The Department of Kinesiology offers programs leading to the Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) degree in Kinesiology with areas of study in exercise science and sport pedagogy.
Admissions
Admission to the Ph.D. program is competitive and based on prior academic achievement, graduate record examination (GRE) scores, recommendations, and research interests. In addition to the minimum Graduate School admission requirements, to be considered for regular admission an application must include:
- a graduate degree or PGCE (sport pedagogy only) from an accredited institution
- a GRE score
- 3.0 GPA for a completed graduate degree program.
Preference is given to students who have strong backgrounds in the Life Sciences (for the exercise science focused area of study), teaching (for the sport pedagogy focused area of study), or related fields, meet the minimum requirements stated above, and have research interests compatible with at least one of the Kinesiology faculty members.
Students will be admitted on a rolling basis at the discretion of program faculty as applications are received. Prospective students should identify a prospective research mentor and contact that person for more information regarding an admission timeline. For coursework focusing on exercise science, prospective students are encouraged to submit admission and graduate assistantship applications prior to January 15 to be considered for Fall admission. For coursework focusing on sport pedagogy, applications are accepted year round.
See the Admission Criteria section of this catalog for more information.
Curricular Requirements
The Ph.D. degree requires a minimum of 66 hours beyond the master’s degree. This program includes 1) 24-hour kinesiology (i.e., exercise science or sport pedagogy) core; 2) 12-hour competency in research and statistics; 3) 12 hours of foundation courses to support the major (must be taken outside of the department); and 4) 18 hours of dissertation.
Advising
All doctoral students will be advised by a major professor with whom they will have been aligned as part of the admissions process. In the event a doctoral student is granted admission without a research mentor/major professor, they will be assigned an interim advisor upon admission to the PhD program. The advisor will assist the student in the evaluation of previous work, selection of coursework, and research oversight.
| Coursework Focusing on Exercise Science | Hours | |
|---|---|---|
| Major Field Coursework | ||
| KIN 592 | Physiology of Exercise | 3 |
| KIN 651 | Systems Physiology I | 3 |
| KIN 652 | Systems Physiology II | 3 |
| KIN 670 | Exercise Biochemistry | 3 |
| Additional KIN coursework (Students may select from the following courses.) | 12 | |
| Techniques of Research | ||
| Lab Techniques in Kinesiology | ||
| Evaluation in Kinesiology | ||
| Adv Fit Test Ex Prescript | ||
| Independent Study | ||
| Readings in Kinesiology | ||
| Special Proj Kinesiology | ||
| Field & Lab Experience | ||
| Exercise Health Disease | ||
| Sem Exercise Physiology | ||
| Non-Dissertn Research | ||
| Research/Statistics * | 12 | |
| Students may select from the following courses: | ||
| Applied Regression Analysis | ||
| Adv Statistical Methods in Ed | ||
| Advanced Regression Methods | ||
| Multivariate Statistics | ||
| Advanced Experimental Design | ||
| Structural Equation Modl | ||
| Advanced SEM | ||
| Stat Prog & Comp with R | ||
| Stat Methods In Res I | ||
| Applied Regression Analy | ||
| Appld Multivariate Analy | ||
| Statistical Methods | ||
| Applied Design Expermnts | ||
| Nonparametric Statistics | ||
| Biostatistics | ||
| Advanced Statistics I | ||
| Advanced Statistics II | ||
| Foundations Area Coursework ** | 12 | |
| Courses may include but are not limited to the following examples: | ||
| Intro to Fundamentals of Med I (6) | ||
| Intro to Fundamentals Med II (6) | ||
| Human Physiology | ||
| Immunology | ||
| Endocrinology | ||
| Fundamentals of Biochemistry | ||
| Childhood Obesity | ||
| Nutr Prev Trtmt Chron Disease | ||
| Adv. Vitamins and Minerals | ||
| Metabolism of Energy Nutrients | ||
| Nutrition for the Older Adult | ||
| Basic Epidemiology | ||
| Psychopathology | ||
| Rural Envir/Occup Health | ||
| Dissertation Research | 18 | |
| Dissertation Research | ||
| Total Hours | 66 | |
| Footnotes | |
|---|---|
| * | Research prerequisite: If a student has not completed a basic statistics course in a master's degree program, BER 540 Statistical Methods In Educ must be completed. BER 540 does not count toward the required 12 hours of Research/Statistics. |
| ** | Sample areas include health promotion, psychology, nutrition, biochemistry, physiology, immunology, epidemiology, and occupational health. |
| Coursework Focusing on Sport Pedagogy | Hours | |
|---|---|---|
| Major Field Courses* | ||
| KIN 512 | PE Curriculum | 3 |
| KIN 538 | Adv Adapted Phys Ed. | 3 |
| KIN 604 | Sem in Physical Education | 3 |
| KIN 612 | Res Phys Ed Teach Education | 3 |
| KIN 622 | Analy Res Teach Phys Ed | 3 |
| KIN 632 | System Oberv Phys Educ | 3 |
| KIN 642 | Instrct Design PE High Ed | 3 |
| KIN 691 | Res Sociology Human Perf | 3 |
| Research/Statistics ** | ||
| BER 640 | Adv Statistical Methods in Ed | 3 |
| Choose one research grouping below for 9 hours. | 9 | |
| Major Area Foundations *** | 12 | |
| Dissertation Research | 18 | |
| Dissertation Research | ||
| Total Hours | 66 | |
| Footnotes | |
|---|---|
| * | Sport pedagogy students who have not completed a master's degree at The University of Alabama take these 8 courses for a total of 24 hours. Sport pedagogy students who have taken some of the major field courses in a master's degree program at The University of Alabama may substitute the major field courses with KIN 596, KIN 602, KIN 603, KIN 685, and/orKIN 698. Students who will focus on adapted sport pedagogy may obtain approval from Dr. Hardin to substitute a maximum of two of these courses for KIN 632 and KIN 691: KIN 596, KIN 602, KIN 603, KIN 685, and/or KIN 698. |
| ** | Research/Statistics prerequisite: If a student has not completed a basic research methods course in a master's degree program, KIN 506 Techniques of Research is a prerequisite. If a student has not completed a basic statistics course in a master's degree program, BER 540 Statistical Methods In Educ must be completed. Neither KIN 506 nor BER 540 counts toward the required 12 hours of Research/Statistics. |
| *** | Sample areas include health promotion, human development, educational psychology, educational leadership, educational foundations, educational policy, research, special education, or other areas to suit student's research/teaching interests. |
Transfer Credit
A maximum of 6 hours of graduate credit earned in the field of the doctoral degree from a regionally accredited institution in which the student was enrolled in the graduate school of that university may be considered for transfer and applied towards the requirements for a doctoral degree in Kinesiology under the following conditions:
- The credit hours must have been completed prior to the student enrolling in the doctoral program at The University of Alabama.
The credit hours must not have been taken in order to satisfy the requirements for degrees the student has earned previously.
Graduate School information on Transfer Credit.
Doctoral Plan of Study Requirements
Graduate School information on the Doctoral Plan of Study.
Comprehensive Exam
Dates for and Registering to Take Comprehensive Exams
- Doctoral degree comprehensive examinations for students will be offered at any time of the academic year in conjunction with the student’s dissertation chair (or academic advisor in the event a dissertation chair has not yet been designated, hereafter referred to as “major professor”) and following the policies provided in the university’s Graduate Catalog.
- Only eligible students may take their comprehensive examination, eligibility being dictated by policies provided in the university’s Graduate Catalog.
- Students wishing to take their comprehensive examinations must inform their major professor—who will be responsible for scheduling, organizing, and proctoring the comprehensive examination—at least four weeks prior to their desired examination date.
- Any necessary retakes of the doctoral comprehensive examination will take place when the major professor deems the student ready. The time frame in which retakes must be completed is decided by the major professor in conjunction with the faculty member whose question is being retaken.
Doctoral Degree Comprehensive Examination Format and Content
- The faculty member organizing the comprehensive examination will solicit at least 8 questions from program faculty.
- Exercise Science only: Questions will be solicited from at least 3 and no more than 5 exercise science faculty.
- Within 1 month after the written session, an oral examination will follow. At the discretion of faculty, the student may receive feedback regarding the written answers during the 1-month period before the oral follow-up. A written and oral component will comprise a single comprehensive examination attempt. The oral component will be administered by the faculty members who provided questions.
- The doctoral degree comprehensive examination will consist of morning and/or afternoon sessions to be completed over the course of 1 work week (Monday – Friday).
- During each session, students answer relatively broad questions and are expected to draw on coursework, coursework reading, and work and reading done outside of coursework.
- Questions asked may not be tied to specific courses. Instead, they may cross the boundaries of a number of different courses.
- The faculty member responsible for scheduling and organizing the doctoral degree comprehensive examination may provide examples of past questions for students studying for the examination.
- Students will complete the examination by typing within a word processing program on a computer.
- Personal technology including phones, tablets, personal laptop computers, and portable drives will not be permitted in the examination room.
- Each examination session will be monitored as needed by the faculty member overseeing the examination process.
- On completion of the examination, the faculty member responsible for its scheduling and organization will distribute students’ answers to the faculty who composed individual questions for evaluation, collect all evaluated answers, and inform each student of his or her result (pass or fail).
- Students failing the comprehensive examination will be required to rewrite individual questions on which they received a score of 1. They will be permitted only one further attempt to pass and may be required to take additional coursework.
- Exercise Science only: The faculty administering questions will consider both the written and oral components in determining a score on a given attempt. Students failing the examination may be required to wait until the following semester to retake the exam. Additional coursework may be required. Retakes of written portions will only involve question(s) failed, but the oral portion of a retake will be administered by the full committee of faculty who administered questions. The committee will decide the pass/fail outcome of the retake attempt.
The major professor will keep a record of and report results to the program administrative assistant, who will then report results to the graduate school.
Graduate School information on Comprehensive Exams.
Admission to Candidacy Requirements
A student is admitted to candidacy after passing the comprehensive exam.
Graduate School information on Admission to Candidacy.
Continuous Doctoral Research Hours Registration
Graduate School information on Continuous Doctoral Research Hours Registration.
Dissertation Requirements
Dates for and Registering to Complete the Dissertation
- Students wishing to complete a dissertation will register for KIN 699 Dissertation Research.
- The student will work with the research advisor to formulate a committee of 5 faculty members, one of whom must be from outside the Department of Kinesiology. A majority of the dissertation committee members must be full-time regular University of Alabama faculty (that is, full-time instructor, assistant professor, associate professor, or professor). The chair of the committee must hold Full Graduate Faculty status; others may be Full, Associate, or Affiliate members of the Graduate Faculty.
- The dissertation proposal meeting will be scheduled by the student at any time of the academic year in conjunction with the dissertation chair and committee and following the policies provided in the university’s graduate catalog.
- Students can opt to write a “traditional” five-chapter dissertation consisting of an introductory chapter, a literature review chapter, a methods chapter, a results chapter, and a conclusions chapter. In this case, the formal proposal will consist of the first three chapters with the methods section being written in the future tense.
- Alternatively, students can opt to write an “article-style” dissertation which describes 3 studies to be conducted by the student and written in a format consistent with a reputable journal in the student’s subdiscipline of Kinesiology. In this case, the proposal will consist of all sections of each study article prior to the reporting of results and any discussion of or conclusions about the results (e.g., introduction, literature review, theoretical framework, purpose statement, and methods) with the methods written in the future tense.
Dissertation Proposal
- The student will provide a copy of his/her final dissertation proposal to his/her dissertation chair and committee prior to the proposal meeting in conjunction with the policies provided in the university’s graduate catalog.
- The student will then make a formal presentation of the proposed dissertation research.
- Faculty will then question the student and provide feedback about the presentation and/or written document and content related to the proposed research.
- Once the dissertation chair and committee have completed their questioning of the student, the student and all other parties, with the exception of the chair and the committee, will retire from the room in which the proposal is being held. Faculty will then deliberate as to the standard of the proposal.
- IRB approval may be necessary for research involving human subjects. More info here: http://ovpred.ua.edu/research-compliance/institutional-review-board-irb/.
Dissertation Defense
- The dissertation defense will be scheduled by the student at any time of the academic year in conjunction with the dissertation chair and committee and following the policies provided in the university’s graduate catalog.
- The student will provide a copy of the final dissertation to the dissertation chair and committee prior to the defense in conjunction with the policies provided in the university’s graduate catalog.
- The chair of the student’s dissertation committee will announce the date, time, and place of the dissertation defense to members of the department and College of Education at least one week in advance of the defense.
- The defense will begin with a formal presentation of the dissertation research made by the student.
- Faculty will then question the student about the presentation and/or written document and content related to the dissertation research.
- Other interested parties attending the dissertation defense will also be given an opportunity to question the student about the dissertation research.
- Once the dissertation chair and committee have completed their questioning of the student, the student and all other parties, with the exception of the chair and the committee, will retire from the room in which the defense is being held. Faculty will then deliberate as to the standard of the dissertation defense and score it using a rubric.
- Students failing the dissertation defense will be required to defend their dissertation a second time. They will be permitted only one further attempt to defend their dissertation and may be required to take additional coursework.
Graduate School information on Dissertation Requirements.
Time Limit for Degree Completion
Graduate School information on Time Limits.
Student Progress Requirements
The sequence of steps for a doctoral student from admission to graduation is:
- Satisfaction of admission requirements
- Formation of doctoral program of study
- Completion of coursework
- Completion of major comprehensive exams
- Admission to candidacy
- Formation of doctoral dissertation committee
- Proposal of doctoral dissertation
- Oral defense of the dissertation
- Submission of final copies of the dissertation
Academic Misconduct Information
Graduate School information on Academic Misconduct.
Withdrawals and Leave of Absence Information
Graduate School information on Withdrawals and Leave of Absence.
Academic Grievances Information
Graduate School information on Academic Grievances.
Grades and Academic Standing
Graduate School information on Grades and Academic Standing.
Graduate School Deadlines
Graduate School information on Deadlines.
Application for Graduation
Graduate School information on the Application for Graduation.