Ph.D. Courses
Course Catalog
The core courses offered for the Doctor of Philosophy in Social Work beginning with the 2021 incoming Ph.D class are listed below. Current and former students will find the previous year course descriptions here.
Quarter Hours: 2
Coordinating Sequence: Doctoral
Fulfills: Doctoral Core
Eligibility: First Year Doctoral
Clinical Practice I examines the seminal contributions of drive theory and ego psychology to psychodynamic clinical practice. While much modified and expanded in both theory and practice, the concepts in these early models continue to shape much of clinical psychodynamic practice today. Indeed, the core ideas of Freud’s drive theory and of the early ego psychological theorists laid down principles that today are so embedded in practice that they often are not recognized as the original ideas they were at their inception. By following the development of these practice principles from their beginnings, the clinician gain breadth of application in contemporary work. At the same time, the critiques that modify and/or extend these original concepts in new ways to embrace a wider and more complex view of person-in-situation give the clinician solid grounding. This course addresses both the original conceptualizations and the ways in which new discoveries and expanded socio-political-cultural perspectives have altered applications.
Coordinating Sequence: Doctoral
Fulfills: Doctoral Core
Eligibility: First Year Doctoral
Clinical Practice I examines the seminal contributions of drive theory and ego psychology to psychodynamic clinical practice. While much modified and expanded in both theory and practice, the concepts in these early models continue to shape much of clinical psychodynamic practice today. Indeed, the core ideas of Freud’s drive theory and of the early ego psychological theorists laid down principles that today are so embedded in practice that they often are not recognized as the original ideas they were at their inception. By following the development of these practice principles from their beginnings, the clinician gain breadth of application in contemporary work. At the same time, the critiques that modify and/or extend these original concepts in new ways to embrace a wider and more complex view of person-in-situation give the clinician solid grounding. This course addresses both the original conceptualizations and the ways in which new discoveries and expanded socio-political-cultural perspectives have altered applications.
Quarter Hours: 2
Coordinating Sequence: Doctoral
Fulfills: Doctoral Core
Eligibility: First Year Doctoral
Building on the Advanced Psychological Theory II course, the Advanced Clinical Practice II course will review and critique differential approaches in treating clients with early developmental impingements and injuries that shape both internal and interpersonal relationships, or object relations. It focuses on the contributions that object relations theory and self-psychology, as articulated by Ferenczi, Balint, Klein, Winnicott, Fairbairn, Kohut, and their followers, have made to treatment theory and technique. We will emphasize the role of the clinician in establishing compensatory reparative therapeutic relationships specifically designed to facilitate development and self-cohesion within a social context and a racial justice/anti-racism perspective. Consideration will be given to the role of intersectionality including issues of race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, gender, sexual orientation, ability, age, religion/spirituality, immigration status, and language of origin. Attention is also paid to the influences of trauma and substance use/misuse in clinical social work practice. Complex biopsychosocial-spiritual/structural assessments are introduced to provide a scaffolding for treatment plans, crafted in both agency-based and theoretical-languages. The conscious use of self provides the underpinning for clinical case discussions that address clinical issues and ethical dilemmas regarding effective interventions and enactments. In addition, consideration will be given to research methodology that examines clinical processes.
Coordinating Sequence: Doctoral
Fulfills: Doctoral Core
Eligibility: First Year Doctoral
Building on the Advanced Psychological Theory II course, the Advanced Clinical Practice II course will review and critique differential approaches in treating clients with early developmental impingements and injuries that shape both internal and interpersonal relationships, or object relations. It focuses on the contributions that object relations theory and self-psychology, as articulated by Ferenczi, Balint, Klein, Winnicott, Fairbairn, Kohut, and their followers, have made to treatment theory and technique. We will emphasize the role of the clinician in establishing compensatory reparative therapeutic relationships specifically designed to facilitate development and self-cohesion within a social context and a racial justice/anti-racism perspective. Consideration will be given to the role of intersectionality including issues of race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, gender, sexual orientation, ability, age, religion/spirituality, immigration status, and language of origin. Attention is also paid to the influences of trauma and substance use/misuse in clinical social work practice. Complex biopsychosocial-spiritual/structural assessments are introduced to provide a scaffolding for treatment plans, crafted in both agency-based and theoretical-languages. The conscious use of self provides the underpinning for clinical case discussions that address clinical issues and ethical dilemmas regarding effective interventions and enactments. In addition, consideration will be given to research methodology that examines clinical processes.
Quarter Hours: 2
Coordinating Sequence: Doctoral
Fulfills: Doctoral Core
Eligibility: First Year Doctoral
This course explores seminal theories that have informed psychodynamic thinking ever since they were first articulated. These theories introduced models of inner lives that develop in sequence, encoding patterns of self-experience and of interpersonal relating, across the life span, with earlier internalized experience informing subsequent developmental stages. The specific contents of each individual’s internal narrative and relational patterns are shaped by earliest intimate relationships, including the way that relationship is shaped by the caretakers’ own narratives, and increasing exposure to wider and wider relational configurations, including how those configurations convey socio-political assumptions and practices. While this first course is steeped in the language of psychodynamics that is being first expressed in these theories, it does include the beginning shift from the singular deterministic intrapsychic dynamics of drive theory to the more interpersonally and socially determined dynamics of ego psychology.
Coordinating Sequence: Doctoral
Fulfills: Doctoral Core
Eligibility: First Year Doctoral
This course explores seminal theories that have informed psychodynamic thinking ever since they were first articulated. These theories introduced models of inner lives that develop in sequence, encoding patterns of self-experience and of interpersonal relating, across the life span, with earlier internalized experience informing subsequent developmental stages. The specific contents of each individual’s internal narrative and relational patterns are shaped by earliest intimate relationships, including the way that relationship is shaped by the caretakers’ own narratives, and increasing exposure to wider and wider relational configurations, including how those configurations convey socio-political assumptions and practices. While this first course is steeped in the language of psychodynamics that is being first expressed in these theories, it does include the beginning shift from the singular deterministic intrapsychic dynamics of drive theory to the more interpersonally and socially determined dynamics of ego psychology.
Quarter Hours: 2
Coordinating Sequence: Doctoral
Fulfills: Doctoral Core
Eligibility: First Year Doctoral
This course will explore those psychological theories which help illuminate the inner and interpersonal lives of individuals. Object relations theories serve as a central paradigm in contemporary psychoanalytic theory and practice. Early beginning in the Hungarian School featuring Ferenczi and Balint followed by the emergence of the Middle School in Great Britain that includes Klein, Winnicott, and Fairbairn. Self psychology emerged at a parallel time in the United States as Kohut developed his influential model focused on the tripolar self as structure with narcissism as a separate line of development. Using object relations theories and self-psychology, students examine how theories are transformed by the internal and external critiques which revise them. These developmental theories are taught in their historical and sociocultural contexts, with attention paid to their strengths and biases especially they relate to populations marginalized by poverty and oppression based on diverse social identities. The following themes are addressed: (1) focus of theory; (2) nature of individual; (3) structural constructs; (4) developmental constructs; (5) nature of resilience, problems and conditions; (6) nature of change (7) treatment goals; (8) treatment principles and interventions; (9) nature of therapeutic relationship/alliance; and (10) applicability with populations served. The influences of postmodernism and social theories are considered on psychoanalytic theorizing.
Coordinating Sequence: Doctoral
Fulfills: Doctoral Core
Eligibility: First Year Doctoral
This course will explore those psychological theories which help illuminate the inner and interpersonal lives of individuals. Object relations theories serve as a central paradigm in contemporary psychoanalytic theory and practice. Early beginning in the Hungarian School featuring Ferenczi and Balint followed by the emergence of the Middle School in Great Britain that includes Klein, Winnicott, and Fairbairn. Self psychology emerged at a parallel time in the United States as Kohut developed his influential model focused on the tripolar self as structure with narcissism as a separate line of development. Using object relations theories and self-psychology, students examine how theories are transformed by the internal and external critiques which revise them. These developmental theories are taught in their historical and sociocultural contexts, with attention paid to their strengths and biases especially they relate to populations marginalized by poverty and oppression based on diverse social identities. The following themes are addressed: (1) focus of theory; (2) nature of individual; (3) structural constructs; (4) developmental constructs; (5) nature of resilience, problems and conditions; (6) nature of change (7) treatment goals; (8) treatment principles and interventions; (9) nature of therapeutic relationship/alliance; and (10) applicability with populations served. The influences of postmodernism and social theories are considered on psychoanalytic theorizing.
Quarter Hours: 3
Coordinating Sequence: Doctoral
Fulfills: Doctoral Core
Eligibility: First Year Doctoral
Coordinating Sequence: Doctoral
Fulfills: Doctoral Core
Eligibility: First Year Doctoral
Quantitative research utilizes numerical data to describe a phenomenon, identify patterns or relationships between variables, or make predictions that may be generalized to the larger population. This course is an introduction to quantitative research methods. Students in this course will develop an understanding of the ethical, theoretical, practical, and social justice issues that inform the development and implementation of a quantitative research study. Discussion of course reading will focus on the choices researchers made when designing a study and their implications for social work policy and practice.
Quarter Hours: 3
Coordinating Sequence: Doctoral
Fulfills: Doctoral Core
Eligibility: First Year Doctoral
In anticipation of future work using quantitative data, students will learn how to generate and interpret basic descriptive and inferential statistics commonly used in social science research. For descriptive statistics, concepts to be covered include an understanding of variance, different ways to illustrate how data is distributed (histograms, charts, boxplots, graphs, etc.), correlations, reliability and validity. To understand inferential statistics, we will review hypothesis testing, probability, and tests of significance (confidence intervals, tests of difference, and analysis of variance). For optimal learning, students will be acquainted with the various available statistical software programs for analyzing quantitative data and will gain valuable experience working with and managing data. Course assignments will require students to communicate results of their analyses in writing, through the use of tables and data visualization, understanding and following APA7 reporting guidelines
Coordinating Sequence: Doctoral
Fulfills: Doctoral Core
Eligibility: First Year Doctoral
In anticipation of future work using quantitative data, students will learn how to generate and interpret basic descriptive and inferential statistics commonly used in social science research. For descriptive statistics, concepts to be covered include an understanding of variance, different ways to illustrate how data is distributed (histograms, charts, boxplots, graphs, etc.), correlations, reliability and validity. To understand inferential statistics, we will review hypothesis testing, probability, and tests of significance (confidence intervals, tests of difference, and analysis of variance). For optimal learning, students will be acquainted with the various available statistical software programs for analyzing quantitative data and will gain valuable experience working with and managing data. Course assignments will require students to communicate results of their analyses in writing, through the use of tables and data visualization, understanding and following APA7 reporting guidelines
Quarter Hours: 3
Coordinating Sequence: Doctoral
Fulfills: Doctoral Core
Eligibility: First Year Doctoral
What we label as qualitative research is a diverse family of loosely related approaches that vary in purposes, epistemologies or worldviews, and specific methods. Qualitative research and inquiry may seek to be scientific or not, and may draw on Indigenous or western perspectives of knowledge. It generally aims to understand meaning making and processes among people in specific social groups. This course, the first of a sequence of four courses, will first critically examine what is knowledge and how it is located and linked to cultures. The importance of self-awareness and reflexivity regarding one’s own culture, biases, and perspectives is emphasized. The course will then shift to an overview of six types of qualitative research approaches widely found in the social work literature. The six approaches are 1) content analysis, 2) template analyses, 3) grounded theory, 4) participatory action research, 5) Indigenous and decolonizing methods and 6) immersion approaches. These methods illustrate key differences in research purposes, epistemologies, ethics, and methods. Criteria for assessing the quality of qualitative research are introduced.
Coordinating Sequence: Doctoral
Fulfills: Doctoral Core
Eligibility: First Year Doctoral
What we label as qualitative research is a diverse family of loosely related approaches that vary in purposes, epistemologies or worldviews, and specific methods. Qualitative research and inquiry may seek to be scientific or not, and may draw on Indigenous or western perspectives of knowledge. It generally aims to understand meaning making and processes among people in specific social groups. This course, the first of a sequence of four courses, will first critically examine what is knowledge and how it is located and linked to cultures. The importance of self-awareness and reflexivity regarding one’s own culture, biases, and perspectives is emphasized. The course will then shift to an overview of six types of qualitative research approaches widely found in the social work literature. The six approaches are 1) content analysis, 2) template analyses, 3) grounded theory, 4) participatory action research, 5) Indigenous and decolonizing methods and 6) immersion approaches. These methods illustrate key differences in research purposes, epistemologies, ethics, and methods. Criteria for assessing the quality of qualitative research are introduced.
Quarter Hours: 3
Coordinating Sequence: Doctoral
Fulfills: Doctoral Core
Eligibility: First Year Doctoral
This second course on qualitative research will begin by examining content analysis in which qualitative coding of existing texts is analyzed using various methods (e.g., statistical, interpretive). Thematic analysis that applies qualitative coding to a variety of texts, often based on semi-structured interviews is explored. Issues of deductively shaping research questions, sampling, coding, and writing up results are addressed. Ethical issues are also identified and examined. Research quality criteria are critically examined using published reports.
Coordinating Sequence: Doctoral
Fulfills: Doctoral Core
Eligibility: First Year Doctoral
This second course on qualitative research will begin by examining content analysis in which qualitative coding of existing texts is analyzed using various methods (e.g., statistical, interpretive). Thematic analysis that applies qualitative coding to a variety of texts, often based on semi-structured interviews is explored. Issues of deductively shaping research questions, sampling, coding, and writing up results are addressed. Ethical issues are also identified and examined. Research quality criteria are critically examined using published reports.
Quarter Hours: 15
Coordinating Sequence: Doctoral
Fulfills: Doctoral Core
Eligibility: First Year Doctoral
Coordinating Sequence: Doctoral
Fulfills: Doctoral Core
Eligibility: First Year Doctoral
Quarter Hours: 2
Coordinating Sequence: Doctoral
Fulfills: Doctoral Core
Eligibility: Second Year Doctoral
This five-week intensive course will cover the basic tenets of trauma theory and its application in clinical settings. The course will offer a historical and political context for clinical theory and address the developmental lines of current trauma theory. Integrating research on the physiology of trauma with attachment theory, developmental psychology, and the trauma literature, the course will build an integrated model of trauma treatment with a focus on relational models of treatment. As part of the relational focus, there will be significant attention paid to the person of the therapist within the therapeutic relationship, especially on the constructs of countertransference and vicarious traumatization.
Coordinating Sequence: Doctoral
Fulfills: Doctoral Core
Eligibility: Second Year Doctoral
This five-week intensive course will cover the basic tenets of trauma theory and its application in clinical settings. The course will offer a historical and political context for clinical theory and address the developmental lines of current trauma theory. Integrating research on the physiology of trauma with attachment theory, developmental psychology, and the trauma literature, the course will build an integrated model of trauma treatment with a focus on relational models of treatment. As part of the relational focus, there will be significant attention paid to the person of the therapist within the therapeutic relationship, especially on the constructs of countertransference and vicarious traumatization.
Quarter Hours: 2
Coordinating Sequence: Doctoral
Fulfills: Doctoral Core
Eligibility: Second Year Doctoral
Relational Theory integrates and further develops many aspects of Object Relations and Interpersonal Traditions, referencing much of Ferenczi’s early writings. This “Relational turn” includes extensive reflection and writing about clinical process and work. The writing and dialogues that began more than forty years ago have evolved into new ways of thinking about the clinical dyad, the nature of therapeutic action and the importance of cultural and social forces to personal, interpersonal and clinical dynamics.
In this course we will begin by reviewing the idea and traditions of practice from which contemporary Relational Theory emerged, through retrospection and integration – Ferenczi, Klein, Winnicott, Fairbairn, Sullivan. As well as some others that we will allude to as we read and discuss cases. The cases written by students will be discussed in each session, as well cases of these theorists, applying ideas we are reading about while taking a critical perspective about their clinical implications and value.
In the second part of the course, we will read early, essential papers and cases in the papers by Mitchell, Hoffman, Aron, Ghent, Bromberg, Stern, Leary, Harris, Dimen, Altman and others that focus on issues of practice and what is mutative about this process. Much of their writing speaks directly to the centrality of race, class and gender to the clinical process.
As we read and apply concepts to students’ cases, we will consider how this confluence of ideas and approaches to clinical work evolved into a new perspective on mind, the person embedded in social context(s) and the dynamics of the clinical dyad. We will also be thinking critically about Relational theory, including the nature and importance of: mutual yet asymmetric dynamics in therapeutic setting, the therapist’s subjectivity and uses of the self, enactments and unconscious dialogue, self-disclosure and impasse, the nature of therapeutic action itself, and the ways that culture, race, gender, and gender are reconstructed, often unconsciously, between therapist and patient. We will apply the concepts we are reading about during student’s case presentations, as well as in reflecting on cases in the readings. Our objective will be to consider the relevance and value of different aspects of Relational ideas to clinical social work in a range of therapeutic and social contexts.
Coordinating Sequence: Doctoral
Fulfills: Doctoral Core
Eligibility: Second Year Doctoral
Relational Theory integrates and further develops many aspects of Object Relations and Interpersonal Traditions, referencing much of Ferenczi’s early writings. This “Relational turn” includes extensive reflection and writing about clinical process and work. The writing and dialogues that began more than forty years ago have evolved into new ways of thinking about the clinical dyad, the nature of therapeutic action and the importance of cultural and social forces to personal, interpersonal and clinical dynamics.
In this course we will begin by reviewing the idea and traditions of practice from which contemporary Relational Theory emerged, through retrospection and integration – Ferenczi, Klein, Winnicott, Fairbairn, Sullivan. As well as some others that we will allude to as we read and discuss cases. The cases written by students will be discussed in each session, as well cases of these theorists, applying ideas we are reading about while taking a critical perspective about their clinical implications and value.
In the second part of the course, we will read early, essential papers and cases in the papers by Mitchell, Hoffman, Aron, Ghent, Bromberg, Stern, Leary, Harris, Dimen, Altman and others that focus on issues of practice and what is mutative about this process. Much of their writing speaks directly to the centrality of race, class and gender to the clinical process.
As we read and apply concepts to students’ cases, we will consider how this confluence of ideas and approaches to clinical work evolved into a new perspective on mind, the person embedded in social context(s) and the dynamics of the clinical dyad. We will also be thinking critically about Relational theory, including the nature and importance of: mutual yet asymmetric dynamics in therapeutic setting, the therapist’s subjectivity and uses of the self, enactments and unconscious dialogue, self-disclosure and impasse, the nature of therapeutic action itself, and the ways that culture, race, gender, and gender are reconstructed, often unconsciously, between therapist and patient. We will apply the concepts we are reading about during student’s case presentations, as well as in reflecting on cases in the readings. Our objective will be to consider the relevance and value of different aspects of Relational ideas to clinical social work in a range of therapeutic and social contexts.
Quarter Hours: 3
Coordinating Sequence: Doctoral
Fulfills: Doctoral Core
Eligibility: Second Year Doctoral
This third course in qualitative research first examines grounded theory, an inductive approach to describing populations and developing new concepts and theory. Shaping research questions where participants are assumed to be more knowledgeable than is the researcher, three purposefully iterative forms of sampling, three iterative methods of data analysis and writing up results are each explored. Ethical issues and challenges are identified and examined. Second, participatory action research (PAR) is examined. PAR seeks to empower participants in generating research questions and methods to best meet local knowledge needs. PAR applies aspects of other qualitative approaches and methods, all shaped to engage and empower local participants. Ethical issues are identified and examined, along with the challenges for researchers who must share key choices with participants. Research quality criteria are critically examined using published reports and different settings.
Coordinating Sequence: Doctoral
Fulfills: Doctoral Core
Eligibility: Second Year Doctoral
This third course in qualitative research first examines grounded theory, an inductive approach to describing populations and developing new concepts and theory. Shaping research questions where participants are assumed to be more knowledgeable than is the researcher, three purposefully iterative forms of sampling, three iterative methods of data analysis and writing up results are each explored. Ethical issues and challenges are identified and examined. Second, participatory action research (PAR) is examined. PAR seeks to empower participants in generating research questions and methods to best meet local knowledge needs. PAR applies aspects of other qualitative approaches and methods, all shaped to engage and empower local participants. Ethical issues are identified and examined, along with the challenges for researchers who must share key choices with participants. Research quality criteria are critically examined using published reports and different settings.
Quarter Hours: 3
Coordinating Sequence: Doctoral
Fulfills: Doctoral Core
Eligibility: Second Year Doctoral
This fourth course in qualitative research first examines qualitative inquiry – which may or may not seek to be scientific. Instead, emphasis is one immediacy, verisimilitude, and reporting personal experiences in their social contexts. Photovoice, which links qualitative inquiry and PAR, puts cameras in the hands of participants who document their own lives and add short captions. The idea is to give voice and to empower participants, and to share their often unknown experiences with the public. Aesthetic and persuasive aspects matter more the ‘science’ or ‘objectivity’. Autoethnography seeks to present one’s inner life directly – writing about the self – but always located in social context. Again, literary and aesthetic concerns may be more important to effective and persuasive work than is method. Performance inquiry is a general term for reports that expand how we share our own lives – often to emphasize both our differences and our shared needs and attributes. Performances may be in text or embodied and enacted. Ethical issues are identified and examined, along with the challenges for researchers. Research quality criteria are critically examined using published reports.
Coordinating Sequence: Doctoral
Fulfills: Doctoral Core
Eligibility: Second Year Doctoral
This fourth course in qualitative research first examines qualitative inquiry – which may or may not seek to be scientific. Instead, emphasis is one immediacy, verisimilitude, and reporting personal experiences in their social contexts. Photovoice, which links qualitative inquiry and PAR, puts cameras in the hands of participants who document their own lives and add short captions. The idea is to give voice and to empower participants, and to share their often unknown experiences with the public. Aesthetic and persuasive aspects matter more the ‘science’ or ‘objectivity’. Autoethnography seeks to present one’s inner life directly – writing about the self – but always located in social context. Again, literary and aesthetic concerns may be more important to effective and persuasive work than is method. Performance inquiry is a general term for reports that expand how we share our own lives – often to emphasize both our differences and our shared needs and attributes. Performances may be in text or embodied and enacted. Ethical issues are identified and examined, along with the challenges for researchers. Research quality criteria are critically examined using published reports.
Quarter Hours: 2
Coordinating Sequence: Doctoral
Fulfills: Doctoral Core
Eligibility: Second Year Doctoral
Health and behavioral health disparities are a difference in outcomes between populations. The social determinants of health constitute the social and structural factors that drive the health status of individuals and communities. Social determinants such as structural racism and economic inequality have a documented relationship to health disparities. This course will prepare leaders in clinical social work practice to begin to address inequities in health and behavioral health care. Students will first explore how health disparities are defined and measured. They will examine conceptual frameworks that identify factors contributing to health and behavioral health disparities in the clinical context. The course will then explore structural interventions designed to ameliorate such disparities, centering those that have been designed and implemented by communities of color. Finally, students will be asked to identify a disparity in their own clinical context and propose a structural intervention to address it.
Coordinating Sequence: Doctoral
Fulfills: Doctoral Core
Eligibility: Second Year Doctoral
Health and behavioral health disparities are a difference in outcomes between populations. The social determinants of health constitute the social and structural factors that drive the health status of individuals and communities. Social determinants such as structural racism and economic inequality have a documented relationship to health disparities. This course will prepare leaders in clinical social work practice to begin to address inequities in health and behavioral health care. Students will first explore how health disparities are defined and measured. They will examine conceptual frameworks that identify factors contributing to health and behavioral health disparities in the clinical context. The course will then explore structural interventions designed to ameliorate such disparities, centering those that have been designed and implemented by communities of color. Finally, students will be asked to identify a disparity in their own clinical context and propose a structural intervention to address it.
Quarter Hours: 2
Coordinating Sequence: Doctoral
Fulfills: Doctoral Core
Eligibility: Second Year Doctoral
This independent study will provide dedicated time to work with a faculty advisor to prepare for the written comprehensive exam. This process will entail regular meetings with the faculty advisor to develop the topic and structure of the comprehensive exam. Students will be expected to gather during the first and final weeks of the term in a seminar style to present their topics and progress.
Coordinating Sequence: Doctoral
Fulfills: Doctoral Core
Eligibility: Second Year Doctoral
This independent study will provide dedicated time to work with a faculty advisor to prepare for the written comprehensive exam. This process will entail regular meetings with the faculty advisor to develop the topic and structure of the comprehensive exam. Students will be expected to gather during the first and final weeks of the term in a seminar style to present their topics and progress.
Quarter Hours: 3
Coordinating Sequence: Doctoral
Fulfills: Doctoral Core
Eligibility: Second Year Doctoral
The primary goals of this course are to develop a solid understanding of generalized linear regression models and how to apply them for social work research. The course builds on an introductory level of statistical knowledge (correlation, bivariate tests of group differences) and extends this knowledge into a simple linear regression model framework including evaluating assumptions of regression models. The latter part of the term extends to multivariable regression models, including confounding, moderators and interaction terms. A focus throughout will be on communicating the regression results in writing, tables, and data visualization and in APA style. There will be regular application of these concepts with real social work data using statistical software, including principles of data cleaning and documentation.
Coordinating Sequence: Doctoral
Fulfills: Doctoral Core
Eligibility: Second Year Doctoral
The primary goals of this course are to develop a solid understanding of generalized linear regression models and how to apply them for social work research. The course builds on an introductory level of statistical knowledge (correlation, bivariate tests of group differences) and extends this knowledge into a simple linear regression model framework including evaluating assumptions of regression models. The latter part of the term extends to multivariable regression models, including confounding, moderators and interaction terms. A focus throughout will be on communicating the regression results in writing, tables, and data visualization and in APA style. There will be regular application of these concepts with real social work data using statistical software, including principles of data cleaning and documentation.
Quarter Hours: 3
Coordinating Sequence: Doctoral
Fulfills: Doctoral Core
Eligibility: Second Year Doctoral
The primary goals of this course are to extend the generalized model to non-linear relationships. The course will investigate transformations of independent and dependent variables, including the logistic transformation. Binary and categorical dependent variables will be modeled with simple and multiple logistic regression; students will develop understanding of odds, odds ratios, and probabilities and how to interpret each. A focus throughout will be on communicating the regression results in writing, tables, and data visualization and in APA style. There will be regular application of these concepts with real social work data using statistical software, including principles of data cleaning and documentation.
Coordinating Sequence: Doctoral
Fulfills: Doctoral Core
Eligibility: Second Year Doctoral
The primary goals of this course are to extend the generalized model to non-linear relationships. The course will investigate transformations of independent and dependent variables, including the logistic transformation. Binary and categorical dependent variables will be modeled with simple and multiple logistic regression; students will develop understanding of odds, odds ratios, and probabilities and how to interpret each. A focus throughout will be on communicating the regression results in writing, tables, and data visualization and in APA style. There will be regular application of these concepts with real social work data using statistical software, including principles of data cleaning and documentation.
Quarter Hours: 15
Coordinating Sequence: Doctoral
Fulfills: Doctoral Core
Eligibility: Second Year Doctoral
Coordinating Sequence: Doctoral
Fulfills: Doctoral Core
Eligibility: Second Year Doctoral
Quarter Hours: 2
Coordinating Sequence: Doctoral
Fulfills: Doctoral Core
Eligibility: Third Year Doctoral
This independent study will provide dedicated time to work with a faculty advisor to prepare for the dissertation proposal. This process will entail regular meetings with the faculty advisor to develop the topic and structure of the dissertation proposal. By the end of this independent study, students should each have a topic, a conceptual framework, and an idea for a research plan / data source. Students will be expected to gather during the first and final weeks of the term in a proseminar style to present their topics and progress.
Coordinating Sequence: Doctoral
Fulfills: Doctoral Core
Eligibility: Third Year Doctoral
This independent study will provide dedicated time to work with a faculty advisor to prepare for the dissertation proposal. This process will entail regular meetings with the faculty advisor to develop the topic and structure of the dissertation proposal. By the end of this independent study, students should each have a topic, a conceptual framework, and an idea for a research plan / data source. Students will be expected to gather during the first and final weeks of the term in a proseminar style to present their topics and progress.
Quarter Hours: 2
Coordinating Sequence: Doctoral
Fulfills: Doctoral Core
Eligibility: Third Year Doctoral
This seminar acquaints students with the characteristics of dissertation research through assigned readings, review of dissertation proposals, and dissertation presentations. Conceptual and methodological issues encountered in developing research projects are explored. Specifics of planning and completing a dissertation are addressed. Students will also examine their evolution as scholars through the dissertation process. This seminar fosters individual progress toward developing a dissertation proposal by providing individual consultation, peer review, and discussion of the design efforts of each class member.
The course goals will be achieved through course readings, seminar discussions, presentations of completed dissertations, student group presentations of previously accepted dissertation proposals, and student presentations of individual dissertation proposals.
Coordinating Sequence: Doctoral
Fulfills: Doctoral Core
Eligibility: Third Year Doctoral
This seminar acquaints students with the characteristics of dissertation research through assigned readings, review of dissertation proposals, and dissertation presentations. Conceptual and methodological issues encountered in developing research projects are explored. Specifics of planning and completing a dissertation are addressed. Students will also examine their evolution as scholars through the dissertation process. This seminar fosters individual progress toward developing a dissertation proposal by providing individual consultation, peer review, and discussion of the design efforts of each class member.
The course goals will be achieved through course readings, seminar discussions, presentations of completed dissertations, student group presentations of previously accepted dissertation proposals, and student presentations of individual dissertation proposals.
Quarter Hours: 2
Coordinating Sequence: Doctoral
Fulfills: Doctoral Core
Eligibility: Third Year Doctoral
This independent study will provide dedicated time to work with a faculty advisor to prepare for the dissertation proposal. This process will entail regular meetings with the faculty advisor to develop the topic and structure of the dissertation proposal. By the end of this independent study, students should each have a more written background of their topic and framework, a developed set of research questions and hypotheses, and a detailed plan for data collection and analysis. This should culminate in a concisely written and well-argued draft of a dissertation proposal (~10 pages in length) and a slide deck for a 15 minute presentation of the proposal. Students will be expected to gather during the first and final weeks of the term in a proseminar style to present their topics and progress.
Quarter Hours: 2
Coordinating Sequence: Doctoral
Fulfills: Doctoral Core
Eligibility: Third Year Doctoral
This course will focus on the integration of psychoanalytic theory, research, and practice within a socio historical context. The course addresses the paradigm shift in psychoanalytic theory and practice from Freud’s metapsychology to contemporary clinical work. Attention is given to understanding the complex use of self in clinical practice with diverse clients. Students will critically examine the way in which intersectional identities are subjectively and relationally experienced in the world, including the ways in which clinicians and clients unconsciously enact interlocking oppressions. The course will also address the prevailing assumptions about power, privilege and various forms of oppression in the theories that underlie our practice as well as the benefits and limits of evidence-based research when working with psychoanalytic constructs such as subjectivity and intersectionality.
Quarter Hours: 3
Coordinating Sequence: Doctoral
Fulfills: Doctoral Core
Eligibility: Third Year Doctoral
This course is the final in the four-course quantitative analysis sequence and will continue to build and refine quantitative analytical thinking, computational skills, and communication expertise commonly used in clinical social work research. This course in particular will introduce students to more advanced quantitative approaches common in clinical social work research that build from but extend students’ repertoire beyond linear and logistic regression models.
The primary goals of this course are to understand how to employ regression models with either more complicated data structures or more complicated research questions where generalized linear models are no longer sufficient. The course builds on the introductory and intermediate level of statistical knowledge and extends this knowledge to scenarios where the assumptions of generalized linear models are violated (e.g., dyadic data on couples or provider-client where the individuals in the data are no longer independent of each other) or when the goal is to assess more complex relationships between variables are of interest (e.g., whether a third variable mediates, or explains part of, the relationship between a dependent and independent variable). These statistical models are common in applied social work research, particularly to investigate complex family systems, interdependencies between couples/dyads, to test theories that articulate how multi-step processes where one thing leads to another (and another). Similar to previous courses, a focus throughout will be on communicating the regression results in writing, tables, and data visualization and in APA style. There will also be regular application of these concepts with real social work data using statistical software, including principles of data cleaning and documentation.
Quarter Hours: 4
Coordinating Sequence: Doctoral
Fulfills:
Eligibility: Doctoral
Coordinating Sequence: Doctoral
Fulfills:
Eligibility: Doctoral
Quarter Hours: 2
Coordinating Sequence: Doctoral
Fulfills: Doctoral Core
Eligibility: Doctoral
Coordinating Sequence: Doctoral
Fulfills: Doctoral Core
Eligibility: Doctoral