Comprehensive Examinations

Students are required to successfully complete the Marketing Area Comprehensive Exam. This exam is to be taken after successful completion of the required courses that make up the marketing major requirement and the research paper. It is expected that this comprehensive exam will take place before the end of the students’ second year i.e. prior to the start of the third year which is August 1 (23 months following admission to the program). The exam is only offered once a year. This exam is designed to ensure that students have sufficient breadth and depth of knowledge in marketing.

The Format of the Ph.D. in Marketing Comprehensive Exam

The exam consists of i) a written section taken over 1.5 days and ii) a take-home section which students work on at home.

Breadth Section:

This consists of having students answer two questions (over which there will be a degree of choice).

1. The first will be a

• behavioural question for quantitative students 
• quantitative question for behavioural students

The objective here is to evaluate the comfort and familiarity of the PhD student with both major streams of research that exist within marketing

2. The second will be a

• BDT question for behavioural students who are specializing in social psychology
• A social psychology question for behavioural students who are specializing in BDT
• An econometric (or data driven) question for quantitative students who are specializing in analytical work
• A game theoretic question for quantitative students who are specializing in econometric or empirical work

The objective here is to force the student to answer a question in the stream they have chosen to specialize in (quantitative or behavioural) but about research using methodologies that are unlikely to figure in his/her dissertation.

Field and Methodological Specialization Section

This section of the exam consists of a mix of questions that evaluate the student’s knowledge of the findings, theories, debates and methodologies in a subject area that they have chosen. The questions will be tailored to the students based on the specific areas they have chosen to specialize in: BDT, social psychology, econometric (empirical work), empirical IO and/or game theory.

Criticism and Creativity Section (take home)

This section will consist of a set of questions related to a recent research paper in marketing. The paper will be chosen as a function of the student’s area of specialization. This part of the exam will evaluate the student’s ability to critique scholarly work and think creatively about problems that emanate from the paper.