Doctor of Philosophy in Information Studies
- Katherine Worboys Izsak
The UMD iSchool doctoral program educates a diverse group of students to identify and answer fundamental questions and solve information challenges to address society's problems and increase social good. UMD iSchool faculty and PhD students work side-by-side to conduct cutting-edge research at the frontier of information studies. Our PhD program facilitates new discoveries and trains next generations of information studies scholars to continue research worldwide. Our students are also partners in teaching in our growing undergraduate program.
UMD doctoral students should be able to conduct collaborative, interdisciplinary, innovative, and rigorous research.
Collaborative research requires enabling our students to work with peers by fostering excellent scholarly communication skills.
Interdisciplinary research requires enabling our students to work across traditional academic boundaries by fostering knowledge of diverse epistemologies and methods.
Innovative research requires enabling our students to discover new ideas by deepening their knowledge of existing research and helping them identify cutting-edge research areas.
Rigorous research requires enabling our students to recognize methods for meaningful data collection, design, and discovery.
Toward these aims, we train our students to develop an understanding of existing research in information studies and interdisciplinary cognates; develop new research questions; perform rigorous data collec
What do our students learn?
To complete the doctoral program, students must demonstrate high attainment in scholarship and critical thinking, as well as the ability to carry out independent scholarly research. Upon successful completion of the doctoral program, graduates have:
Knowledge of the foundations of the field of information studies.
Mastery of research methods and design.
Understanding of the research in a specialized content area.
Proficiency in synthesizing and applying knowledge from a variety of areas.
What courses to our students take?
Core
The Ph.D. degree is an academic degree, providing a background in pedagogy, theory, and research to prepare graduates for careers in conducting research and teaching in Information Studies. We offer an interdisciplinary approach to research and teaching that entwines social and technical innovation. Our program draws on core values of information studies, including justice, inclusion, and access, and uses these principles to facilitate the discovery of new knowledge. To support these objectives, the core curriculum:
Focuses on interdisciplinary knowledge perspectives and methods; and
Includes a significant component focused on information research careers in industry.
Students must complete a minimum of 27 graduate credit hours in three areas: Core doctoral courses (9 credit hours); Research Methods and Design (9 credit hours) and specialized area(s) (9 credit hours).
The core doctoral courses include:
The Engaged Intellectual: An Introduction to Research and Academic Work (3 credit hours towards Research Methods and Design requirement)
This course explores issues and topics in academic and professional life during and after the Ph.D. process, including (but not limited to) research, teaching, service, and public engagement. Students will also learn the process of acquiring knowledge and experiences to navigate various topics including mentoring, collaborating, networking, and building relationships with scholars, practitioners, and policy makers. One premise of the course is that academic and professional life is much more than a recipe for undertaking rote analytical procedures. Instead, academic pursuit is intimately linked to one’s beliefs about knowledge, scholarly community, and the impact one wants to make on the world. By the end of the semester, students will have a better understanding on what paths are available after Ph.D. and what opportunities and challenges are associated with these paths. Students will also be able to reflect on their own interests and construct a future map of their professional trajectory. The course will ask students to reflect on their identities as individuals, colleagues, researchers, teachers, and public intellectuals, both now and in the future.
Theoretical and Epistemological Foundations in Information Studies (3 credit hours)
Pursuing a doctorate in information studies involves the scholarly examination of the interaction between people, information, technology, and society. There are, however, as many ways to examine the interaction of people, information, technology and society as there are researchers, and many ways of understanding what counts as evidence and knowledge about information in society. INST801 will introduce you to the diverse scholarly traditions that comprise information studies, and will introduce you to how scholarly evidence and knowledge differ between them. It will examine why there are so many ways of knowing and methods of discovery within our field, and help you identify the social theory and methods that will support your path through information scholarship.
Pragmatic and Methodological Foundations for Information Studies (3 credit hours)
Information Studies’ eclectic interdisciplinary is both its greatest strength and its most significant weakness. As an increasingly multi/inter/trans/non-disciplinary intellectual community, Information Studies embraces a wide variety of conceptual frameworks, theories, methodological approaches, and intellectual traditions. As such, it is able to bring many different intellectual perspectives to bear on the complex, nuanced, phenomena that are its focus. The variety in the intellectual toolbox of Information Studies is central to its ability to avoid reduction of its focal topics to trite, simplistic characterizations. However, Information Studies’ paradigmatic richness places particular burdens on the individual researcher. Framing research agendas, motivating research questions, conducting literature reviews, selecting methods, and even arguing for particular conclusions is complicated by the number of alternative approaches available to the Information Studies scholar. Faced with this complexity, it is tempting to select a single paradigm and “be done with it” – and in doing so forego a primary strength of the interdisciplinary field.
In addition, students must take one quantitative methods course, one qualitative methods course, and an additional methods course of their choosing (9 credits total). A mixed-methods course may be substituted for either or both of the required quantitative or qualitative requirements. Students may take qualitative or quantitative sections of INST 808 (research methods), or take a variety of courses offered at the graduate level elsewhere on campus.
Specialized area(s) courses serve several important functions, including exposing students to new perspectives, introducing students to faculty with whom they may later conduct research, and enabling acquisition of foundational knowledge. To support these goals, students are required to take 9 total credit hours that support them in their chosen area(s) of specialization. These credit hours can be in the form of courses, including a maximum of 3 credit hours of INST818: Individualized Research Experience. Depending on the area of specialization, the specialized courses can be in the iSchool or in other units on campus.
Small classes and wide-ranging research projects enable students to work closely with faculty mentors to gain experience in identifying knowledge gaps, investigating both theoretical and practical solutions, evaluating results, and creating and disseminating new knowledge. A range of required research courses, two foundational doctoral seminars, and electives chosen by the students and their faculty mentors provide both the structure necessary for individuals to become successful researchers and the flexibility that allows them to pursue the research areas about which they are most passionate.
Assessment points
First Year Review
At the close of their first full year in the program. Students prepare a portfolio that self-evaluates progress. The portfolio may include papers written for coursework or research, a presentation on a research topic, and/or reviews by previous course instructors. A committee comprised of at least three faculty members, a majority of whom must be members of the iSchool faculty, reviews the work and informs the student in writing of the results.
Integrative Paper
Students complete an integrative paper that demonstrates the ability to independently conduct and disseminate high quality research and scholarship. A committee comprised of the student’s advisor and at least two other iSchool faculty members review the Integrative Paper, write evaluations, and then meet to discuss the evaluations with the student. The advisor writes a report of the discussion and the recommendations made. Students are evaluated in several areas including:
Identification of a research problem and including the student’s motivations of undertaking the research
Identification of key literature in three areas of the field of study, synthesizing the lenses information, people, systems, and environment as they apply to a specific area of specialization, and utilization of appropriate research methods
A clear and succinct statement of a research question
Preparation of an integrative paper that makes an original contribution to the integration of selected areas
Production of a paper that is suitable for publication
Dissertation Proposal
Upon conceptualizing the dissertation research idea, students prepare and present a proposal to their committee. The proposal must include a literature review, a research plan, a description of the proposed research methods, a description of the research goals and objectives, a proposed timeline, an outline of the potential limitations of the study, and any other elements deemed appropriate by their committee. Students’ proposals are evaluated as to how well they meet each of the following requirements:
Identification of a significant and original problem
Creation of a theoretical framework based on relevant literature
Inclusion of a clear, succinct statement of the research questions to be addressed
Selection of methodology appropriate to the research questions
Description of a clear plan for presenting data and findings
Creation of a written product that is clear, well-organized, and grammatically correct
Inclusion of a detailed, feasible timeline in which the work will be completed
Dissertation Defense
Student dissertations are evaluated based on how well they meet each of the following requirements:
Identification of a significant and original problem
Creation of a theoretical framework based on relevant literature
Clear and succinct statement of research question(s)
Appropriate choice of methodology
Clear and thorough presentation of data and discussion of findings
Creation of a written product that is clear, well-organized, and grammatically correct
Delivery of a clear, well-organized presentation of the study
Production of material that is suitable for publication
Who are our students?
As of Fall 2021, 76 students are enrolled in the PhD program. The composition of the students are as follows:
57 continuing students (75%) and 19 new (first year) students (25%)
67 students enrolled full-time (88%) and 9 students enrolled part-time (12%)
51 female-identified students (67%) and 25 male-identified students (33%) (Note there are only 2 gender options to choose from)
49 domestic students (64%) and 27 international students (36%); of the domestic students, 18 are in-state students (37%) and 31 are out-of-state students (63%)
42 students identify as White (55%); 4 students identify as Black or African American (5%); 29 students identify as Asian (38%), and 1 student identifies as Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander (1%). For ethnicity, 4 students identify as Hispanic (5%)
The average age of the PhD student body is 33 years old
Where Do Our Students Go?
As of Summer 2021, the PhD program has graduated 103 students total, beginning with the first graduate in 1972. Graduates go on to academia (69%), government (9%), and industry (20%) positions.
Example alumni include:
Priya Kumar (2021), Assistant Professor, College of Information Sciences and Technology, Penn State University
Gagan Jindal (2020), Qualitative User Experience Researcher, Facebook
Lisa Federer (2019), Data Science and Open Science Librarian, National Library of Medicine
Myeong Lee (2019), Assistant Professor of Information Science and Director of Community Informatics Lab (CIL), Department of Information Sciences and Technology, George Mason University
Brenna McNally (2018), User Experience Researcher, Google
Anne Bowser (2015), Deputy Director of STIP, Director of Innovation and Innovation Specialist, The Wilson Center
Ursula Gorham (2015), Senior Lecturer & MLIS Program Director, College of Information Studies, University of Maryland
Danuta Nitecki (1995), Dean of Libraries, Professor of Information Science, Drexel University