We can see in the following memo how the traditional oral examinations had to be adapted for a field such as quantitative methods that does not lend itself readily to oral examination while still holding to the principle of a general oral examination “to assess the candidate’s general ability to use the tools of theory and quantitative methods and to understand the interrelation of different parts of the discipline.” I am surprised that they were apparently still using oral examination for quantitative methods up through the 1967 “generals season”.
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Additional Oral General Examiner for Students Taking Written Quantitative Methods Exam
April 10, 1968
Memo to: Members of Department of Economics
From: Richard E. Caves, Chairman
At its meeting of February 27, the Department of Economics voted to change the examining procedure for the field of quantitative methods. A written exam will now be given in this field, with the result that students having a write-off and presenting the field of quantitative methods will be offering only two fields on the oral examination. It was voted that, in these cases, a third examiner be present to judge the candidate’s general ability to use economic reasoning and his proficiency as an economist.
A number of members of the department will be asked to take up this open-ended rule in oral examinations during the Spring generals season. Discussion at the Department meeting indicated an agreement that the third examiner should not raise detailed questions of substance outside of the two fields being presented for specific oral examination, but should try to assess the candidate’s general ability to use the tools of theory and quantitative methods and to understand the interrelation of different parts of the discipline. It was suggested that the third examiner might either take his turn at the end of the examination or break in periodically during examination in the two specific fields. He also might, if practical, develop questions on the basis of the candidate’s performance in the written theory and statistics examinations.
The new system of oral examination may call for some change in our traditional method of grading a general examination, which involved each examiner giving a grade both on his own field and on the examination as a whole. It may be more suitable, depending upon the course of the individual examination, for the third examiner to evaluate only the examination as a whole. The grade on the written statistics examination should be taken into account in the same way that the grade on the written theory exam has been in the past.
The Department viewed the inclusion of a third examiner as experimental. I hope that members of the department who have taken up this role will discuss it among themselves to help us develop a standard of practice in this area an to evaluate its usefulness.
Source: John Kenneth Galbraith Papers. Series 5. Harvard University File, 1949-1990. Box 526, Folder “Harvard University Department of Economics: General correspondence, 1967-1974 (3 of 3)”.
Image Source: “Bye-Bye, Blue Books?” in Harvard Magazine, July/August 2010.