MSIQ Course Plans and Capstone Requirement

The MSIQ (Master of Science in Information Quality) is a 33-credit hour program. It includes nine three-hour lecture courses and six hours of either a project, thesis, or electives.

The curriculum is consistent with relevant guidelines provided by the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) and the Association for Information Systems (AIS). The program emphasizes analysis and critical thinking as they relate to the principles and practices of Information Quality. Students must be able to effectively communicate and advocate the results of their analyses, and assist developers, managers, and other stakeholders in the implementation of information quality processes, policies, and improvement plans.

Courses may be taken on either a part time or full time basis. Graduate credit may be granted for up to 12 hours of equivalent graduate course work take at other accredited institutions with the approval of the MSIQ program coordinator and the Graduate School Dean. All master’s degree requirements must be satisfied within six consecutive calendar years of admission to the program, excluding time lost for military service.

Lecture Courses

The 27-hour core curriculum can be divided into two groups: Information Quality courses and Information Science courses, as shown in the table below. The letters “FA” indicates that the course is only offered in the fall semester; “SP” indicates that it is only offered in the spring semester

Notes about the MSIQ Core Courses:

• All students entering the IQ program must take INFQ 7303 in the first semester.
• BINS 7307, Systems Analysis and Design, offered by the Department of Management can be taken in place of IFSC 7310. BINS 7307 is usually offered in the fall semester. Students must obtain permission from the Management Department to enroll in this course.
• BINS 7305, Advanced Database Design, offered by the Department of Management can be taken in place of IFSC 7320. BINS 7305 is usually offered in the spring semester. Students must obtain permission from the Management Department to enroll in this course.
• CPSC 7311, Software Engineering, offered by the Computer Science Department can be taken in place of IFSC 7310. Students must obtain permission from the Computer Science Department to enroll in this course.
• CPSC 7351, Database Design, offered by the Computer Science Department can be taken in place of IFSC 7320. Students must obtain permission from the Computer Science Department to enroll in this course.
• There are usually several electives offered in both fall and spring semesters.
• The non-INFQ elective is not required to be an information science (IFSC) course. It can be almost any 3-hour graduate course offered at UA Little Rock including business, computer science, mathematics and statistics.
• None of the courses in the Table 1 are offered by the Information Science Department during the summer term. However, the Department of Management usually offers graduate courses during the summer. As noted above, BINS 7305 and 7307 can be taken in place of IFSC 7320 and 7310, respectively. Other 3-hour graduate courses offered by the School of Business can be counted as a non-INFQ elective.

Capstone Requirement

There are three options for completing the final six hours of program:

• Completion of a sponsored project
• Completion of a research thesis
• Completion of six additional hours of INFQ or IFSC electives

View a pdf of the Requirements and Guidelines for the MSIQ Capstone Project.

Project Option:

• Students must obtain a faculty advisor, a project sponsor, and submit an approved project proposal before being allowed to enroll in project hours.
• Project sponsors can be a business, government agency, non-profit, or UA Little Rock department.
• Students may begin a project after completing their first 9 hours of coursework.
• INFQ 7391, Cooperative Education (paid internship) can be counted toward three hours of the 6-hour project requirement. The INFQ 7391 will count regardless of whether the work done during the internship was related to the student’s project or not. However in the ideal situation, the student’s internship sponsor also agrees to be the student’s project sponsor, and the work done during the internship is part of the work to be done for the project.
• International students must complete two semesters before they are eligible for paid internship.
• International students must apply for CPT through the Office of International Student Services before pursuing a paid internship.
• Students are encouraged, but not required, to complete projects over two consecutive semesters taking 3 hours of project (INFQ 7386) in two consecutive semesters, or 3 hours of internship (INFQ 7391) and 3 hours of project (INFQ 7386) in consecutive semesters.
• Under the consecutive enrollment policy, once a student starts taking project or thesis hours, the student must continue to take at least 3 hours of project or thesis each semester until the project is complete. This means that if a student attempts 6 hours of project in one semester and fails to complete the final report and oral defense before the semester deadline, then the student must enroll in another 3 hours of project in the following semester. 

Thesis Option:

• Students electing the thesis option must form a 3-member committee of department faculty to supervise their thesis. The membership of the committee must be reported to and approved by the Graduate School.
• The student must submit and orally defend his or her thesis proposal to the committee. If the thesis proposal defense is successful, it must be reported to and approved by the Graduate School.
• At the end of the thesis research, the student must submit and orally defend his or her final thesis to the committee. If the thesis defense is successful, it must be reported to and approved by the Graduate School.
• The final thesis report must be approved by both the student’s committee and the Graduate School.

Electives Option (Course Only Completion):

• Students can elect to complete the program by taking two additional 3-hour INFQ or IFSC electives.
• The additional electives must be lecture courses offered by the Information Science Department and have INFQ or IFSC course prefixes.
• INFQ 7391, Cooperative Education (Internship) can be counted as one of the electives, and if taken twice, can satisfy the entire capstone elective requirement.
• Transfer courses or courses taken in other departments such as Computer Science, Mathematics, or Management cannot be counted for the course only option.

Typical Course Plans

A student’s plan of study depends upon which semester they enter the program, how many hours they take each semester, and whether they want to take courses during the summer session. The following scenarios assume that a student takes a full-time graduate load (3 courses or 9 hours) each semester, or in the case of the course only option (Scenario 3) takes an overload of 12 hours in two semesters.

Scenario 1: Entering in the fall semester, no summer enrollment:

First Fall Semester (9 hours)

• INFQ 7303
• INFQ 7367
• Either IFSC 5345 or IFSC 7320 or BINS 7305

First Spring Semester (9 hours)

• INFQ 7342
• INFQ 7337
• Either IFSC 5345 or IFSC 7310 or BINS 7307 (depending on which choice was made in the First Fall Semester)

Second Fall Semester (9 hours)

• Either IFSC 5345 or IFSC 7320 or BINS 7305 (depending on which choices were made in the First Fall Semester and First Spring Semester)
• INFQ 7386 (First 3 hours of project) or INFQ 7398 (First 3 hours of thesis)
• Either INFQ 7348 or a non-INFQ elective

Second Spring Semester (6 hour reduced load)

• INFQ 7386 (Second 3 hours of project) or INFQ 7398 (Second 3 hours of thesis)
• Either INFQ 7322 or a non-INFQ elective (Depending on which choice was made in the Second Fall Semester)

Scenario 2: Entering in the fall semester and completing 6-hour summer project:

First Fall Semester (9 hours)

• INFQ 7303
• INFQ 7367
• IFSC 7320

First Spring Semester (9 hours)

• INFQ 7342
• INFQ 7337
• IFSC 7310

Summer Session (3 hours)

• INFQ 7686 (internship)

Second Fall Semester (9 hours)

• IFSC 5345
• non-INFQ elective
• INFQ elective

Scenario 3: Entering in the spring semester, accelerated course-only completion in 3 semesters:

First Spring Semester (12 hours)

• INFQ 7303
• INFQ 7342
• IFSC 7310
• non-INFQ elective

First Fall Semester (12 hours)

• INFQ 7367
• INFQ elective
• IFSC 5345
• IFSC 7320

Second Spring Semester (9 hours)

• INFQ 7337
• INFQ/IFSC elective
• INFQ/IFSC elective

International Students

• International students are encouraged to enter the MSIQ program in the fall semester because students entering in the spring will not have completed two semesters by the summer session and will therefore not be eligible for paid internship during their first summer.
• International students are allowed to have a reduced load (less than nine hours) only during the last semester in the program.