The Viva - Examination

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The Viva - Examination
Dr. Ursula Schinzel 352.621.322.543 www.ursula-sc
hinzel.com ursula_schinzel_at_yahoo.com  
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The Viva Examination Overview

• Finding out what you want to know
• Demystifying the viva
• - explaining the process
• General analysis of viva questions
• An example of what it could look like
•  

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What do you think The Viva is?

• A Defence to a Jury
• The Opportunity to justify your research and your
  findings
• A Discussion between Academics
• It is NOT a chance to show off!
• It is a test of Bona Fides i.e. authenticity of
  your work
• It is a Confirmation of Quality
• Viva Voce a Live Examination of your thesis
• It is a Supplement, not a substitute for the
  written submission
• You can also see it as
• Training in Presentation Skills,
• Development of logical reasoning and
• Exercise in academic disputation
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The Viva Examination Overview

• Why have a viva? What is its purpose?
• How does the process work?
• What are the examiners looking for? What will I
  be asked?
• How do examiners weight the contribution of
  thesis/viva?
• Can weaknesses in a thesis be compensated by good
  viva?
• Can a good thesis be substantially undermined by
  a poor viva?
• Vivas seem so variable why is this the case?

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Why have a viva (what is its purpose?)

• A means of examination or assessment
• A means of assisting the candidates development
• A ritual which welcomes the candidate into the
  academic community

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Viva as examination /assessment exercise

• Provisional decision made by examiners BEFORE
  Viva
• - The Viva normally serves mostly as
  CONFIRMATION
• Extremely rare for candidate with good thesis
  to fail through poor viva performance
• Nearly as uncommon for candidate with
  poor/borderline thesis to pass through good
  viva

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Possible assessment purposes of the viva

• Authentication is the thesis the candidates
  own work?
• Context can the candidate place the work in
  context?
• Understanding is the candidate able to produce
  research to Doctorate standard?
• Defence can the candidate defend / engage in
  debate?
• Clarification addressing weak / obscure areas
  in thesis
• Decision-making in borderline cases

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Possible assessment purposes of the viva

• Authentication
• Context Significant for most vivas
• Understanding

• Defence Clarification May be significant it
  depends

• Decision-Making Pretty rare

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One thing to remember about the viva and
assessment
Nationwide research shows that examiners VERY
RARELY alter their initial opinion of a thesis
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Why have a viva (what is its purpose)

• A means of helping the candidates development
• Poor thesis exploring ways in which it could be
  brought up to standard
• Good thesis helping candidates explore ways of
  taking it further (publication, follow-up work)

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The viva how does the process work?

• Who is there? What are they there for?
• How does it proceed? What forms does it take? How
  long is it likely to be?
• What are the possible outcomes?
• What happens afterwards?

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The viva who is there?

• Board of examiners - at least two examiners,
  generally one internal and one external, or two
  internal and one external
• Supervisor(s) - candidate has the option over
  their presence
• Head of Faculty or nominee
• - not usual observer role only if present

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The viva Supervisors?

• Candidate has the option over whether they are
  allowed to be present or not - you normally
  specify this on the Examination Entry Form
• If present, they generally should take no part in
  the meeting
• Examiners may question them and/or invite their
  comments
• - almost always to do with general issues
  concerning the progress of the research, not the
  research itself

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The viva Role of examiners?

• Prepare individual, independent written reports
  on the thesis prior to the viva
• Conduct the viva according to the regulations
• - the Internal Examiner has particular
  responsibility for this
• Prepare a joint report on the examination for the
  University authorities
• - this report contains a principal
  recommendation

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The viva How does it proceed?

• Sometimes the student makes a short presentation
  about his/her work
• - usually by prior arrangement with examiners
• - can be useful in settling nerves
• - consider as an option
• Main part of viva question / answer /
  discussion varies somewhat in structure
  depending on discipline
• - arts / humanities / social sciences vivas
  tend to be more thematic
• - science engineering vivas typically are
  more pedestrian (page-by-page more focused on
  specific thesis content)

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Conduct of the viva general points

• You wont be expected to answer from memory
• - take a copy of your thesis and be ready to
  use it
• Areas of concern raised by examiners are rarely a
  sign of anything in particular
• - certainly not pass or fail
• - there will ALWAYS be areas of concern in ANY
  thesis!!!!
• Questions you cant answer well arent a sign
• - be ready to concede a few points and
  strongly defend others

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The possible results / outcomes

• Award the degree (this is rare)
• Award subject to specified MINOR CORRECTIONS
  (this is the aim)
• No award, permission to submit revised thesis
  (revise and resubmit)
• - may involve further research / re-examination
• - this often implies another 12 months work or
  so
• No award, no recommendation on resubmission
• - very rare, generally only for second vivas
  (this is essentially fail)
• Award M.Phil. Degree
• - may involve corrections / revisions
• No award, permission to submit revised thesis
• - for examination / award of M.Phil. Rather
  than Ph.D.

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What happens afterwards

• MINOR CORRECTIONS the most common outcome
• - six month deadline as a default but often
  can be done much more quickly
• - best to get out of the way as soon as
  possible
• - re-submit your corrected thesis and wait for
  positive feed-back
• REVISE AND RESUBMIT
• - more research (data-gathering) might be
  necessary
• - more common issues with conceptualisation /
  structure
• - discuss options with supervisor
• - dont panic, situation can often be retrieved

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What are the examiners looking for?What can I
expect to be asked?

• Every viva is different but there are common key
  themes
• Conceptual clarity in design, conduct and
  analysis
• Appreciation of underlying theory and to how it
  relates
• Engagement with literature
• Grasp of methodology
• Coherence of argument
• Presentation of thesis
• Compliance with academic protocol (it looks like
  a Doctorate)
• These criteria apply to the THESIS and are
  (hopefully) CONFIRMED by the viva

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The anatomy of viva questions

• A
• Research problems
• Structure and content

• D
• Doctorateness
• Contribution to knowledge
• Concepts synthesis, critique

• B
• Research approach
• Paradigms
• Awareness of literature

• C
• Research questions
• Choice of topic

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The anatomy of viva questions

• Research shows a different balance of questions
  in successful and unseccessful vivas
• Vivas that led to fail and/or major corrections
• - many more A-questions
• - quite a few B and C, few in D
• Vivas that led to pass and/or minor corrections
• - generally fewer A questions, mostly D
  questions
• Broad decision on questions made BEFORE viva

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What does this mean for preparation

• You have to prepare as if the viva will be
  successful
• - there is obviously no other way!
• Prepare hard for D-questions
• - Doctorateness what is a Doctorate all about
  and how does your work qualify as doctoral?
• - contribution to knowledge be clear what
  this is!
• Answer these questions in your thesis
• - remember balance of questions depends on
  the thesis
• - unsuccessful candidates largely fail to
  answer the hard viva questions IN THE THESIS

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The Viva - Preparation

• Essential things you need to succeed
• Familiarity with the content of your Thesis Know
  your Thesis better than the back of your hand
• Total understanding of your arguments and
  evidence
• Confidence in what you have produced
• Bring your thesis, an annotated version, with an
  aide-memoir, a summary, key items easily
  accessible (post-its, colours)
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The Viva - Preparation

• The Day before Make sure you have a useful
  summary and an annotated copy of your thesis.
  Then have confidence in your excellent thesis
  AND RELAX
• The Night before Go to bed, early and alone!
• The Day itself Get up, Eat, Dress
  professionally!
• Arrive with eager and confident anticipation!
• Enjoy your Viva!!!!
• Be positive in participation
• Do not retreat into self-defeating quiescence
• A lively debate brings good results
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The Viva - Preparation

• If you get a difficult question, what do you do?
• Dont PANIC !!!
• Buy time ask for clarification
• question the question
• consult your notes/thesis
• If a genuine mistake or omission has been
  spotted?
• Concede and move on
• Be prepared to discuss contentious issues
  reasonably!
• It is ok to be assertive but never be
  aggressive !!!!!
• Accept valid criticism gracefully
• Be as self critical as appropriate
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Reconstruction of an actual viva
 On the following 3 pages, replace with your own
questions for your own Viva and reply to the
questions as if it was your own Viva  
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The Viva - Questions

• Preparation of your own Viva Questions
• What do you expect to be asked?
• Write down the questions you would like to be
  asked
• Write down the questions you wouldnt like to be
  asked
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The Viva - Questions
 1) What is the most important contribution of
your work to the field of ( cross-cultural
research )?   2) What is the most important
contribution to knowledge of your work? Why do
you think you have made a novel contribution and
what is it that makes it novel?   3) Why was ..
( Hofstede ) more appropriate for your subject
than the other modelling approaches mentioned in
your literature survey?  
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The Viva - Questions
  4) What does the term . ( UAI ) mean?   5)
Tell us what really happened when you asked that
question from your interview?   6) Can you give
an overview of previous work by your research
group on ( cross-cultural research )?   7)
So, bearing all of that in mind, why did you
decide to go down the specific path that you
did?   8) Can you describe the most important
finding of your research in one sentence?  
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The Viva - Questions
9) From the dissertation, there are clearly
inconsistencies in some of the experimental data
used to generate and calibrate the model. How
does this affect the accuracy of your model or
the confidence that you have in it?   10) If you
had another chance, what would you have changed
about your project and why?   11) Why did you
want to do a doctorate, what benefits has your
study brought you as an individual and a
professional, and would you do it again?  
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Viva reconstruction summary of key points

• Listen!!!! And Answer !!!! The question that was
  actually asked
• - especially when its broad and contextual
• Remember I did versus I discovered
• - focus your answers more on the latter, this
  will guide you
• Remember your examiners dont know everything
• - when we remind you, you are the world expert
  on your specific topic, actually we mean it
• Dont undermine yourself but dont overstate your
  case either
• - you are normally asked to reflect on what
  you have learned

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Viva reconstruction summary of key points

• Remember The Viva is a discussion among
  Professionals
• The questions are about PROCESS and not PRODUCT
• - HOW you went about the work, not the work
  itself
• Remember What alternatives did you consider and
  WHY is yours the best?
• Remember Give the concepts behind the facts
  HOW, WHY?
• - what you now understand from what you found
• You need a convincing justification of your
  approach
• - WHY your approach is better than possible
  alternatives

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Examiners motivations, thought processes

• Examiners generally want candidates to pass
• - But they have standards to maintain
• They have a good idea of the likely result BEFORE
  the viva
• - this doesnt mean it doesnt make a
  difference
• - but perhaps not as much as you might think
• A big part of their role is quality control
• - Checking that the work is YOUR own and that
  you understand it
• - The types of questions depend on the thesis
• The best preparation for the viva is the
  thesis!!! (know your research!)

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Why am I looking forward to my Viva?

• It is an opportunity to succeed
• To have my effort recognised
• To discuss with interested and knowledgeable
  people
• It is a chance to text my achievement
• It is a free consultancy
• It is a valuable experience
• It is an intellectual challenge
• It is the end of a long process or the
  beginning of
• To get the qualification
• It is an opportunity to explore wider issues and
  consider further research
• It is an opportunity to rise new possibilities
  like Publications, Consultancy, New Research
  Support, a Job!
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