Big Up Dr B.

Congrats.

Would appreciate the Qs & As when you sober up :p

Fantastic news Dr Bakuvia, you've done so well (up)

======= Date Modified 04 Oct 2010 18:29:53 =======
Congratulations x 2! as no corrections deserves another. Enjoy yourself by doing nothing for a change. :-)

For chuff who likes tricky questions, big answers and reports. :-P

What can I say about the viva - it was nothing like I anticipated - neither the examiners nor myself. I had thought before it started that I would either faint or fly... LOL

None of the questions I prepared seemed to be used in the end... all the things like

- what's your thesis about, what are the origins of your thesis, can you summarise your thesis
- can you describe your methodology, epistemology, limitations, contribution, etc.

They were all the ones I practiced with (used 'Survive your viva' book - good sets of questions in there). I actually recorded each question individually as an mp3 and put them on shuffle on my iPod so I could think about them when I went for a walk or was on the bus or train. Subliminal training seemed to do the trick. Ha! Ha!

Well, anyway, my two examiners decided to go with a thematic scheme of questioning (which actually suited me really well) as it focused on the key ideas in my thesis - without expecting me to focus on every dot and comma - which was great. In that way, we dealt with all the things like contribution, method, limitations, etc. They mostly seemed interested in how I positioned my work vis-a-vis others and where I was going to go with the work - publications, post-doc ambitions, etc.

On the day, I got there quite early, chatted to the Viva Chair for a bit, then the examiners arrived and said hello, then they all went away for 20 mins or so, then we had the viva - which lasted about an hour and a half. Trickiest question was when they asked me what my work had in common with contemporary constructivism... Other tricky ones were things like...

How does your work compare with X... what does it add to X... why might authors of X disagree...
What do you mean by... insert difficult term, concept
How do you see Y (related areas/disciplines ...) fitting with your work...
How would you persuade A of the value of B
Why is Z (your theory and method) interesting
What do you DO with Z... (LOL)
Why did you leave H out... don't you think he's central to...
I'm surprised that you didn't mention C...

I guess the biggest thing I learned was that you can use Q&A to prepare (and it does help you to 'know' your thesis) but you can't expect Q&A to reflect what examiners will ask.

Best tip - make sure examiners are as good as they can be... as close to your field as can be... and as experienced as can be... if possible.
Why do you say B is not important... surely it's pivotal to...

I also found the paper "Starting at the end to undertake doctoral research: predictable questions as stepping stones" by Trafford and Leshem helpful. They have a nice grid of doctorateness... my viva questions mainly fell in quadrants B and D.

http://tiny.cc/traffordquadrants (hope this works and you see the image).

If you can get hold of this paper - it's really good and helpful.

======= Date Modified 05 Oct 2010 17:30:05 =======
Thanks Dr B, for both posts..

The questions were really useful, really really useful as they are, although perfectly reasonable, quite tricky I would imagine when you're on the knifes edge in viva-land. 

My viva won't be for quite some time but hopefully before the internet is eaten by the cookie monster and so this post will be v useful to refer back to.

If you think of any more do tell won't you?   May be a useful pinned thread actually.. somewhere we can look when the time is nigh.

Regards, Chuff

Well done Dr B!!!!!!
AND with no corrections!!!!!!!!!!!
Well done!!!!!!!!!!!

wooooooooooooooohooooooooooooooooooooooo

congrats

you had your viva the day before I made my final submission

can you believe its over