Students should not collect data until the proposal is formally approved by the committee in an oral defense. If data collection is required, the student must secure approval from the University Committee for the Protection of Human Subjects (CPHS) . Approval from CPHS is required for the use of archival as well as collected data. Approval may take from one to two months. A student may apply for approval prior to the proposal defense if the application is approved by the members of the dissertation committee.

Students carry out the research study described in the proposal under the supervision of the dissertation committee chair. Students should take into account the time required to collect and analyze the data. After the data are collected and analyzed, students write a draft of the dissertation. (See pg. 21 in the Handbook)