Qualitative Research Graduate Academic Certificate Program

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The Research, Measurement, and Statistics specialization offers a Graduate Academic Certificate in Qualitative Research. The courses prepare a person to teach qualitative research courses in higher education institutions (when accompanied with a PhD) or accept a qualitative research position in private industry. This program is for potential and practicing researcher scholars, both within and outside of the academy, who are or foresee being in a position to engage in qualitative research practices in education, policy, business, evaluation, intervention work, and more. When completed, the Qualitative Research Graduate Academic Certificate is listed on a student’s official transcript. All six of the certificate courses can also be used in various Master’s and doctoral degree plans, should a student decide to pursue a graduate degree along with the certificate.

Top Careers

There are tens of thousands of qualitative research jobs in the U.S. public and private sectors across a diverse variety of settings including, but not limited to, colleges and universities, research and development firms, education consulting services, healthcare centers, marketing agencies, human resources firms, and local and state government.

Consultant
Research Associate

Apply to Toulouse Graduate School

Apply online through the Toulouse Graduate School at www.applytexas.org. Submit application fee and official transcripts from all schools attended to their office. If additional items are needed, their office will notify you via mail and on your MyUNT page.  All requirements of the TGS must be met before the department can begin reviewing an application. Details on their requirements and application deadlines can be viewed at https://tgs.unt.edu/future-students/graduate-admissions. Requirements for international applicants can be viewed at https://international.unt.edu/content/international-recruitment-office, including information on meeting the English Language Proficiency requirement.  The Department encourages students to apply well in advance of the posted deadlines. All departmental application materials must be received within two months of the submitted online application.

Apply to the Department of Educational Psychology

Professional resume that delineates previous work, educational experiences, membership and involvement in professional organizations, and scholarly activities. Resume should support the potential for strong performance as a graduate student.
A personal statement (1-3 pages) is required.  It must explicitly include your goals and rationale for applying to the Qualitative Research Graduate Academic Certificate program. In this statement, you may include a brief description of your career experiences (teaching, working with special populations, etc.), and explain how they are linked to your educational aspirations. Also, if you have any research and/or evaluation experiences summarize and relate to your degree and concentration. Your personal statement should be well-articulated and demonstrate professional writing quality (formal; accurate grammar and spellings);
All departmental application materials must be received within two months of the submitted online application.
All departmental admission decisions are based on a holistic review of the applicant’s submitted materials. Applicants that are strong in all areas will have first priority of admission.

Please send all departmental materials and application inquiries to:

Coordinator of Graduate Admissions
Department of Educational Psychology
1155 Union Circle #311335
Denton, TX 76203-5017
email: coe-epsy-info@unt.edu
Tel: 940-565-3486

Physical address if sending via a delivery service:

Department of Educational Psychology
1300 Highland Street
Matthew Hall, room 316
Denton, TX 76203

Admission to this Graduate Academic Certificate does not require GRE scores. Students beginning with the GAC can reapply later for admission to the master's program, submit GRE scores and other departmental materials (see Master’s Admission).

Course Requirements

EPSY 6020 (3 hours) Research Methods in Education
EPSY 6280 (3 hours) Qualitative Research in Education
EPSY 6280 (3 hours) Qualitative Data Analysis in Education
EPSY 6530 (3 hours) Research Methodologies as Contexts for Learning
EPSY 6001 (3 hours) Action Research and Evaluation
EPSY 6520 (3 hours) Design-Based & Participatory Research Methods

Estimate tuition and fees by using the Tuition Calculators. For more information about tuition plan options, fees, and tuition, see Student Financial Services.

Financial Aid

UNT offers a variety of options to help finance your education. Visit financialaid.unt.edu to find out more about the application and award process. UNT has been named one of America's 100 Best College Buys© for 25 consecutive years and offers the quality of a private university at an affordable cost.

Applying for financial aid

Apply for financial aid online at fafsa.gov. The application is required for all types of financial aid, including Pell and other federal grants, state grants and loans. The FAFSA and Renewal FAFSA are available annually.

You must enroll in 6 hours (over one or two online sessions) in order to be eligible for financial aid.

Financial aid awards will be disbursed 10 days prior to the first day of class. Awards will not disburse if you are enrolled in only 3 credit hours.

Contact Student Financial Aid and Scholarships at 940-565-2302 or by visiting online at financialaid.unt.edu

Faculty

Carrie Allen

Carrie Allen

Assistant Professor

Educational Psychology
Ph.D., 2016, University of Colorado at Boulder

Matthews Hall 316

940-565-2097

Carrie.Allen@unt.edu

Faculty Profile

Dr. Allen’s research aims to address institutional and systemic inequalities within STEM education by supporting the design and implementation of STEM learning reforms. She examines the ways that equity and instructional improvement efforts take on meaning and become consequential for youth and teachers in local practice. Some of her current work examines how efforts to improve STEM education intersect with students’ learning and identity work within and out of school. Her work also explores the relationships among local policy, educators’ organizational contexts, and their efforts to implement reform-based and equity-oriented pedagogies. Allen's research has been published in journals such as Journal of Learning Sciences, Journal of Teacher Education, Journal of Research in Science Teaching, and AERJ.

Prior to joining the faculty at UNT, Allen was a STEM Researcher at SRI International. Allen received her doctorate in learning sciences and human development at the University of Colorado at Boulder. Before pursuing her doctorate, she taught high school English and reading, writing, and developmental education community college courses in the Seattle area. She has a master in teacher degree from Seattle University and a BA in English Literature from Western Washington University.

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Darrell M. Hull

Darrell M. Hull

Professor

Educational Psychology

Matthews Hall 304-C

940-369-8565

darrell.hull@unt.edu

Faculty Profile

Darrell Hull received his PhD in Educational Psychology from Baylor University. He has been involved in STEM and STEM education for more than 20 years, as principal investigator for several NSF and U.S. Department of Education programs. During the last 10 years he has conducted research on positive youth development in the Caribbean, working in the Bahamas, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, and Belize were he has directed randomized trial studies and quasi-experimental trials focused on adolescents. Based on his work with Item Response Theory and Generalizability Theory, Dr. Hull teaches measurement in the Educational Research PhD program and is a frequent psychometric consultant to assessment organizations in the DFW area.

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Teo (Danielle) Keifert

Teo (Danielle) Keifert

Assistant Professor

she/they

Educational Psychology
Ph.D. 2015, Northwestern University

Matthews Hall 316

940-891-6766

danielle.keifert@unt.edu

Danielle Keifert, PhD

Faculty Profile

Teo (Danielle) Keifert (she/they) is a learning scientist, researcher, educator, and assistant professor in the College of Education at the University of North Texas. Teo studies how young children orient to inquiry, and the sensemaking resources they draw upon during inquiry. These include resources like engaging in imaginative embodiment by acting like a creature with feet on the back of your head to explore anatomy, engaging in thought experiments like imagining standing in boiling water or becoming a water particle to explore states of matter, and even drawing to make sense of engineering challenges. They also examine the sensemaking practices of young children's families and explore how children may be constrained/supported to engage in those practices across home and school. Teo broadens forms of supported sensemaking through design-based research and professional learning partnerships; Teo has studied how mixed-reality technologies support young children’s sensemaking in science through play and embodiment (Science through Technology Enhanced Play, National Science Foundation grant, PIs Enyedy, Danish), how to support elementary teachers to design for transformational learning for all learners, including multilingual learners (Representations for Teachers as Learners project, McDonnell Foundation grant), and studies how to design for pre-service teachers to make sense of their past learning through the lenses of expansive socio-cultural theories to (re)envision new possibilities for their future students. Through this work they seek to broaden participation in science practices not just by including more individuals from marginalized communities in science, but also by expanding what counts as science. Teo earned her PhD from the Learning Sciences program at Northwestern University after five years as a middle math and science teacher and is the proud human of a rescue pup named Gracie.

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Nicole Sankofa

Nicole Sankofa

Assistant Professor

Educational Psychology
Ph.D. 2014, The Ohio State University

Matthews Hall 316

940-565-2395

Nicole.Sankofa@unt.edu

Faculty Profile

Nicole Sankofa is an Assistant Professor of Educational Psychology at the University of North Texas. She graduated from Spelman College with a double major in Psychology and Women's Studies and earned a PhD in Educational Psychology from The Ohio State University. She uses a transformativist paradigm and qualitative methodologies to examine the role of self-determination on adolescent/adult development, psychological well-being, and academic outcomes across school, work, and juvenile detention settings. Dr. Sankofa is the course steward for the sequence of qualitative doctoral courses in the Department of Educational Psychology.

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