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Ph.D. Program

The first requirement of the Interdisciplinary Ph.D. Program in Information Science is the completion of a program of study. The course work for the program can be completed within two years of full-time study, plus the dissertation, or extended over a longer period.

General Course of Study

A student must earn a minimum of sixty hours of graduate credit beyond the master's degree in organized course work, directed study and research, and the dissertation. Additional courses above the sixty hours may be stipulated as needed such as leveling courses. Students entering the program with a bachelor's degree must take at least ninety credit hours.

The number of graduate credit hours required for graduation, the distribution of credits, as well as the selection of the research tool requirement must be planned and approved under the direction of the student's major advisor. Requirements approved by the major advisor must also receive the concurrence of the student's Doctoral Advisory Committee and be approved by the Interdisciplinary Ph.D. Program Committee, as well as by the Dean of the Graduate School. In all cases, courses counted towards the minimum number of hours for the doctorate must be numbered 5000 or above.

The sixty hours (minimum) required for the degree are distributed between core courses, concentration, electives, and dissertation research:

Core Areas: 21 hours

• Interdisciplinary Colloquium (3)
• Subject Core (9)
• Methods Core (9)

Areas of Concentration: 18 hours in 2 areas

• Information Theory and Design (9)
• Information and Behavior (9)
• Information Policy and Management (9)

Electives: 9 hours

Dissertation: 12 hours

Doctoral students must maintain continuous enrollment in the interdisciplinary colloquium (SLIS 6945) during each semester in which they are registered for courses prior to passing the qualifying examination for admission to candidacy. Only three hours credit earned in the colloquium may be included in the degree plan. Students also must maintain continuous enrollment in INFO 6950 after advancement to candidacy until the dissertation is complete. All students will be required to choose two concentrations from the three available:

• Information Theory and Design. Seminars and research in this area will explore ways to structure information and knowledge for a multitude of information systems and uses. Students and faculty develop measures and methods for the evaluation and study of information systems, related communications processes, and subsequent systems application and design or redesign.
• Information and Behavior. Studies related to human information and communication behavior and the systematic response to these behaviors by using information technologies to advance communication and learning.
• Information Policy and Management. Inquiries focus on organizational behavior in respect to information and the management of information and of the organizations and systems which handle information.

With permission of the Program Committee, as well a student's Doctoral Advisory Committee, a special concentration may be created to provide a framework of learning for a student with special research interests.

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Program Outline

Core Areas: 21 hours

Interdisciplinary Colloquium: 1 hour, required each semester; 3 hours toward degree

• SLIS 6945 Doctoral Seminar in Information Issues (Colloquium)

Subject Core: 9 hours

• SLIS 6700 Seminar in Communication and Use of Information
• SLIS 6000 Seminar in Information Science
• Readings in Information Science: BCIS 6660, SLIS 6660, COMM 5580 or other appropriate readings course in CECS or CSCI

Methods Core: 9 hours

• Design: 3 hours
  • EDER 6000 Methods of Educational Research
  • BUSI 6450 Business Research Methods
  • SLIS 6930 Information and Communication Measurement
• Statistics: 3 hours
  • EDER 6010 Statistics for Educational Research
  • MSCI 6000 Multivariate Statistical Analysis
  • MSCI 6010 Seminar in Business Administration
  • SLIS 6940 Seminar in Research and Research Methodology
• Elective: 3 hours

Areas of Concentration: 18 hours in two of three areas

1. Information Theory and Design: 9 hours
   • BCIS 5620 Business Information Systems
   • BCIS 5650 Advanced Business Information Systems
   • BCIS 5660 Problems in Information Systems
   • CECS 5210 Instructional Systems Design
   • CECS 5240 Interactive Video
   • CECS 5250 Educational Telecommunications
   • CECS 5510 Technology-Based Industrial Training Systems
   • CSCI 5290 Natural Language Processing
   • CSCI 5300 Information Structures
   • CSCI 5350 Database System Design
   • CSCI 5780 Computer Networks
   • SLIS 5206 Information Retrieval Design
   • SLIS 6220 Information Retrieval Theory
   • SLIS 6240 Evaluation and Experimentation in Information Systems and Processes
2. Information and Behavior (9 hours)
   • CECS 5300 Cognitive Processing
   • CECS 5310 Human-Computer Interaction
   • CECS 5320 Artificial Intelligence in Education
   • CECS 5330 Intelligent Tutoring Systems
   • COMM 5110 Communication and Rhetorical Theory
   • COMM 5580 Seminar in Communication and Public Address

   • CSCI 5270 Human Factors in Computer Science

   • CSCI 5410 Artificial Intelligence
   • CSCI 5470 Modeling and Simulation
   • CSCI 6470 Advanced Modeling and Simulation
   • CSCI 6480 Advanced Artificial Intelligence
   • CSCI 6490 Advanced Man/Machine Intelligence
   • SLIS 6720 Human Information and Communication Behavior
   • SLIS 6740 Scholarly and Scientific Communications
3. Information Policy and Management: 9 hours
   • BCIS 5630 Information Resources Planning
   • BCIS 5640 Data-Base Administration
   • CECS 5120 Computer-Managed Instruction
   • COMM 5180 Seminar in Organizational Communication
   • COMM 5190 Management of Communication and Change
   • SLIS 5020 Economics of Information
   • SLIS 6350 Management of Information Resources in Organizations

Electives: 9 hours

• Electives, which must number 5000 or above, must be chosen with the approval of the student's Major Advisor.

Dissertation: 12 hours

• INFO 6950 Doctoral Dissertation

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Other Requirements

Multidisciplinary Requirement

An objective of the Ph.D. program is to provide students with a variety of approaches to solving information problems from a number of disciplines. No more than eighteen graduate credit hours may therefore be taken from any one academic unit in areas of concentration and electives.

Computer Tool Requirement

A student entering the program is expected to have a base computer knowledge consisting of computer usage in society and uses of micro-packages for productivity including word-processing, data-bases, and spread sheets. In addition students should have programming experience in one of a variety of computer languages.

Satisfactory attainment of these background requirements will be determined by the student's advisor and the program committee. Deficiencies can be met by enrollment in a variety of courses also to be determined by the student's major advisor and the program committee.

Research Requirement

Students are expected to have completed one of the following research methods classes upon admission to the program. If this requirement has not been met, the student will be expected to take one of the following courses as a deficiency.

• EDUC 5210 Educational Statistics
• COMM 5150 Communication Research Methods
• MSCI 5180 Data Analysis
• SLIS 5080 Research Methods and Analysis

Information Organization Requirement

Students are required to have had basic course work in the organization of information equivalent to SLIS 5200, The Organization of Information. If this requirement has not been met, the student will be expected to take SLIS 5200 as a deficiency.

Transfer of Credit

Depending on the student's previous preparation and needs, as many as 12 hours of advanced study beyond the master's degree or its equivalent completed at another institution may be accepted and credited toward the doctorate, provided that the student's Doctoral Advisory Committee recommends acceptance of transfer credit to the Program Committee.

The student beginning doctoral study at the University of North Texas should bear in mind that transfer credit is not allowed on the doctorate until all requirements governing admission to candidacy have been met and that such credit must in all cases be individually evaluated by the student's Doctoral Advisory Committee.

The rule governing the time limit for doctoral credit applies also to transfer credits. Extension credit earned elsewhere may not be applied toward the doctorate at UNT.

If transfer credits earned either before or after the first doctoral enrollment at UNT do not show a B average, the student is required to make up the deficiency either at the institution where the credit was earned or at UNT.

In order to be applied on a doctoral program at UNT, courses completed elsewhere must have been taken at an institution which offers the doctoral degree in the area in which the courses were taken, or in a closely related area.

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Degree Plan

A degree plan listing all courses must be completed by the student, approved by the student's Doctoral Advisory Committee, and submitted by the major advisor to the Program Committee. The degree plan should be completed as early as possible in the student's progress toward the degree, preferably no later than upon completion of 12 semester hours. The Graduate Dean has final approval over the degree plan. All subsequent requests for degree plan changes must be submitted in writing by the major advisor to the Graduate Dean, after approval by the Doctoral Advisory Committee.

Doctoral degree requirements are determined by the policy in the Graduate Catalog currently in force at the time the degree plan is approved by the Graduate Dean.

Residence Requirement

Residence requirements for students pursuing the Ph.D. in Information Science include the completion of at least two consecutive semesters with a minimum load of nine hours each semester. Residence during dissertation research may be counted for this requirement.

Review of Progress

The Program Committee will annually review the programs of all Ph.D. students.

The first review for a student will be before the end of his or her first year of study, or upon completion of 18 hours of study. The review will include information made available from the student's professors and the student's grades. A grade average of B must be maintained on all course work on the student's degree plan.

The Program Committee will vote either to let the student continue his or her studies, or to recommend to the Executive Committee that the student's program be discontinued. The Program Committee will consult with the student's major advisor and Doctoral Advisory Committee as required. A majority vote of the Program Committee is required in either case.

The decision of the Program Committee may be appealed. Statements of procedures to be followed are available in the office of the Graduate Dean.

Time Limit

All work to be credited toward the Ph.D. in Information Science beyond the master's degree or its equivalent must be completed within a period of ten years from the date doctoral credit is first earned.

No course credit beyond the master's degree or its equivalent that is more than ten years old at the time the doctoral program is completed will be counted toward the degree.

Time spent in active military service of the United States will not be considered in computing these time limits. However, career members of the armed forces should consult the Graduate Dean concerning credit given to work completed before entering active service.

For more information in the Interdisciplinary Studies Ph.D. program, please check our website at http://www.unt.edu/is.