Doctoral Degree
Course Requirements
In addition to the four three-hour courses required to complete a master's degree, doctoral students are required to take:
- one advanced quantitative methods course.
- one qualitative methods course.
- one advanced theory course.
Additionally, students are required to take nine hours of course work in at least one of the three specialty areas in the department. One of those courses will be a survey of the field, while the others will be advanced seminars. Each doctoral student also is required to take at least one course in the other two specializations. A total of 60 hours of course work is necessary to qualify for the Ph.D. in rural sociology degree.
Doctoral Thesis
In order to complete the Ph.D. in rural sociology, students are required to write an original and comprehensive dissertation after researching a scientifically relevant topic in the discipline.
Core Curriculum Requirements
The following courses are required for Rural Sociology graduate students:
- An advanced statistics course that is equivalent to RuSoc 4130. The course should address the kind of data-analysis problems that rural sociologists encounter. Entering graduate students already should have taken a basic statistics course, such as RuSoc 7120 or Stat 1400. Graduate credit will not be given for those courses.
- RuSoc 8510 or an equivalent course in research methods and design.
- Soc 8100, Soc 9187 or a survey theory course in Sociology that begins with Marx and Durkheim and includes important 20th century sociologists.
A course that addresses the linkage between theory and methods (such as RuSoc 9437) is required for all students pursuing the doctoral degree and those obtaining a master's degree with thesis.
Core Requirements for Doctoral Students
In addition to the core requirements for master's students, doctoral students must complete the following:
- One advanced quantitative methods course (Soc 9837 or equivalent).
- One advanced qualitative methods course (Soc 9287 or equivalent).
- One advanced course in sociological theory.
- A minimum of three courses from one of the department's two areas of emphasis and a minimum of one course in the other program area.
- Submission of a professional journal article or a completed master's thesis.
- A program of study that includes a minimum of 72 credit hours beyond the bachelor's degree, including a minimum of 60 hours of coursework that are not readings, problems or research. Course work taken toward a master's degree in the social sciences may count toward those requirements.
Doctoral Areas of Emphasis
The graduate program in Rural Sociology offers two areas of emphasis:
The Sociology of Agriculture and Natural Resources
Included courses:
- RuSoc 7310, Sociology of Agriculture and Natural Resources
- RuSoc 7370, Environment and Society
- RuSoc 8444, Seminar on the Organization of Agriculture
- RuSoc 7445, Seminar on Issues in the Sociology of Agriculture and Natural Resources
Community Studies
Included courses:
- RuSoc 7446, Community Social Structure
- RuSoc 8447, Seminar: Contemporary Issues in Rural Sociology
- RuSoc 9480, Quantitative Applications in Community Research
- An additional community-related 8000-level course (such as RuSoc 8287, Seminar in Social and Economic Development, or RuSoc 8425, Social Processes of Information and Knowledge Utilization)
Other Doctoral Requirements
Qualifying Examination
The examination normally is given each year following the winter semester. Students entering the program with a master's degree from another department should take it after they have completed two semesters (a minimum of 18 credit hours). Students completing a master's degree in the department should take the exam at the first opportunity possible after completing the master's degree. Students who go directly into the doctoral program after completing a bachelor's degree should take the examination before they have completed 27 credit hours of course work.
The qualifying examination is intended to be diagnostic and should be used to finalize a student's course of study. Students may be asked to prepare draft courses of study before (or after) their qualifying examinations and share them with their advisers to assist the committee in that diagnosis.
The department chair appoints a three-person committee to prepare and administer the qualifying examination. Results should be conveyed to the students and their advisory committees in writing.
Research Article for a Professional Journal
A journal article is required for those students going directly into the doctoral program without completing a master's degree and for doctoral students who have not completed a thesis as part of their master's degree programs. The paper may be done with a faculty member or with other graduate students, but the graduate student must be the principal author. The manuscript should be submitted to a journal by the end of the student's second year in the program (or after the completion of 36 credit hours for part-time students). Students' advisory committees will review the manuscripts and editorial comments from journal referees before they can take their comprehensive examinations.
Comprehensive Examination
The comprehensive examination consists of both a written and an oral exam, and the doctoral student's advisory committee designs and administers a thesis examination. Comprehensive examinations should take place after students have completed (that is, received a satisfactory grade) all of the courses listed in their plans of study, unless the faculty waives that requirement. Students normally are given two opportunities to pass the examination.
The examination's written portion will evaluate competency in theory and methods in the student's specialty area. It also will evaluate readiness to conduct dissertation research. After a student's advisory committee evaluates the examination's written portion and the student receives a passing grade on the written exam, there will be an oral examination.
The oral examination will address issues raised on the written examination and the student's dissertation plans. The oral portion of the exam will be open to faculty and students, and the location and time must be publicly announced at least two weeks before the examination. Following the oral examination, the student's advisory committee will complete a comprehensive evaluation of the student's readiness to proceed with the dissertation.
Dissertation Proposal
Students who successfully have completed their comprehensive examinations must prepare written dissertation proposals and submit them to their committees for approval. The committee will determine the proposal's form. An approved copy will be kept in the student's file until the dissertation is completed.
Dissertation or Research Monograph
A dissertation or research monograph must be completed according to Graduate School rules. The student's committee should conduct an oral final examination of the dissertation or monograph. That examination should be open to faculty and students and must be publicly announced at least two weeks beforehand. The dissertation must be completed within five years of the comprehensive examination's completion. Notice of oral defense must be posted two weeks before the defense date.
Advisers
The dissertation adviser must be a member of the University of Missouri-Columbia doctoral faculty.
Transfer Credit
Credits earned for a master's degree count toward the University credit requirements.
Residency Requirement
Each doctoral student must meet a residency requirement of two consecutive nine-hour semesters or three consecutive six-hour semesters at MU.
Time Limits
A student's dissertation must be completed within five years of completing the comprehensive exams. The Graduate School can grant extensions to that requirement, but those require the departmental graduate faculty's recommendation. All extensions are conditional on the students' demonstrations that their knowledge of the field is current and comparable to persons just finishing comprehensive examinations.
Documentation
The process has a number of steps, and a form (D-1 Qualifying Exam/Committee, D-2 Plan of Study, D-3 Comprehensive Exam, D-4 Dissertation Defense) must be filed to mark each one. The adviser and the director of graduate studies must sign all forms. The graduate secretary will forward them to the Graduate School after the director of graduate studies has signed them. The forms and instructions on completing them are available at MU Graduate School.
Continuous Enrollment
After successful completion of the comprehensive examinations, doctoral students must be enrolled continuously at the University of Missouri-Columbia until they complete their dissertations. That means a person must be enrolled in at least two credit hours in the fall and winter semesters and at least one credit hour in the summer semester.
