline-7

• After graduation, student
• Works on publication of thesis research with
  advice and assistance of committee members and
  advisor

15
Review

• Agenda for Tuesday and Friday
• Why should you apply for the MTOP?
• The MTOP Timeline
• MTOP web page (http//www.si.umich.edu/msi/mtop.h
  tm)
• Quick questions?
• Now more from MTOP students