The Research Project is required for all students. The purpose is to ensure that graduates can carry out successful research on a QA topic, write a paper describing that research and its results, and give an open, professional oral presentation/defense of the project. For some examples of many past titles and abstracts, see Past Research Projects.

Each student must register for a total of at least four credits of 22-QA-981, MS Thesis Research, in or before the final quarter of the program. Normally, these credits are taken in the quarter in which the work on the Research Project is taking place, but some of them may be taken earlier, with the approval of the Program Director. Until the oral defense of the Research Project, the grade for all credits of 22-QA-981 will be registered as SP / UP (In Progress - Satisfactory / Unsatisfactory); upon successful completion of the oral defense, the grades for all these credits will be changed to P (Pass).

Early in (or prior to) the quarter of intended graduation (see Deadlines for exact dates), the student must complete the UC Graduate School's Online Graduation Process; failure to do so on time will result in a delay of graduation by at least a full quarter.  Note that for purposes of this online application, the MSQA is listed as the QA Concentration under MS Business Administration, and is a Non-Thesis degree.

Process For Completing The MSQA Research Project and Graduating

1. The student is responsible for identifying a faculty member who is willing to serve as Research Project Chair. The Chair, who must be any tenure-track member of the QAOM Department or a member of the UC Graduate Faculty, will assist the student in selecting a suitable research project, and will be the student's major source of guidance as the project is undertaken and as the research document is written. Initial drafts of the research document must be approved by the Chair as being of high quality and readability prior to being distributed to the other Committee members.
2. Projects must be new work and may consist of a broad spectrum of research paradigms including but not limited to theoretical research, applied research, case studies, data collection and analyses, and any other research process deemed acceptable by the candidate's Chair and Committee. However, joint projects in which students work together on the same task or on separate portions of the same larger task will only be accepted under very unique circumstances. The Program Director must approve well in advance of any joint project activities.
3. The last day for oral defense of the Research Project in a given quarter is the last day of classes in that quarter; defenses during finals week are not allowed.  At least a full month prior to the intended date of the oral defense of the Research Project, the student must identify at least one additional person who agrees to serve with the Research Project Chair on the student's Research Project Committee. At least one member of the Committee must be a member of the QAOM Department tenure-track faculty. At least one member of the Committee must be a member of the UC Graduate Faculty.  UC graduate students are excluded from serving on the Committee. The student must provide all Committee members with a complete draft of the research-project document at this time or earlier.
4. Successful defense of the Research Project requires the unanimous acceptance of all members of the Research Project Committee. At that time, the MSQA Project Defense and Program Verification Form must be fully completed, signed by all UC members of the Research Project Committee, and by the Program Director.
5. At least two weeks prior to defending the Research Project, the following information must be provided by the student to the Program Director for dissemination to all CoB Faculty and MSQA students:
   • Research Project title
   • Student's full name
   • Abstract
   • Room location of the oral defense. It is the student's responsibility to reserve a room, preferably the QAOM Conference room, 537 Lindner; to do so, see the QAOM Department Administrative Coordinator in 501 Lindner, (513) 556-7140. It is also the student's responsibility to arrange for any necessary audiovisual equipment for the room and time of the defense, by asking his or her Research Project Chair to do so.
   • Time, day, month, and year of the oral defense
   • Committee members, with Research Project Chair designated
6. To graduate, the student must submit to the Program Director all of the following:
   • The completed and signed MSQA Project Defense and Program Verification Form.
   • The completed MSQA Program Form, which will be checked to ensure completion of all coursework. No grades of I (incomplete), NG (No Grade), or F may be present on the transcript.
   • A copy of all UC transcripts ... unofficial are acceptable, as are website printouts.
     
   • An electronic copy of the complete and final Research Project Paper and defense handouts. (The complete and final Research Project Paper and defense handouts must also be given to each Committee member, in either electronic or hardcopy form according the each Committee member's preference.)

Research Project Paper And Oral Presentation/Defense Guidelines

The final copy of your project should include, but is not limited to, the following:

• Title Page with:
  • Title of the project
  • Student's full name
  • 'A Project Submitted in Partial Fulfillment for the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Science in Quantitative Analysis'
  • Other degrees the candidate has earned, with origin and year for each
  • Date of oral project defense
  • Committee members, with Research Project Chair designated
• Abstract (100 to 250 words)
• Outline
• Numbered pages
• Use of sections, subsections, etc., as appropriate
• References
• Appendices
• Acknowledgments
• One-page biography

Among many references for writing style, the following may be valuable for assistance

• The Elements of Style, 4th ed., by William Strunk Jr. and E.B. White, Allyn & Bacon, 2000.
• The Chicago Manual of Style, 15th Ed., University of Chicago Press, 2004.
• Clear and Simple as the Truth: Writing Classic Prose, by Francis-Noel Thomas and Mark Turner, Princeton University Press, 1995.

Good and efficient writing matters.  Say what you need to say, but no more.  A particularly nice (and succinct) paper specific to operations-research writing is: G.G. Brown.  2004.  How to write about operations research.  PHALANX 37 7.

The oral presentation/defense of the project must be of high professional quality. The use of appropriate audio-visual support must be incorporated. Copies of your written research project should be available for all in attendance. A handout separate from your written research project must accompany the presentation for all in attendance, and a copy of the handout must be provided to the Program Director. For example, you should provide copies of your slides. There is not a formal time constraint on the duration of the presentation, but it is generally expected to last approximately 45 minutes, with 10-15 additional minutes for discussion and questions.

The content of the oral presentation/defense should coincide with the content of the written document and should minimally include:

• An introduction of what the project entails, including the basic area under study and references to previous work on the same or similar topics
• The specifics of the analysis done for the project, including all data and methodologies employed
• A thorough presentation of the results and implications of the analysis
• If one or more Committee members deems that the presentation is unacceptable, it must be performed again until all Committee members find the presentation of acceptable quality.

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