UW Health Services Ph.D. students are required to write a dissertation that significantly advances the state of knowledge in their chosen field. Dissertation topics are chosen by the student in consultation with their faculty mentor or dissertation chair and must represent independent — though collaborative — design and analysis and rigorous discussion and recommendations.
The dissertation must demonstrate an understanding of the theory, content, and methods in each student’s topic area and must conform to department, UW School of Public Health, and UW guidelines. Students may choose to collect primary data, analyze existing data, or a combination of the two. Papers reporting the results of research, novel methods, systematic reviews, or meta-analysis are acceptable.
Dissertation Examples
Dissertation topics vary substantially, as do methods, and target journals. Dissertations and theses from health services students are available in the UW Library Research Archives.
Publications
Health Services Ph.D. students write three publishable journal articles from their dissertation research. By the time of their final dissertation defense, it is recommended, and also typical, that students have submitted two papers for publication, with a third ready.