More than half of the general research funds support graduate students appointed to research teams as research or project assistants. Such support is reserved for students making satisfactory progress on their degree programs. All research assistants must carry a full-time graduate load of 8 credits, or, as a dissertator, carry 3 credits per semester and 2 credits during summer session. Project assistants must register for a minimum of 2 graduate credits per academic year. The Research Practicum is designed to provide graduate education in research through direct experience.
Students work side by side with faculty engaged in various phases of research.
The student work and the faculty determine the nature, scope, and design of the 3 credit practicum experience. The context of the practicum is ongoing faculty research and includes experiences such as secondary data analysis, problem identification, research and hypothesis development, literature review and synthesis, study design and data collection, data analysis and interpretation, preparation of reports and presentation of findings, or program evaluation. The Research Practicum provides faculty with the opportunity to include master's students on their research teams whose learning requirements may match the activities of ongoing projects. The Seminar in Nursing Research is a 3-credit seminar in which doctoral students must enroll at least once to examine a substantive area of nursing knowledge. The Seminar in Nursing Research provides faculty the opportunity to work with doctoral students to examine, evaluate, and synthesize the conceptual and empirical underpinnings of nursing science with an emphasis upon the faculty member's specialty.