Program Requirements

 Course Requirements 
  • Total of 12 courses required of all Colleagues (2 per 6 Emergent Residency Week)
  • Each Emergent Residency Week (ERW) will involve the completion of 1 Thematic Course (5 morning sessions), and 1 Core Course (4 afternoon sessions)
  • Total of 72 Hours of Mishpacha Colleague Group Course required of all Colleagues
  • Each Emergent Residency Week will involve the completion of 1 Mishpacha Colleague Group Course (4 afternoon sessions). Balance of hours are completed monthly between each Emergent Residency Week.
 
Emergent Residency Week
There are three Emergent Residency Weeks of study per year in this program (six in the two-year period). As a PhD colleague, you are required to participate in these six Emergent Residency Weeks. Each week includes four major components: worship, thematic course, core course, and Mishpacha Colleague Group (interactive time). The PhD Emergent Residency Weeks (ERW) occur in January, April, and August each academic year. All PhD colleagues are required to complete 12 courses throughout the process: six (6) thematic courses and six (6) core courses. These courses are only available during the Emergent Residency Weeks which are held the second full week in January, April, and August.
 
Thematic Courses
The Theme Course (varies in each ERW) is a seminar developed around topics of interest and importance to Hebraic researchers and leaders*. Topics are selected based on your interest and needs and that of the program and will be designed to challenge your thinking and enhance your research and practice in the way of Torah. The thematic courses will include a bibliography to enlarge your knowledge of each theme. You will be expected to prepare for each theme course by doing preparatory reading; there may be other requirements during the week.  Following the completion of the theme course, you will develop a scholarly summary paper integrating the material from the course and your own experience during the ERW.  Six (6) Theme Courses and summary papers are required for the PhD degree.
 
Core Courses
Core courses coincide with your stage in the process. Your first two courses will introduce you to the PhD Process and Clarifying Your Call to Ministry.  During the second two courses you will take Theoretical Foundations and Practical Research and Methodology. In your third two courses you will take courses that focus on implementing your Practicum Event and completing the final document.  The last course is presenting your work and planning future use thereof.
 
  • Introduction to the PhD I (January 2023)
The purpose of this course is to orient you and the other new students to one another, the Hebrew Academy International, and to the HAI PhD process. This course is designed to aid you, the researcher and practitioner, to better evaluate yourself and your ministry setting as you develop your theory for your project.
  • Introduction to the PhD II: Clarifying the Call (April 2023)  
The purpose of this course is to guide you into the process of developing a proposal for the doctoral project, which will form the basis of your dissertation.  
  •   Theoretical Principles (August 2023)
The purpose of this course is to help you decide the focus of your project and those questions that need more exploration. You are expected to reflect theologically, biblically, hebracially, philosophically, ecclesiastically, and politically in light of the literature of the experts related to your project and write your theory of the conceptual framework.  
  •  Practical Research and Methodology (January 2024)
The purpose of this course is to fine tune and finalize your research design and your practicum event project to include justification for the decision chosen. Basic theories and accepted practices that are necessary to design an appropriate research study will be explored. Concepts addressed will include qualitative and quantitative research designs, appropriate methodologies used with those designs, the analysis of  data, drawing defensible conclusions, and identifying the limitations of your study.                     
  • Dissertation I: Review of Findings (April 2024)   
The purpose of this course is to assist you with writing and organizing your dissertation with a view towards preparing you for your defense.         
  • Dissertation II:  Defending Your Work (August 2024)  
 The purpose of this course to help you to prepare to defend your dissertation and Explore the possibility of publication and other possible broader usage of your work.
 
Mishpacha Colleague Group
Another essential component of the ERW is the meetings with your Mishpacha Colleague Group Members.  Mishpacha Colleague Group (MCG) is the setting for the interactive learning that takes place in the small group of colleagues.  Active membership in a Mishpacha Colleague Group is required monthly during each year that you are in the PhD program. Your Mishpacha Colleague Group is an essential context for personal community support, accountability, deepening communal and personal prayer and meditation, receiving consultation on issues in your ministry setting, integrating the learning of the program, and presenting and receiving feedback on written work.
 
This group meets each day of the Emergent Residency Week for a total of eight hours. *Your time will be spent developing and deepening relationships with each other, reflecting on material presented in the thematic and core courses, planning times for future meetings and celebrating progress as a group and as individuals. Your Mishpacha Colleague Group continues to meet once a month for an average of six to eight hours per session. The time is scheduled according to the needs of the group, for a total of 72 hours per year. Individual time between the mentor and the colleague is also counted as group time.
*(If the group makes alternative arrangements these hours are made up during the semester schedule).
 
Written Assignments
 
Preparatory Papers
Some of the Theme Courses will require a preparatory paper in addition to the reading assignments. Assignments will be detailed in the syllabus prepared for the course. You will receive the syllabus only after you have registered for the Emergent Residency Week.
 
Summaries/Reflection Papers
There are three Emergent Residency Week (ERW) theological reflection papers required, based on your experiences of each Emergent Residency Week. The paper is the result of your reflection:
1). individually and within your Mishpacha Colleague Group; 2) on the thematic course; 3) the core course; and 4) the insights gained from the entire week of experience. You are expected to reference the texts recommended by the course instructors as well as other resources. Each paper should be 7-10 pages.  These papers must be written in a scholarly fashion and in APA (current edition) format. These papers are due 30 days following ERW 1, 3 and 5 and are to be submitted to the colleague’s mentor. You will not receive credit for the week until your summary paper has been submitted.
 
Papers Specific to Emergent Residency Week (ERW)
During the first two ERW of the PhD program, following the First Emergent Residency Week (ERW I) in January 2023 the colleague will write the following papers:
  1. Spiritual Awakening Autobiography
  2. Context Analysis
  3. Setting praxis
  4. Reflection Paper (Required within 30 Days)
  5. Project Proposal (Draft)
 
Spiritual Awakening Autobiography Paper:
The Spiritual Awakening Autobiography is a detailed account of your life identifying events that are spiritual in nature, having influenced who you are today as a awakened believer and a person (significant deaths, sickness, abuses, rites of passage, addiction in the home, etc.). This paper should also include your sense of calling to research or ministry and in what ways you have responded to your call (i.e.,   education, Moreh, Morah, certification, etc.).
 
Context Analysis Paper:
The context analysis is a full description of the Hebraic context where you serve, live, worship and where you most likely will do your practicum event project.  The paper should include the history of the context, when did it started, what is its purpose, what is its mission, what makes up its membership and clientele, what is the decision-making process, what are its strengths and weaknesses, etc.  The context analysis paper will give you a better appreciation of the system in which you do ministry. 
 
Setting Praxis Paper:
The praxis paper will help you become aware of your values and passions in ministry.  It will address how you serve in your setting: what is the theory, philosophy, and practice of your setting; what do you do well and not so well, what would you like to change, what would make things better, what are the encumbrances to the setting, and ultimately, what specific aspect of the your setting would you like to examine more closely to see how it may add information to the body of knowledge in the field of that Hebraic setting, enhance the context and community? The underlined may well become your practicum event project.   
 
Project Proposal
The colleague will be introduced to the Project Proposal (two to three pages) by the mentor in the Mishpacha Colleague Group during the period after the first ERW and before the start of the second ERW.  The components of the paper are listed below:
Project Proposal Components
The two-to-three-page project proposal includes:
  1. Statement of the problem
  2. Context in brief
  3. Research or Project Question
  4. Theory (beginning)
  5. Goal of the Practicum event project
Statement of the Problem
Problem in research language and does not mean bad; it could be something that is going so well the researcher may want to find out why it is going so well and if it will work in other settings.  Once you understand the problem you realize that anything you want to study, for any reason, is referred to as The Problem; meaning the focus of your study.  Your problem is something you want to understand well enough that you can find a way to influence it, for better or for worse.  It must be something you can design and do in a way that lends itself to assessment.
 
Context
The context is the place, the venue, the area, the target population, a special group (i.e. women of child bearing age, etc.).  The contexts include all of those who fit in a certain category or a description, which you would like to influence. The description and human dynamics is a very important part of the context.  
 
Research or Research or Project Question
Some colleagues come to the PhD program certain of the question they want to explore, however, it rarely turns out to be the question they use because most of time it is too large for the time limits of the PhD the program.  Other colleagues are confused about their question of interest and still many have absolutely no idea what they want to study.  This is not a problem; the program is designed to help all of the colleagues find their passion for the problem they want to study.  The three papers you write: Spiritual Awakening Autobiography , Context Analysis and Setting praxis are designed to bring out your passion for a question you want to pursue. 
 
Theory
The theory grows out of your consultation with the experts in the field.  One way to develop an outline for your theory is to make a list of heuristic questions about your subject and find experts who talk about it and for the most part agree with you.  As you answer the questions you see the theory coming into being.  Ultimately, your theory is your understanding of the people that make up your population (all the people that are represented in your study), what their issues are (especially the issue you are studying), how the issue came to be, what has been done to resolve it and, finally, what ministry you feel needs to be done to bring about the desired change.
 
Goal of the Practicum event project
The goal for your practicum event reaches all the way back to your personal life experiences. You have found hope, gained freedom or in some way have been made better in a similar situation and now you desire to demonstrate a method of deliverance for many of our people who find themselves in a similar situation; like the one that held you down for so long.  Once you test it out and find it to be helpful, you want to tell all the people in churches and communities what you have discovered and how it will help.  That is the goal and drive of your practicum event project. 
 
 
Following the Second Emergent Residency Week (EW II) in April 2023 the colleague will write the following documents:
  1. Project Proposal (Final)
  2. Literature Review/other resources
  3. Theory Paper (Final)
  4. Research or Project Question and Hypothesis Draft
  5. Annotated Bibliography Draft
  6. Annual Review
 
Two to three months after the second ERW (date set by instructor of Core Course Cor200) each candidate will have updated his or her Project Proposal and have begun making a list of Related Literature Reviewed and Other Resources.  This list of written material, workshops, interviews, seminars, videos, etc. will include at least three experts that agree with your position and at least one who disagrees, at least in part, with the your position.  All the resources used must be verifiable and scholarly.
 
Literature Review (Estimate: 25-50 pages)
The purpose of the Literature Review (Chapter Four in your Dissertation) is to listen to contemporary voices and how they speak to your project. This is not a book report. This is a conversation with those who have ―made their mark in an area that is relevant to your project. Your task is to come up with a flow of ideas that come from reading multiple authors. What is the logical flow of questions, propositions, topics or concepts?
 
The contents of chapter three must address the purpose statement. This means that the questions you will ask in the review of the literature must answer the research question. Your literature review will answer the questions you ask in an effort to help answer the research question.
 
The purpose of this assignment is to review the literature of the focus of the project. Your review will include a review of those contemporary resources which speak to your project. These resources should include theories, data, models, and programs that others have presented when applicable to your project. This material will provide a theoretical frame and a contemporary setting for your project.
 
This is a list of written material, workshops, interviews, seminars, videos, etc. will include at least three experts that agree with your position and at least one who disagrees, at least in part, with your position. All resources used must be verifiable and scholarly.
 
Dr. Howard will assist you in the Literature Review and support the thinking and ideas of the colleague as he or she begins to develop a Theory about the issue that is the focus of the project.  The theory includes what the issue is, why it is and how it can be influenced by the Research and Practicum event project. 
 
As the colleague continues to develop the Practicum Event (the steps that will be taken to influence the issue under study) the guiding dynamic will be The Question that the colleague puts forth will serve as the plan of activity to be assessed after the practicum event is completed.
    
Research or Project Question and Hypothesis
Students are required to develop a guiding research question and learn research methodologies appropriate to that question early in the program. This research question will guide each student’s work between courses and will serve to further shape and clarify and focus the relationship between course work and each student’s ministry event. A hypothesis sets an anticipated expectation for the outcome of the practicum event which will be supported or not at the conclusion of the event activity.
Most research questions in PhD studies come as a “grand tour.” That is, the research question gives in its most abstract form what will direct the study or what the researcher wishes to know, learn, explain, or clarify as a result of the project. Typically, the research question will use wording that points to the research method that will be employed or at least to its quantitative or qualitative nature.
 
A research hypothesis is simply an educated guess as to what results the researcher expects. In quantitative research, the hypothesis will be quantified with a numerical or percentage increase or decrease. In qualitative research, the hypothesis simply helps the researcher to be precise in describing anticipated results, even though the results are not normally quantified.
 
Annotated bibliography
An Annotated Bibliography will follow everything that has gone before and will continue to be added to as the process continues. An annotation is more than just a brief summary of an article, book, Web site or other type of publication. An annotation should give enough information to make a reader decide whether to read the complete work. In other words, if the reader were exploring the same topic as you, is this material useful and if so, why?
 
Although annotations can be descriptive, they also include distinctive features about an item. Annotations can be evaluative and critical as we will see when we look at the two major types of annotations.
An annotated bibliography is an organized list of sources (like a reference list). It differs from a straightforward bibliography in that each reference is followed by a paragraph length annotation, usually 100–200 words in length.
 
 
Depending on the assignment, an annotated bibliography might have different purposes:
  • Provide a literature review on your particular subject
  • Help to formulate a thesis on your subject
  • Demonstrate the research you have performed on a particular subject
  • Provide examples of major sources of information available on your topic
  • Describe items that other researchers may find of interest on a topic
  
Following the Third Emergent Residency Week (ERW III) in August 2023 the colleague will write the following documents:
  1. Reflection Paper (7-10 pages due by 30 Days)
  2. Finalize Annotated Bibliography
  3. Refine Question
 
 
Following the Fourth Emergent Residency Week (EW IV) in January 2024 the colleague will write the following documents:
1.      Formalize Methodology
2.      Write-up Draft of Practicum event and Analysis  
Research Method or Methodology (Estimate: 10-15 pages)
In this section you will briefly describe the method or methods by which you will research and write your project, and why you have chosen it/them. Such methodologies might include, for example: historical or sociological research and analysis; personal reflection on experience; case studies; assessment instruments; surveys of existing literature on the subject; biblical exegesis and linguistic analysis, etc.
 
State in some detail the process you will follow in securing input, data, and feedback from project (practicum event participants. Will you do a pre-project survey? Post-project survey? Interviews? Be as specific as possible. What statistics will you use to evaluate whether your project made any statistically significant difference? If you are using pre- and post-surveys, it is normally best to match a participant’s pre- and post-survey so that you can determine the statistical change (if this is the case, then you will want to use a t-test for dependent samples). Use literature to support your statistics/analysis choice and explain the statistics to the novice reader.
 
 
Quantitative Research. In quantitative research, data are numerical, analysis is statistical, and methods are objective. Replicability is an important aspect of research design since findings are verified when replicated by other researchers. Most scientific advances are the fruit of quantitative research and quantitative assumptions continue to dominate research in the natural sciences.
(Quantitative)
Research Design
Research Questions and Hypotheses
Population and Sample
Instrumentation
Data Collection
Data Analysis
Conclusion
 
Qualitative Research. In qualitative research, natural settings are respected, human interactions, processes and relationships, not only quantifiable variables, are of interest, data are verbal, analysis employs interpretative methods, and findings typically are not replicable. Qualitative research assumptions and methods are widely embraced within the social sciences.
(Qualitative)
Research Design
Research Questions
Setting
Participants
Data Collection
Data Analysis
Conclusion
 
Research rarely is purely either quantitative or qualitative; most research in ministry employs a Mixed Methods Approach. This name is misleading, however, since the differences between quantitative and qualitative research are less methodological than philosophical. It is no more necessary to embrace the naturalistic assumptions often associated with quantitative research than to subscribe to the epistemological relativism that underlies much current qualitative research. It should be noted, furthermore, that very few research methods are solely quantitative or qualitative, grounded theory research being the principal exception.
(Mixed)
Research Design
Research Questions and Hypotheses
Setting and Sample
Data Collection
Data Analysis
Conclusion
 
Data Analysis
This chapter presents the results of the analyses, usually in order by research question, and any results of further analyses (that is, analyses that were not proposed but which were carried out). Results should be presented without interpretation; interpretation is reserved for the discussion in chapter VII.
 
Following the Fifth Emergent Residency Week (EW V) in April 2024 the colleague will write the following documents:
1.      Reflection Paper (7-10 pages due by 30 Days)
2.      Refine Write-up  
3.      Experience and Outcome
4.      Complete Manuscript Draft
 
Experience and Outcomes / Findings
Results are interpreted in light of the research questions and discussed in conjunction with other literature. Limitations of interpretation and implications for further research may be presented in this paper. Conclusion. The student should summarize all the major points made throughout the practicum event and make a conclusive statement regarding the solution to the problem addressed. Students may also include a statement regarding opportunities for further development of the project. This is an opportunity to use and cite bibliography sources.
 
Following the Six Emergent Residency Week (EW VI) in August 2024 the colleague will write the following documents:
1.      Submit Completed Manuscript
2.      Mock Defense
3.      Share How Work Will Be Used
4.      Recommendations
5.      Final Reflections
 
Conclusions
Conclusions should be based on the research questions in Chapter 1. They should be presented in the same order as the research questions. This last chapter of the research paper should bring the research full circle. Be very clear about stating conclusions and the discussion of the conclusions. This chapter is anything and everything that the researcher wants to say about the research that has been conducted. It is the chance to tell the reader what the research thinks about the research. Therefore, be sure to use references in this chapter to support what is being said!
 
 
Students should feel free to disagree with what was found in the literature, just be sure to explain what is being thought. As the researcher, you may draw upon life experiences to support your thoughts, views, and ideas. Tie everything together. The student should analyze, synthesize, and evaluate what was found in the research with what they think.
Conclusions (organized by Research Questions or Hypotheses)
Discussion
Suggestions for Future Research
Submitted Completed Manuscript
Once the student has made the required corrections to their dissertation to the satisfaction of the examining committee, they will submit printed copies of your thesis to the office of the PhD Program Director per the requirements in this guide.
 
Recommendations
 In the review of literature and in the research that was studied, several “holes” were probably were questionable. Give some recommendations as what further could be studied in the area of research conducted. When stating what should be studied, also indicate why this is important. Provide a rationale for why the additional research should be done.

Dissertation Component Papers (Length of Project: 125-175 pages)

The six Dissertation Components require scholarly papers written by students during their progression through the program that become part of their dissertation. The dissertation represents the foundation of the culmination of all of these scholarly pieces of work enhanced to a higher level. The Dissertation is a biblically based, Hebraically sound analytical paper, complete with sustained argument in an area that has a broader scope and application beyond a specific ministry.

Focus:

A Dissertation is meant to influence the broader Hebraic world rather than a specific area. 

Audience:

A Dissertation is meant to influence peers is written for the wider Hebraic community.

Research:

A Dissertation is a well-researched, high-quality manuscript in the area of theory and/or praxis that makes a unique or creative contribution to the literature in the field.

Content:

A Dissertation is a sustained argument of a theme that requires a higher level of research and scholarly justification than a Focus Paper, which centers on addressing a specific localized problem.

Once your practicum event has been implemented and the data has been collected, the components will be assembled into one final document within the appropriate chapters.  You will submit to your Dissertation Committee the final draft of your manuscript for review. After approval is given, you will defend your dissertation to the Dissertation Committee and to the public as a final requirement for the PhD degree. 

  Dissertation Components

 Component 1

  • Spiritual Awakening Autobiography (The Journal)
  • Context Analysis
  • Setting praxis

   Component 2

  • Proposal
  • Literature Review
  • Theory

  Component 3          

  • Research Method or Methodology

  Component 4

  • Implementing Practicum Event

 Component 5

  • Data Analysis and Finding

 Component 6

  • Conclusions, Recommendations and Reflections

 

 

  

Correlation: Timeline – Core Courses – Dissertation Components

 

Time

Core Courses

Dissertation Component

1st Week of 1st Yr.

Intro to PhD I: Clarifying the Call

Dissertation Component 1 – Clarifying the Call (completed and approved by next Core Course)

2nd Week of  1st Yr.

Intro to PhD II

Prep for Candidacy

Annual Review

Dissertation Component 2 – Project Proposal

(completed and approved by the end of Year I)

3rdWeek of 1st Yr.

Theoretical Foundations

Dissertation Component 3– Theoretical Foundations 

 assignments (completed and approved by next Core Course)

1stWeek of 2nd Yr.

Practical Research

Candidacy Review

Dissertation Component 4 – Research Methodology (completed and approved by next Core Course)

2ndWeek of 2nd Yr.

Dissertation I

Dissertation Review of Results

Dissertation Component 5 – Practicum Event

(completed and approved by next Core Course)

3rdWeek of 2nd Yr.

Dissertation II

Preparation for Publication

Dissertation Component 6 – Recommendations and Reflections (Completed and approved by Feb. 1/Oct. 1 of 2nd Yr.) 

 

 

*Such themes will include spirituality, leadership, racism and the Torah studies, and a nuclear world.

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