The Doctorate of Business Administration (DBA) program at IWU allows students to demonstrate their mastery in solving real-world business problems through an Applied Doctoral Project (ADP). While a dissertation is the capstone of a research-based Ph.D. program, the ADP serves as a capstone for the IWU DBA. The distinction of the ADP is that students integrate evidence-based scholarly research in a consultative manner aimed at identifying a significant problem, formulating a solution, and presenting a proposal to a real organization.

• The ADP Experience employs a problem-based learning framework to guide the researcher-consultant process that is beneficial for professional practice as a consultant, practitioner, or scholar.
• Students are also uniquely advantaged when assigned a research chair who serves as their mentor and coach—from start to finish in the program—to ensure the project meets the rigorous standards worthy of a terminal degree in business.

Focus

• The primary emphasis of the ADP is to build a foundation of knowledge using research.
• To develop the ADP, the student first identifies the industry and then researches it to obtain a thorough understanding.
• Within that industry, the student next locates a partner organization with an appropriate business challenge that warrants investigation.

Process

• The DeVoe School of Business assigns a research chair to each student to help guide the student on the project.
• DSB also is charged with ensuring that the project rises to the level of a doctoral project and that all research is conducted in accordance with academic and federal research requirements.
• The student will then meet with that partner organization to define the exact challenge to be studied and to confirm the goals, scope, and estimated timeline of the project and the roles, responsibilities, and deliverables for both the student and the partner.
• In general, the partner organization agrees to supply a liaison from within the organization to be the point of contact and general internal support and provide access to needed information relevant to the project.
• The student will provide to the partner a consulting report that will include a detailed literature review on the type of project being undertaken, the results of the research conducted as part of the project, a list of potential solutions, a recommendation, and the supporting data for the preferred solution, analysis of the costs and benefits of implementing the solution, and a high-level change management plan. The length of time for the project, starting from the initial agreement as to the project, can range from six months to two years, depending on the project's complexity.

Example projects currently in the works:

• Working with a government agency to improve its ability to hire diverse and minority employees (management).
• Developing a new approach to integrating activity-based accounting across multiple global currencies (accounting).
• Providing a healthcare supplier with a system that schedules limited resources more efficiently (healthcare management).
• Developing applications for mobile devices that duplicate services provided through PCs (information technology management).