Degree Requirements – MSc/PhD HSR

MSc Health Services Research

The MSc program consists of a minimum of 6 half-year courses and completion of a research thesis of acceptable quality and its oral defense. Two of the courses must be health services research courses and two must be in research methods and/or statistics. The remaining two are elective courses.

To be eligible for the minimum program, students must have knowledge of the Canadian health care system and basic research and statistics skills. Students whose preparation is insufficient in these areas will be required to take additional courses. Course exemptions will only be offered to those students who have successfully completed graduate level courses at accredited universities, but no degree was awarded for completion of those courses.

Thesis research must be supervised by a faculty member who has an appointment (either primary or cross-appointment) in IHPME. The thesis must be completed under the supervision of a thesis committee (supervisor and at least one additional member) and must be defended before an examination committee appointed by the Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation, according to the School of Graduate Studies’ guidelines.

Program Requirements
Students meet annually with their supervisor and the Program Director to review the students’ progress and to plan course work and other activities for the next year.

On average, students complete the MSc program within 18 months, although degree requirements can be completed within one year of full-time studies.

The following item is required for all students (1 half-courses) regardless of Emphasis:

Emphases
Students in the Health Services Research concentration have the option to complete an Emphasis by completing 4 half-year courses in a given area. The emphasis requirements will also count toward their 6 half-year course concentration requirements.

• Course requirements by Emphasis will be effective September 2019.
  • Degree Requirement Fall 2018 (pre Emphases)
• Alternatives to courses listed can be taken with the approval of the Program Director and Graduate Coordinator.
• Emphases replace categories previously referred to as ‘Primary Areas of Study’.
• While most do so, MSc students are not required to pursue an Emphasis.

MSc Health Services Research – Coursework-Only

The MSc – Coursework Only program consists of a minimum of 10 half-year courses. Two of the courses must be in health services research and two must be in research methodology. The remaining six are elective courses.

To be eligible for the minimum program, students must have knowledge of the Canadian health care system and basic research and statistics skills. Students whose preparation is insufficient in these areas will be required to take additional courses. Course exemptions will only be offered to those students who have successfully completed graduate level courses at accredited universities, but no degree was awarded for completion of those courses.

Program Requirements
Students meet annually with the Program Director to review the students’ progress and to plan course work and other activities for the next year.

On average, students complete the MSc Coursework Only full-time program within 12 months.

PhD Health Services Research

The PhD program consists of a minimum of 10 half-year courses, oral defence of a dissertation proposal, and completion of a dissertation and its oral defence. Students meet annually with their supervisor and the PhD Program Director to review their progress and to plan course work and other activities for the following year.

Students must have knowledge of the Canadian health care system and basic research and statistics skills or they will be required to take additional courses.

PhD students will be required to complete an intermediate statistics course while in the program. A pre-requisite for successful completion of this course is familiarity with introductory statistics up to and including regression. All students are strongly advised to take an applied introductory statistics course over the summer, or review the material independently.

Course exemptions will only be offered to those students who have successfully completed graduate level courses at accredited universities, and if no degree was awarded for completion of those courses.

The following items are required for all students (4 half-courses) regardless of Emphasis:

Emphases
Students must select one of six Emphases, and complete the required Emphasis courses listed below.

• Course requirements by Emphasis will be effective September 2019.
  • Degree Requirement Fall 2018 (pre Emphases)
• Alternatives to courses listed can be taken with the approval of the Program Director and Graduate Coordinator.
• Emphases replace categories previously referred to as ‘Primary Areas of Study’.

Comprehensives
Each Emphasis has a Comprehensives component tailored to assess their students’ ability to demonstrate a high level of competency in the area of specialization, and satisfactory evidence of proficiency in statistics and research methods. Comprehensives are required of all doctoral programs. Some Emphases fulfill this requirement through a Comprehensives course, while other Emphases do so through a final exam at the conclusion of all Emphasis required coursework.

The usual required course of study for each of the Emphases is as follows:

Secondary Area of Study:  Knowledge Translation

Elective Courses

Electives can be chosen from either IHPME or other University of Toronto departments, as approved by the HSR Program Director and course instructor

Dissertation

The purpose of the dissertation is to undertake an original theory-driven investigation characterized by rigorous methodology and capable of making a significant contribution to knowledge about the subject under study. The dissertation supervisor must have their primary graduate appointment in the Institute of HPME. The dissertation process includes:

1. Preparation and oral defence of a dissertation proposal
2. Preparation of the written dissertation
3. Presentation and oral defence of the dissertation.