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Abstract
The Department of Geography at Arizona State University implemented a field exam as part of its PhD program requirements. This field exam requires students to develop an independent field-based research project based on a general question in the student's specialty area. A survey of current and former PhD students and faculty members document how the field exam assists students in developing skills necessary for continuing graduate research and for preparing them for the rigors of academic employment. The outcomes of the exam include both long-term, process-related benefits and more immediate tangible rewards. For some students, the preliminary fieldwork and results redirect student interests and form the basis for their eventual dissertation. The field exam is adaptable to a diversity of geography research methods, subject areas, and graduate degree programs, while remaining grounded in the discipline's vibrant, widely respected fieldwork tradition.
*The authors thank ASU faculty members, PhD students, and alumni for participating in the research, especially Anthony Brazel, Patricia Gober, and Kevin McHugh who elaborated on the history of the department and the field exam. We thank Daniel Arreola, David Stea, and two anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments and suggestions regarding an earlier draft of this article.
Notes
*The authors thank ASU faculty members, PhD students, and alumni for participating in the research, especially Anthony Brazel, Patricia Gober, and Kevin McHugh who elaborated on the history of the department and the field exam. We thank Daniel Arreola, David Stea, and two anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments and suggestions regarding an earlier draft of this article.
*ranks are tied
1The official title of the field exam was recently changed to the “Research and Field Examination.” While the spirit of the exercise remains unchanged, the new name recognizes the evolving nature of geographic research. Some current PhD students—especially in climatology—are involved in research on global-level environmental processes. In these special cases, the Field Exam Committee may develop a question that is based on secondary data and does not require fieldwork. In addition, some students specializing in geospatial technologies now receive a secondary dataset along with their initial question. This complements and strengthens the fieldwork portion of the exam rather than substituting for it. For example, a student specializing in climate geovisualization received a secondary dataset of the location of Phoenix-area lightning strikes over time. While these data were a crucial part of the research, the student used the data to conduct a field survey of lightning-prone areas in an effort to explain local factors that might contribute to the large numbers of lightning strikes.
2Presently, the only other geography department that we are aware of that requires a field exam is the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). UCLA's field exam is one of four written exams all PhD students take in order to advance. The student consults with his or her advisor and committee about the broad theme or area of the exam but is not given the specific question until the day before taking the exam. The student then has forty-eight hours to take the exam. The exam is written up in the form of a preliminary research report or proposal for further work. Each faculty member has freedom to design the exam in the interests of the student's research, and “field” is loosely employed to include archives, museums etc. (i.e., anything that takes the student beyond the campus resources of UCLA). If special equipment is needed, faculty members are required to ensure its availability (Denis Cosgrove, e-mail communication to Timothy Hawkins, 10 April 2003). A few other PhD-granting departments require students to engage in field activities. The University of Kansas, for example, requires PhD students to complete successfully a three-week-long summer field course.
3The Field Exam Committee is an annually rotating committee of three faculty members plus the individual student's advisor. These four faculty members develop the student's field exam question and assess the final field exam submission.
4These questions were sent only to those students who had already graduated; they were not included on the survey sent to current PhD students. To preserve the anonymity of all respondents, the authors agreed to remove any personally identifiable information from published quotations.