Doctoral Research
Research is a cornerstone of the College of Doctoral Studies, empowering learners to collaborate and advance within all fields. Through a continual dialogue regarding research and ethics guidelines, we serve the advancement of Grand Canyon University’s doctoral programs and other academic communities. Explore our resources, designed to suit your needs and interests, including the Center for Innovation in Research on Teaching (CIRT), the Canyon Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies (CJIS), the Journal of Instructional Research (JIR) and GCU’s Institutional Review Board (IRB).
After earning my doctorate at GCU, I feel like I now have a tree of life ahead of me in so many ways. I have so many things that I want to do and have started to do and have so much envisioned for the future. So far, I’ve presented my research and am working on drafting a journal article based for publication on the research in my dissertation.
What is qualitative versus quantitative research? Qualitative research is less structured and answers open-ended questions, providing subjective results that reveal bias but seek to explore and explain. Quantitative research, on the other hand, seeks to confirm a hypothesis and often uses numbers and statistical results. Quantitative research typically answers closed-ended questions, and is typically documented using objective language.
At the College of Doctoral Studies, we value both qualitative and quantitative research methods. Depending on your degree and your dissertation, you may find that using one method is more appropriate than the other.
Institutional Review Board
The IRB ensures that all GCU-conducted research meets the highest ethical standards and complies with federal regulations. The IRB provides timely and efficient processing, review, monitoring, tracking and reporting of all research protocols and IRB activities, and requires that all research conducted by researchers within the GCU community meets the following requirements:
- Protects human participants
- Develops and sustains an ethical research environment
- Ensures that researchers are qualified
- Ensures that research has the potential to add value to the academic community and society
All researchers within the GCU community who aspire to conduct research at GCU must submit their request to the IRB using the appropriate form. Guidelines for GCU researchers are provided in the Institutional Review Board Handbook.
Research Ethics
GCU enforces a strict and defined set of standards that challenge our scholars to practice ethical research. The principles that define our practices include those of the National Research Act, which ensures the protection of humans involved in research; the Belmont Report, which specifies basic ethical principles and their application in research; and the mandatory research ethics training prior to applying for IRB approval. Our uncompromised standards continue to facilitate excellence in field advancement and underscore the ethical code for which our university is known.