Doctor of Philosophy in Nursing (PhD)

Research

Graduates are expected to lead multidisciplinary research initiatives that advance nursing and health care through knowledge development and interdisciplinary scholarly inquiry. Students will work with nursing faculty whose research address innovative questions that seek to advance knowledge for improvement of care. In addition, students will have an opportunity to collaborate with faculty across the broader Northeastern University community in addition to Boston area research and healthcare institutions. This collaboration allows students to work across disciplines and to access populations and research sites essential to the success of their original dissertation study.

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Post-master’s students (also referred to as Advanced Entry)  will build on their prior degrees and clinical foundations by completing 48 semester hours, including the dissertation. Post-baccalaureate students will complete 60 semester hours, including the dissertation.

On a full-time basis, students entering with a master’s degree can expect to commit a minimum of three years to completing the program; if entering with a bachelor’s degree, a minimum of four years. Both full- and part-time options are available to all students. Course descriptions can be found in the PhD Handbook.

Research Core

8 courses, 3 credits each unless otherwise noted · 22 credits

• NRSG 7700 Science of Nursing
• NRSG 7705 Theoretical and Conceptual Foundations in Nursing Science
• NRSG 7709 Qualitative Research Methods
• NRSG 7712 Quantitative Research Methods
• NRSG 7715 Measurement in Clinical Research
• NRSG 7750 Health Care of Urban Populations
• NRSG 7770 Research Colloquium (1 credit)
• NRSG 7755 Intervention Research: Development, Implementation, and Evaluation

Research Practicum

2 courses, 1-4 credits each · 6 credits

NRSG 9984
Students are required to complete 6 credits of supervised research practicum with a seasoned researcher. The purpose of the practicum is to develop student research skills through engagement with an active research project. Students must have a viable MA RN license. Research practicum activities vary and may include any or all of the following aspects of the research process:

• Assisting/conducting critical literature reviews
• Developing proposals
• Developing human subjects guidelines
• Recruiting and consenting participants
• Collecting data
• Managing data
• Analyzing data
• Developing presentations
• Writing scholarly research paper(s)

Post-Bac Required Courses

In addition, post-baccalaureate students are required to take:

• NRSG 5121 Epidemiology and Population Health (3 credits)
• NRSG 7104 Foundations in Nursing Research (3 credits)
• 2 Elective Courses (6 credits)

Electives may be taken in nursing or in an area related to the student’s dissertation research, including appropriate methodology and statistics courses.

Cognates

2 courses, 3 credits each · 6 credits

Cognates are courses that are taken outside the School of Nursing and should provide depth and breadth to the student’s phenomenon of interest.

Statistics

2 courses, 3 credits each · 6 credits

• PHTH 5210 Biostatistics
• PHTH 6210 Applied Regression Analysis

Dissertation

4 courses, 3 credits each unless otherwise noted · 8 credits total

• NRSG 9845 Dissertation Seminar 1
• NRSG 9846 Dissertation Seminar 2
• NRSG 9990/9991 Dissertation