Program Overview

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Industrial-Organizational Psychology (MA)/(PhD)

The Industrial-Organizational (I-O) MA/PhD is a combined degree. The MA is non-terminal and, therefore, only students intending to confer the PhD are admitted.

MA Degree Requirements

• Total hours required: 48 quarter hours
• The MA degree requires a minimum of 48 quarter hours beyond the completion of a bachelor's degree, including four quarter hours of thesis research.

PhD Degree Requirements

• Total hours required: 24 quarter hours (beyond the MA)
• The PhD degree requires additional coursework and research beyond the MA degree.

MA Learning Outcomes

• Identify major theoretical concepts in Industrial Organizational psychology, trace their historical development, and integrate theory, research, and domain-specific knowledge to explain and interpret how Industrial Organizational psychology currently advances knowledge.
• Critique and synthesize theoretical and empirical articles from peer-reviewed Industrial Organizational scholarly journals in terms of theory, methods, data analyses, and conclusions in order to compose novel perspectives and ideas.
• Develop testable research questions, identify strengths and limitations of research designs and data analysis techniques, conduct appropriate research and analytic strategies, and interpret the findings to situate them within the extant research literature in Industrial Organizational psychology.
• Describe and discuss the ethical issues associated with human subjects/participant protection and the sequence of procedures needed for IRB approval of research projects, and apply these ethical practices in research.
• Exhibit effective communication skills for presenting at professional conferences and publishing in professional journals in Industrial Organizational psychology.
• Demonstrate competence in the practice of Industrial and Organizational Psychology.

PhD Learning Outcomes

• Identify major theoretical concepts in psychology, trace their historical development, and integrate theory, research, and domain-specific knowledge to explain and interpret how Industrial-Organizational Psychology currently advances knowledge.
• Critique and synthesize theoretical and empirical articles from peer-reviewed scholarly Industrial-Organizational Psychology journals in terms of theory, methods, data analyses, and conclusions in order to compose novel perspectives and ideas.
• Independently develop testable research questions, identify strengths and limitations of research designs and data analysis techniques, conduct appropriate research and analytic strategies, and interpret the findings to situate them within the extant research literature in Industrial-Organizational Psychology.
• Independently describe and discuss the ethical issues associated with human subjects/participant protection and the sequence of procedures needed for IRB approval of research projects and apply these ethical practices in research.
• Exhibit effective communication skills for presenting at professional conferences and publishing in professional journals in Psychological Science. Demonstrate competence in Industrial-Organizational Psychology applications.

MA/PhD Degree Requirements

Statistics and Methodology Courses

• PSY 410: ADVANCED STATISTICS I (4 quarter hours)
• PSY 411: ADVANCED STATISTICS II (4 quarter hours)
• PSY 419: FACTOR ANALYSIS AND STRUCTURAL EQUATION MODELING (4 quarter hours)
• or PSY 450: PSYCHOLOGICAL MEASUREMENT
• PSY 420: QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH DESIGN (4 quarter hours)

Psychology Core Courses

• Select one of the following: (4 quarter hours)
  • PSY 404: PERCEPTION AND COGNITION
  • PSY 426: LANGUAGE AND COGNITION
  • PSY 473: THE PSYCHOLOGY OF JUDGMENT AND DECISION-MAKING
• Select one of the following: (4 quarter hours)
  • PSY 430: SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY OF THE SELF
  • PSY 435: SPECIAL SEMINAR IN PSYCHOLOGICAL SCIENCE
  • PSY 556: PREJUDICE AND INTERGROUP RELATIONS
  • PSY 560: SOCIAL COGNITION

I-O Psychology Core Courses

• Select five of the following: (20 quarter hours)
  • PSY 440: PSYCHOLOGY OF WORK AND MOTIVATION
  • PSY 441: PSYCHOLOGY OF LEADERSHIP
  • PSY 442: PERSONNEL PSYCHOLOGY
  • PSY 444: PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL AND PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT
  • PSY 445: ADVANCED TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT IN ORGANIZATIONS
  • PSY 447: ORGANIZATIONAL CONSULTATION
  • PSY 448: CONCEPTS, METHODS, AND ETHICS FOR INDUSTRIAL-ORGANIZATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY
  • PSY 449: ADVANCED SEMINAR IN WORK TEAMS AND COLLABORATION
  • PSY 559: SEMINAR IN INDUSTRIAL-ORGANIZATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY

Teaching Course

• PSY 550: SEMINAR IN TEACHING PSYCHOLOGY (0 quarter hours)

Research Course

• PSY 597: MASTER'S THESIS RESEARCH (4 quarter hours)

PhD Course Requirements

I-O Psychology Core Courses

• Select five of the following courses which were not taken during the MA program: (20 quarter hours)
  • PSY 419: FACTOR ANALYSIS AND STRUCTURAL EQUATION MODELING
  • PSY 450: PSYCHOLOGICAL MEASUREMENT
  • PSY 445: ADVANCED TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT IN ORGANIZATIONS
  • PSY 447: ORGANIZATIONAL CONSULTATION
  • PSY 449: ADVANCED SEMINAR IN WORK TEAMS AND COLLABORATION
  • PSY 559: SEMINAR IN INDUSTRIAL-ORGANIZATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY

Research Course

• PSY 599: DOCTORAL DISSERTATION RESEARCH (4 quarter hours)

Teaching Course

• PSY 550: SEMINAR IN TEACHING PSYCHOLOGY (0 quarter hours)

Doctoral Candidacy Examination (Comprehensive Examinations)

Designed to assess the student's knowledge of psychology and the student's area of specialization. The examination is given in two sections. The first section consists of a written examination related to I-O psychology. The second section is an oral examination in the area of I-O psychology.

Admission to Doctoral Candidacy

Formally given to the student with satisfactory coursework performance who has successfully completed the master's thesis and passed the Doctoral Candidacy Examination; the candidate has no more than five years from the date of admission to doctoral candidacy to complete the PhD requirements or dismissal from the program will ensue.

Doctoral Teaching

Students are required to demonstrate competency in the teaching of psychology through teaching one undergraduate course during the doctoral portion of their degree.

Dissertation

Departmental committee approval and acceptance of topic and outline of dissertation given only after admission to candidacy. Dissertation research should be completed during the student's fourth year in the program.

Oral Examination

Student to defend their dissertation and to show competence in the general field of psychology and in the area of specialization.

Time Limitation

• No more than four years between admission to the MA/PhD program and admission to doctoral candidacy.
• No less than eight months and no more than five years between admission to doctoral candidacy and the final doctoral oral examination; or dismissal from the program will ensue.

Program Graduate Academic Student Handbook

Minimum Grades

1. The minimum grade considered acceptable for a graduate course is a B-. This applies to courses taken both within and outside of the department for psychology graduate students. Grades below that (i.e., C+ and below) indicate that the student has not mastered the relevant content of the course.
2. If a graduate student earns a grade lower than B- in a particular course, the student, instructor, and advisor will discuss the situation and circumstances and a remediation plan will be required.
3. A second occurrence of a grade lower than a B- (for the same or different course) will put the student on academic probation.
4. If there is a third occurrence of a grade below B- (for the same or different course), the student will be dismissed from the program.

Academic Probation

Students are expected to maintain a minimum cumulative grade point average (GPA) of 3.20. If a student's cumulative GPA falls below this minimum, the student will be put on academic probation and will have one quarter of coursework to raise their cumulative GPA to at least a 3.20 or face academic dismissal from the program.

Academic Dismissal

In addition to violations of satisfactory progress, including but not limited to, earning minimum grades, failing the comprehensive exam (including any possible retakes) or project, or maintaining a minimum cumulative GPA, students may be dismissed for breaches of academic honesty, or breaches of the code of student responsibility articulated in the DePaul University Student Handbook.

Time Limitations

Students must complete their MA degree requirements prior to completing their requirements for admission to doctoral candidacy. Further, no more than four years may pass between admission to the doctoral program (i.e., successful completion of the doctoral candidacy examination/project), and no less than eight months and no more than five years may pass between admission to candidacy and the final examination (i.e., the oral dissertation defense).

Graduation Requirements

Students need a minimum cumulative GPA of 3.20 in courses required by the program. In addition to meeting the minimum cumulative GPA requirement, failing the doctoral candidacy exam (or one retake) or project, lack of progress towards degree completion, and/or unsatisfactory evaluation could result in academic dismissal.