Methods Competency Exam

To be administered at the end of their second semester to first-year students who have completed both SYA 6305 & 6306. Part-time students will be given the exam when they have completed both courses.

Scheduling:
The Competency Exam in Research Methods will be given annually at the end of the spring semester after completing SYA 6306. Students will pick up the exam from the department office on a Monday morning and will return it by noon on the following Thursday to the same location. The exam must be completed in this specified time period and late submissions will not be accepted.

Format:
1. The exam will be take-home. A finding of collaboration with others or of plagiarism will result in failure on the exam and may prompt expulsion of the offending student(s) from the program.

2. Professors who have taught the methods courses (SYA 6305 & 6306) during the academic year in which the exam is given will prepare exam questions that assess student's understanding and use of quantitative methods. Questions will include problems involving quantitative and categorical dependent variables and sampling strategies. Students must answer two of the (typically four) questions posed.

3. The exam will be typed and double-spaced in 12 point font, use standard 8½ x 11” paper and 1” margins (all sides). Students will not include their names in the text of their responses or anywhere on their exams; instead, students will type their Panther ID on each page of the exam (using a header is best). Students should avoid including any prose or symbols that would easily identify them to those grading the exams.

Grading:

Each question will be read and graded anonymously and independently by two members of the faculty including the professor/s who taught the courses/s and if the same professor teaching SYA 6305 and 6306, a second faculty member. The grading scale is the following:
1 = Fail 2 = Low pass 3 = Pass 4 = High Pass 5 = Exceptional
In most instances, the student’s grade for each of the two responses will be the average of the two readers’ scores. However, if the scores given by the two readers are not contiguous, i.e., they differ by more than one (1) point, a third reader will be asked to grade the exam. The score of the third reader will then be added to the initial readers’ scores to calculate the final average score. The student’s overall grade on the exam will be the average of the scores for the two essays and will be based on the 5-point scale above. Scores will be rounded up to the next integer if .5 or above and rounded down if below .5.
Students should be aware that although any passing grade is sufficient to satisfy the requirements for this exam, higher competency exam scores will be advantageous for students seeking admission into the PhD program.

Repeat Exams
Students who receive a failing grade on a Methods Competency exam may petition the Graduate Committee to repeat (‘re-take’) the same exam. Students granted the privilege by the Graduate Committee to re-take the Methods Competency Exam will do so at the end of the summer following their initial attempt and their subsequent petition, unless otherwise agreed to by the Graduate Committee. Students receiving passing grades on a Methods Competency exam will not be allowed to repeat it or to take any subsequent Methods Competency exams in order to obtain a higher grade.

Scoring Rubric

1. Is the question answered clearly?
2. Are the analytical tools appropriate to address the problem?
3. Does the response demonstrate understanding of the material?
4. Does the response provide evidence of analytical thinking?
5. Does the response reflect ability to integrate different analytical tools?
6. Is the analysis well written -clearly succinctly, with good grammar, spelling, punctuation, etc. and appropriate citation format?