Douglas- It would seem to me that, as much of a cop-out as this may seem, the answer
to those questions should come from your mission statement or some similar statement
of purpose for the department. I don't think there IS a correct answer to most of
those questions becasue it would seem to me to depend on the goals of your department
and the plan of study for a particular student. For example, if the aim is to train
teachers you'd obviously have a different answer than if you were training researchers
though both are appropriate training aims. If forced into a choice I would say that in
most programs it would be a balance of those things (content vs skills) and that in
reality the distinction is a false one anyway. Skills at the level of a doctoral
student would have to be, I think, seen as application of knowledge to new and
different situations. ( I actually think this is one of the most interesting questions
I've heard on TIPS in a while!). Tim Shearon
-----Original Message-----
From: Peterson, Douglas [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Wed 3/3/2004 8:27 PM
To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences
Cc:
Subject: Doctoral Preliminary Exams
We are currently struggling with revising the dreaded prelims (doctoral
preliminary examinations) process. It seems that our number one problem is lacking
ideas for alternatives to the status quo. So far the only thing the faculty are
unanimous on is that the current system needs to change, but all suggested changes
have failed to meet the required vote (2/3). I'm appealing to Tipsters in hopes of
getting some fresh ideas and thoughts on what prelims should be and why?
Question #1: Is the purpose of prelims to test competency in a solid knowledge
base (i.e., content exam) prior to doctoral work or in a general skill set (i.e. stats
and methods)?
Question #2: If it is content based should the content be broad (e.g., any
topic from PSYC 101) or narrow (in the test takers specialization).
Feel free to respond off list at [EMAIL PROTECTED] or on list - I'm curious to
see if the differences of opinion on this list are as great as they are in our
department.
Doug
Doug Peterson
Associate Professor of Psychology
The University of South Dakota
Vermillion SD 57069
(605) 677-5295
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
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