The Questions

It has been killing me. Ever since I received my comprehensive exam questions, I've wanted to share them with all of you. However, since it's an exam, I was prohibited from sharing and/or discussing them with anyone. Today I submitted my paper and received confirmation that it was received by my comps mentor so I felt as though I was free to share them now. Hopefully I will find out within the next week that I passed. So without any further ado, here they are:

1. Researchers use a qualitative, quantitative, or mixed framework to research premises, ideas and theories (Creswell, 2001). Describe the benefits and limitations of qualitative, quantitative, and mixed research. Analyze the advantages and disadvantages of each approach for conducting research in critical thinking as it relates to teaching adult learners.

2. In the preface to "The New Update on Adult Learning Theory" (2001), Merriam states: Adult learning is probably the most studied topic in adult education. The learner, the learning process, and the context of learning form the cornerstone of the field of adult education. Whether one is planning or administering programs or counseling adults, or is directly involved in the teaching-learning transaction, adult learning is at the heart of our practice. (p. 1) Describe, compare and contrast three foundational theories of adult learning. Evaluate the effectiveness of each of these theories in developing successful strategies for teaching adult learners.

3. Leading change in adult learning programs in higher education is a primary function of administrators (Caffarella, 1994). From adult learning research, develop a synthesis of commonly-used ways higher education administrators prepare stakeholders for implementing and carrying out policy and program change. Using a case example of implementing change in a higher education policy or program, evaluate the effectiveness of a leadership change process and outcome.