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Family and Consumer Economics: MS Degree
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Contact Information

Consumer Sciences and Retailing
Matthews Hall
812 W. State Street
West Lafayette, Indiana 47907-2060

Phone: (765) 494-8292
Fax: (765) 494-0869
E-mail: csr@purdue.edu

E-mail Web site administrator

MS Plan of Study
Circumstances Necessitating a Change in Plan of Study
Process to Change a Plan of Study
MS Degree Requirements
Master's Thesis Committee

MS Plan of Study
The plan of study should be developed during the first part of the your second semester and submitted to the graduate coordinator before the eighth week of that semester. Failure to do so will result in encumbrance of registration for the following semester and the possibility of delaying your commencement date. All plans of study are submitted electronically.

Undergraduate courses taken during the graduate program in order to establish subject competency will not be listed in the plan of study. In addition, these courses will not count toward the credit hours required for the graduate degree.

Core Courses

CSR 600 Introduction to Research in Consumer Sciences and Retailing
CSR 631 Consumer Behavior Theories
CSR 681 Consumption Theory
CSR 682 Analytical Tools for Consumer Economists
CSR 685 Household Economic Behavior (formerly Seminars in Consumer Credit)
CSR 698 Thesis Hours (6 Credits)
STAT 511 Statistical Methods
STAT 512 Applied Regression Analysis

Electives

CSR 630 Social Policy and the Economics of Aging
COM 525 Advanced Interviewing and Conference Methods
OBHR 681 Behavior in Organizations
PSY 570 Industrial Psychology
PSY 590G Psychological Perspectives on the Sales Process
OLS 574 Managerial Training and Development
OLS 577 Organization and Administration of Training and Development

See CSR course descriptions
See all course descriptions and information on the Schedule of Classes Web site.

Circumstances Necessitating a Change in Plan of Study
It is sometimes necessary to change the courses listed on an approved plan of study. Examples of circumstances that necessitate a change include:

  • a listed course is not offered,
  • the focus or the prerequisites of a course change in such a way that it is not appropriate for the student to take the course, or
  • the focus of the student's research changes.

Process to Change a Plan of Study
A change in plan of study may be submitted electronically (see graduate coordinator). The sequence for approval is 1) major professor/graduate coordinator, 2) department head, and 3) a representative from the Graduate School.

MS Degree Requirements

  • Thesis
  • Proposal defense
  • Oral presentation and final examination
  • All requirements of the Graduate School must be fulfilled.

Minimum requirements: 36 credits

  • 15 credits core courses
  • 9 credits electives
  • 6 credits   statistics
  • 6 thesis hours (CSR 698)
  • Primary area: minimum of 12 credits plus 6 credits thesis research. A minimum of 9 credits in the primary area must be taken on the West Lafayette campus.
  • Related area: no more than 2 related areas with at least 6 hours in any area.

Master's Thesis Committee
The MS plan of study requires a minimum of three committee members. The members of the MS committee may all be CSR faculty, although students are encouraged to include faculty from other departments on the committee. The major professor must be a CSR faculty member.