Ph.D. Requirements for Business Information Technology

The BIT Ph.D. program prepares students to carry out research and teaching that addresses the appropriate, innovative, effective design of information technology to serve business needs. The program draws on the disciplines of computer science, economics, and organizational, social, and cognitive psychology. To ensure that the quality of students is high and that they have close contact with faculty, new enrollments each year are limited to about two to three students.

The Ph.D. program is a full time program. The Ph.D. students are expected to be in residence on a full-time basis twelve months of the year. Doctoral students in BIT will ordinarily devote the first two years of their program to course work, the completion of two research papers, and preparation for the written and oral preliminary examination. Soon thereafter they prepare a literature review, then the dissertation proposal, and embark on dissertation research. Students are supported (stipend, tuition and health benefits) for the four years it is expected to take them to graduate..

Degree Requirements

General Background

Technical Background
It is strongly recommended that the student have, before entering the program, a strong technical background, usually consisting of two years of programming classes or equivalent experience.

General Business Background
Either prior to entering the Ph.D. program or at the beginning of the student's coursework, students are to acquire knowledge about functional business areas: Accounting, Finance, Marketing, Management & Organizations. This includes the equivalent of taking courses in accounting, finance, marketing and organizational behavior. One of these areas may be waived by the student's advisor, and one may be taken through Executive Education classes.

Analytic Tool Requirements

Students are expected to acquire appropriate analytic tools to conduct high quality research. All Ph.D. students are expected to take a two semester sequence in statistics, either Stat 425-6 or Stat 510-11. These two courses consist of introductions to probability and statistics at two levels of mathematical sophistication. Appropriate equivalents may be substituted (e.g., one with a theme more appropriate for behavioral research or one more focusing on derivations than applications).

In addition, students are expected to take additional courses in analytic tools appropriate to their interest, such as economic modeling, adaptive systems, or experimental design and evaluation for behavioral research.

BIT Specific Course Requirements

Students are to take classes in basic business technologies as well as key elements of design of information technology:

• Information Economics
• Telecommunications
• Database
• Expert, Complex or Adaptive Systems
• Systems Analysis and Design
• User Centered Design Principles
• Leveraging Information Technology in Business Strategy

The student must take 4 of these 6 courses. These courses can be taken before joining the Ross School of Business if they are at the graduate level with the advisor's approval, with a grade of B or better. They can be taken in the Business School or in EECS, IOE, Psychology or the School of Information.

 

Research Papers

To encourage students to explore their talent and inclinations toward research, students are required to write two research papers, the first of which is due in August of their first year, and the second in August of their second year. The first research paper is expected to be co-authored with the student's advisor. The second is expected to be more independent, such as a small empirical study, a small modeling effort, or a theoretical analysis of the literature. The two research papers are to be read and approved by two BIT faculty members.

Preliminary Examination

The student's basic broad knowledge is assessed through the required coursework. The student's ability to do research is assessed in a written and oral exam, focusing on the integrations of ideas in the courses, the research seminars and the first-year research paper. The exam will take place in May of the student's second year. The examination is designed by the BIT faculty, and administered by three BIT faculty, chosen by the student and his/her advisor, who will grade the written work.

Evaluation of Progress

In August of each year, the student's entire portfolio of achievements will be assessed by the entire BIT faculty, led by the advisor and mentoring committee (the committee of three for the prelims). Students will be given written feedback about their progress and will co-construct with their advisor a plan for the subsequent year.

Candidacy

The student is admitted to candidacy when she/he has fulfilled all the coursework, passed the preliminary written and oral exam, and his or her full record has been assessed by the faculty as a whole as indicating talent, inclination, and readiness to conduct independent research.

Teacher Development

Each student is required to demonstrate proficiency in teaching, which can be met by either prior teaching experience or teaching a one-semester course while in residence in the program. The student is expected to enroll in one or more of the workshops offered by the Teacher Development Program.

Literature Review

Immediately after achieving candidacy, the student is expected to embark on a deep literature review in the general area of his/her dissertation work. The bibliography is to be submitted to the advisor and two other BIT faculty members by December of the third year. The literature review is due by June of the third year.

The review consists of a coherent view of the literature in the area, a concept map (as appropriate), a list of open research questions, with a discussion of 1 or 2 of them including how one might approach them in empirical or modeling research. Before June of the third year the student is to be orally examined on this literature and then involved in a discussion with the faculty examiners about how to approach the research questions. The intent of this session is to both assess the student's readiness for dissertation research and to help them move ahead on their dissertation proposal.

Dissertation Proposal

The student is expected to successfully defend a dissertation proposal within one and a half years of obtaining candidacy. The proposal has to be defended in an oral examination conducted by the student's thesis committee. It is expected that this proposal defense includes some pilot data or preliminary results assuring the viability of the topic and the research approach.

Dissertation Final Defense

At the completion of the dissertation work, when the dissertation chair is satisfied with the content and the presentation of the work, the student will present the work at an oral defense, typically lasting two hours. The presentation is heard and commented upon by the full dissertation committee, plus other interested faculty and students.