These are the notes I have taken while reading the book:
How to survive your viva : defending a thesis in an oral examination by Rowena Murray.
I must say that I found this book very useful; but there may be others who think that it is not so relevant to them. So it is you to decide what is a good way to get ready for your viva. Some of these notes are direct quotes (especially questions) from the book.
What is your original contribution to knowledge?
What are your contributions?
Who are the four or five key people in the field? Names and details of their work, key works,book names, journal published and titles of papers (if you can keep them in mind!)
Are you aware of any recent publications by the key people you have mentioned?
Which publications had most influence on your work? When were they published, in which journals, which publishers?
Can you make direct connections with topics you are likely to talk about or that will introduce into the discussion?
Be prepared to introduce topics that you would like to discuss?
What are the highlights of your thesis? Where exactly are they? in which chapters, pages etc (don't forget to have post it notes indicating places)
Describe your doctoral experience? (coherent, as a narrative, a learning process, a series of decisions made on the way, sequence of mile stones)
***
Why did you choose this topic for doctoral study?
How did you develop an interest in this subject?
Could you tell us a bit about how you came to do this research?
What made you want to do research on this?
I’d like to know what the origins of this thesis were for you? (Theoretical, based on previous study, research, Personal, Professional, growing out of your experience and networks Conceptual based on where your work is currently located in the discipline)
***
Questions About you. Your experience, your education, your interests, and your networks About the research training you have received Any experience of teaching you have had during doctoral study and training you have had for that Have you started to compile a teaching portfolio? Whether you have joined the relevant professional body
***
General Questions
How did you come to be doing research in this area?
Would you please summarise your thesis for us? You cover several areas in your thesis. What is the whole thing about?
Who would you say are the key people in your field today?
Did your study turn out as you expected?
How do you see research developing in the next five years?
On a general level, what, for you, were the most interesting things to come out of your thesis?
Tip: refer to your thesis and others works as you talk about general topics too - always link to your thesis.
***
Specific questions
Why is this subject important? Who else thinks it is important? Here you have to show that other than you and your supervisor there are other people interested in it. What about government documents stating the need for XYZ or international initiatives?
Who has worked on this subject before?
What had not being done before?
Who has done something similar to what you did?
What did you adapt for your study?
What is your contribution to the field?
Who will use your material?
Is there evidence of critical appraisal of other work? Does the candidate make explicit links between the review and his or her design of the study?
Relationship between your chapters?
What is your rationale about your decisions?
What is the link between your research questions and your hypothesis?
Why did you reject other methods?
What are the pros and cons of the methods you chose?
Why did you reject the others?
Tip: There may be lots of ways of researching about a problem what you have to show is that the method you have used is 'a' good approach given the circumstances.
***
Open ended questions.
What is your opinion of the work of ‘X’? (The Dreaded question - what if I haven't even heard of 'X'? Probably you will not get this question)
What did you think when you got that result/outcome of your experiment/analysis?
***
Closed questions.
Did researcher A used method X or Y?
What do you know about the work of ‘X’? research methods, approaches, or perspectives
Note: If you realize you gave the wrong answer later in the discussion you can correct it. You might even want to explain your wrong answer: nerves, anxiety, a popular misconception, temporary memory loss, confusion. Do not make the mistake of not correcting something when you realize you made a mistake. Outcome of your viva may depend on it!
***
Summarize your work - combining the generalizations that are typical of summaries with specifics where possible from your thesis.
*** Easy questions and hard questions
If you are not sure about a part of your method etc or you think your examiner is so knowledgeable in an area then these will be hard questions.
*** Long questions clarify or check with examiner what he or she is asking. take notes of the question
*** The ‘second chance’ questions If you give a poor answer to a question, you may find that you are asked it again, or asked to discuss the subject again in a different way.
***
Methodological questions
What precautions were taken against likely source of bias?
What are the limitations in the design? Is the candidate aware of them?
Is the methodology for data collection appropriate?
Are the techniques used for analysis appropriate?
In the circumstances, has the best design been chosen?
Has the candidate given an adequate justification for the design used?
Summarise the steps in your research by condensing them into a series of sentences: the first step was … then … the final step was … Use the word 'step' to organize your answer. What led you to select these models of … ?
What are the theoretical components of your framework?
How did you decide upon the variables to include in your conceptual framework?
How did concepts assist you to visualize and explain what you intended to investigate?
How did you use your conceptual framework to design your research and analyse your findings?
Questions about what you did not do? You should still argue for the quality of your data or analysis, of course, but you can also critique it. Score some points by naming other researchers who have done similar work. Show the examiner how well you know this other work and other methodologies.
*** Questions about your writing.
Talk about writing as a series of achievements, each teaching something about your work. Reveal how you acted upon your supervisor’s feedback on your writing. If you have publications you can introduce them to the discussion here, talk about the peer reviews you received and about publications on pipeline. Show that you understand academic writing as a process, involving careful design, dialogue, feedback, conversations and many many revisions. Give examples.
Is the text of your thesis sufficiently transparent, with a perfectly clear intended meaning?
Where will your readers see and recognize the doctoral worthiness of your thesis?
How have you presented developing themes and issues so that examiners do not overlook or misunderstand the more complex aspects of your thesis?
How will your readers recognize the scholarly base upon which your text has been written?
Do your conclusions derive from, or are they supported by, your data or analysis?
Very specific questions may focus on what you said in page X and exactly what you meant by it? Be ready for this question it does come! I did get this type of questions but luckily for me they were clarification questions. If your argument is not clear enough in that page and if you have discussed elsewhere point to that.
***
Probing - Why? Why not?
To what extent did you feel that you had got all you needed by that point … or did you feel limited by time? (not intended to force you to reveal weaknesses in your study, but aimed at testing your understanding of what does and does not constitute a legitimate compromise, a compromise that still adheres to the standards required for doctoral research)
***
Follow-up questions
Did you really mean to say that … ? Don't be scared to say 'YES I did' :)
***
Combined questions Can you summarise how your use of this method might lead to … ?
*** Obvious questions To test the basics on which your study was founded. So even though they seem obvious give in-depth answers.
*** Hobby horses Examiner’s own ideas, preconceptions and ways of thinking will inevitably shape how they play their role in your examination. You need to know what interests your examiners have. Read their work especially recent publications. If they have a digital presence (which almost all have these days) don't forget to follow them. for example read their blogs and subscribe to RSS; follow them on Twitter, Academia.edu. This will help you to get grips of what recent papers/articles your examiners are reading and to be able to get yourself up to date. This method helped me immensely. Luckily my external examiner (Prof. Steve Wheeler) has a wonderful blog (Learning with 'e's), which I follow closely with great interest.
*** The ‘blue skies’ question What might this mean in terms of your project?
*** The ‘500 000 dollar’ question
If you had 500 000 pounds to spend on your research, what would you do? Idea is to stimulate candidate to speculate beyond the confines of his or her research while showing an understanding of: What should be done next What could be done for that sum of money How exactly or approximately, it would be spent. This is another variation of ‘Where do you see research going in the next 10 years’ This is also a test of can the candidate do research independently? Have a mini proposal rather than a shopping list of things. rationale for the proposed study, aims of the study, methods to be used, feasibility, outcomes or deliverable, anticipating counter arguments
*** Repackaging Questions Explain what is new about your work. Tell me how your work is different to that of X. When did you realize that you were on to something. What would you say has been your contribution.
***
How important were ethical considerations in your study?
How did you handle them?
Were there safety issues for participants yourself? How did you resolve them?
Who do you think will be influenced by your work?
How did you developed the …. you used in your methodology?
Did you use the same techniques with each subject/material?
What do you use when you use the term ….?
Did you consider how you might have to curtail a phase of your research if you saw that it was not working? Why should we trust the analysis you present in table X?
Why was …. a good judgement?
Why should we accept your interpretation of ….?
Which is your most important recommendation and why?
Do you think your recommendations are feasible?
You say … was the result of …. Could it have been the opposite?
You seem unsure of … why is that?
***
On page X you say …. what did you mean by this?
This is going to be asked one way or another. Turn to page, restate what you have written, expand on it a bit or paraphrase it, then answer the examiner’s question.
*** Define-defend method
Why did you not do more detailed analysis of ….? What I did was … My reasons for doing that was. I could have done a more detailed analysis of …. by …. But I decided not to do that because …
This define defend method was helpful for me in my viva.
***
Is this result more important than that one?
Please tell us how good the thesis is and could you point out the best bits for us?
Which parts of the thesis are you proud of, which parts do you want to highlight
*** Hindsight
*** Structuring answers
Classification - groupings
Analysis: breaking the subject into parts
Pros and Cons Problem - solution
General - Specific
Narrative of work done
Other directions
Before answering think quickly: Which chapter has anything to do with the question? Is there an answer to the question in any of the chapters? More than one chapter? Which one first? Summarise what happens in that chapter? Refer to and turn to specific pages (very important to show that you know your work). Say why it is relevant to the question check: have you answered the question?
Use active voice and say I. Use past tense because you have already done it.
*** Pause
before answering - time to think
during your answer - marks logical shift to next part of answer towards
end of the answer - do they want you to continue or stop
Cite the work of authorities in discussion of your own work.
Take notes
*Deal with hostility
defuse hostility by nodding, taking notes or saying “Yes, I can see what you are saying”. Defend your work What about trying …. ? 1. define what you did 2. justify it 3. consider the pros and cons of the alternatives the examiner proposes.
* Re-reading your thesis
1. read the chapter from start to finish
2. write one sentence about it. This will act as a prompt for your thinking and recall
3. Put single-word prompts in the margin. This will help you to find your way if you lose your place
4. Convert the chapter into a series of questions and answers
5. Use these in your practice sessions.
I used different colour post it notes to flag up pages that I thought would be important for answering possible questions. Helped me immensely.
Towards the end of the examination if the examiner says, ‘I think you need to strengthen the section on ….’ you need to know your thesis well in order to be able to tell whether or not you have dealt with the proposed ‘strengthening’ in another chapter. Also be sure to know how much you need to write: sentence, paragraph, half a page, page, few pages or in the worst case a full thesis (let's not go there, shall we).
If you have read this lengthy blog could it be because your viva is due soon? Is it tomorrow?
Good Luck!
Hope you will soon be celebrating...
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