Department of Sociology

Theses tables outline the expected schedule for progression through the Ph.D. program. (For important dates see the Graduate School’s Schedule of Academic Dates and Deadlines.)

Twelve (12) seminars to be completed in Years One and Two. Four required courses and eight electives, including at least one workshop.

Statistics

Statistics I provides an introduction to probability theory, sampling theory, distribution and measurement theory, linear regression and and the general linear model.

Statistics II provides training in multivariate methods including event history analysis, models with categorical and ordinal dependent variables, models for censored and sample selected data.

Theory

This course will be taught by a rotating group of faculty. Rather than specializing in one or another theorist or perspective, it will survey theoretical ideas from classical to modern to contemporary debates. The course may be organized around themes, or consider significant theorists one by one. It will provide a synthetic overview of conceptual issues and ways of thinking that mark the sociological imagination.

Logic of Empirical Social Research

This course focuses on broad strategies and issues in empirical research rather than on methodological techniques as such. It considers questions of causality, explanation, the relation of theory to research, problems of data interpretation, and research design.

Pro-Seminar

Offered during the first semester on a weekly or biweekly basis, students will be presented with the full range of current faculty work. Very little student preparation is required, and there are no examinations or papers.

Workshops

One semester of workshop is required; no more than two semesters of workshop can be taken for credit. Credit will be conferred if students do the full range of readings and develop a final paper. Students are encouraged at least to audit workshops outside their specialties.

Research Paper

In addition to finishing the course requirements, which should be no more than four courses in the second year, the student’s second year focus will be on formulating, researching, writing, presenting, and revising an extended paper. This paper will be supervised by a committee of two faculty members, the chair of which will be the student’s Academic Advisor (see below). Initial discussion of this paper begins at the conclusion of the second semester, and a proposal will be formally developed at the beginning of the third semester. A draft of this paper must be presented in a Workshop in the course of the second year. After receiving feedback from Workshop participants, and the Workshop’s faculty organizers, students will revise the paper in consultation with their committee, who will evaluate it by the end of the fourth semester.

Important – students should be responsible for having the Research Paper Requirement signed by the committee and then the student should return it to Nancy.

The aim of this second year Research Paper is to kickstart the process of writing for publication. This paper should identify a theoretical controversy, methodological problem, or empirical puzzle. By making use of systematically generated evidence — whether gained from theoretical argument, secondary literature, or survey, archival, interview, or participant observation data — the student should adjudicate between these theoretical claims, address the methodological problem in a new way, or solve the empirical puzzle. Primary research will not be expected. The result of this effort will not necessarily be itself a publishable paper, but it will be a significant step towards this goal. Limited to around 30 pages, it will represent a reasonable product of one year’s part-time work.

The second year Research Paper may or may not be related to the student’s subsequent graduate work.

Field Exam

One Field Exam must be completed by the end of the 5th semester. In order to delimit the reading and preparation required, we suggest a “20/20” limit, i.e., 20 listed articles or books and twenty written pages. Rather than covering a generic field, this exam will be thematically focused. Students will identify some centrally important theme or controversy in contemporary sociology, for which some command over the literature in the broader field is assumed.  For example, rather than “political sociology,” “stratification,” or “cultural sociology,” an important controversy will be addressed within or between such fields.

The field exam will be evaluated similarly to the Second Year Paper, by a committee of two faculty members, composed of the student’s Academic Advisor and another faculty member chosen in consultation with the student. An oral examination will be required.  Important – students should be responsible for having the Report of Field Exam Committee form signed by the committee and then the student should return it to Nancy.

Dissertation Prospectus

No later than the beginning of the sixth semester, students will be required to appoint the Chair and two other members of the dissertation committee. By the end of the sixth semester, the student will be expected to defend the Dissertation Prospectus in an oral examination. If students do not pass this defense, they must retake the exam in the beginning of their fourth year (the seventh semester). The Prospectus should include: (a) a statement of the research problem, (b) an elaboration of how the candidate will go about solving the problem, i.e. research design or equivalent, (c) a discussion of sources or data to be used and, if appropriate, the methodology, (d) an outline of the planned chapters.

Dissertation Research

While students are expected to take their prospectus exams by the end of their third year — and to pass this exam no later than the beginning of their fourth year — we recognize that students’ progress through the subsequent, dissertation phase of the program will be variable. Graduate School funding after the fifth year is not guaranteed, but teaching fellowships are sometimes available, as are funds for dissertation research, awarded on a competitive basis by national and international agencies.

The dissertation represents a test of the candidate’s ability to select and carry out a major research project of professional quality. It should show the student’s mastery of the field of specialization, and it must demonstrably contribute to the body of sociological knowledge. The evaluation of the dissertation by the faculty is not a matter of whether or not the prospectus, as approved, was carried out. Rather, it is an independent assessment of the quality and intellectual contribution of the completed research itself as reported in the dissertation.

As well as the traditional style of dissertation we also allow essay style dissertations (normally three essays on a given topic together with an introduction and conclusion).

When a student is ready to submit the dissertation to the Graduate School, they should request a copy of the Dissertation Guidelines from the Graduate School Dissertation Office,141 HGS (phone #432-0461) or barbara.withington@yale.edu. In addition to the three copies of the dissertation required by the Graduate School, a fourth copy should be submitted to Nancy Hopkins, once the dissertation is accepted.

The DGS will be the “general advisor” for entering first year students, and will continue to be responsible for monitoring students’ progress through the program through the Dissertation Prospectus exam. However, during their first year students may request, after consulting with the DGS, an Academic Advisor, who will replace the DGS as the student’s academic mentor. By the end of the second semester, students will be required to designate an Academic Advisor, if they have not done so before.

The Second Year Paper will be supervised by a two-person committee. The chair will be the student’s Academic Advisor, the second member a faculty member chosen by the student in consultation with his or her advisor. This committee will make the final decision about whether the Second Year Paper is accepted. The same procedure will apply to the Field Exam, although the composition of the faculty committee can be changed at the student’s request.

Faculty will meet at the conclusion of every Spring semester to evaluate the progress of graduate students. The DGS will conduct this meeting, and will consult with students’ Academic Advisors in preparation.

Each semester, the DGS will conduct at least one “Professional Development Workshop,” in conjunction with other relevant faculty. These will cover requirements for the graduate program, such as Second Year Papers and Field Exams. They will also address the preparation and submission of professional papers, applying for research grants, and job market issues.

Waivers

Students entering the program with Masters Degrees will be eligible for two courses of reduction, though this is by no means automatic. These reductions may apply to electives or to the statistics requirements, but may not apply to Theory or The Logic of Inquiry.

Joint Degrees

Special arrangements will be worked out for students enrolled in joint Ph.D. or professional programs.

Incompletes

Arrangements between students and instructors concerning incomplete work are constrained by deadlines set by Graduate School regulations: in a single term, only one Temporary Incomplete (TI) is permitted. Temporary Incompletes received in an academic year must be converted to final grades by October 1 of the following academic year. If a grade is not received by the Graduate Registrar by this date, a TI will be converted to a permanent Incomplete (I) on the student’s academic record. For detailed information see the Graduate School’s Policies and Regulations: Academic Regulations: Grades.

Teaching Fellowships

Serving as a Teaching Fellow or Part-Time Acting Instructor after the second year of full-time study is viewed as an integral part of the graduate education. The Graduate School requires that all students teach in each semester of their third and fourth years unless no teaching positions are available in the department or if the student has research obligations elsewhere (in which case they can register in absentia and defer their teaching positions). Every effort is made to provide teaching positions within the Sociology Department, but if no positions are available, students may be asked by the Teaching Fellow Program office to fulfill their teaching obligations in other departments in the University.

M.A. and M.Phil. Degrees

After completing one year of the program leading to the Ph.D. degree, the student may make application for the Master of Arts degrees. Two of the eight term courses required for the M.A. must include statistics and theory. A grade of High Pass (HP) or above must be achieved in five of the eight required courses. A student may petition for the M.A. degree in the semester following the completion of the requirements.

After all requirements for the Ph.D. degree have been met except submission of the prospectus and the writing of the dissertation, and after at least one year of academic resident graduate study at Yale, the student will be eligible for the Master of Philosophy degree.

Degree Applications

It is the responsibility of each qualified student to petition the Graduate School for the M.A., M.Phil., and Ph.D. degrees at the appropriate times (see Yale University Graduate School Bulletin Programs and Policies). Before doing so, students should consult with the DGS to make sure that they have satisfied all requirements and that their files are in order.

Leaves of Absence

It is possible to request a Leave of Absence from the Graduate School if it becomes necessary for a student temporarily to interrupt their studies. For information on the types of leave available and the policies governing them see the Graduate School’s Policies and Regulations: Registration Status and Leaves of Absence.

All students use the following forms during the course of their graduate studies. Electronic copies may downloaded here as PDFs or hard copies obtained from the Sociology Department Registrar (who can also answer any questions about how and when to use them). Completed forms must be returned to the department Registrar.

• Research Paper Requirement [pdf]
• Report of Field Examination Committee [pdf]
• Appointment of Dissertation Prospectus Committee [pdf]
• Report of Dissertation Prospectus Committee [pdf]