A lesson of manners with examiners

L

Hello everybody,

I am waiting for my reports from my examiners for a revise and resubmit. In any case, it is my intention (or better, I would like) to talk with my examiners about what they did not understand about my submission.
I have prepared a file with some questions & answers that I believe would help understand what were my objectives, and I would love to understand how to manage this situation (I have found this answer on quora which is quite positive: https://www.quora.com/What-should-I-do-about-my-my-PhD-psychology-thesis-coming-back-with-a-revise-and-resubmit-because-the-examiner-did-not-understand-my-statistics)

Can you give me your suggestion on how to behave and what not to do?

Best
Luca

T

Quote From lucedan:
Hello everybody,

I am waiting for my reports from my examiners for a revise and resubmit. In any case, it is my intention (or better, I would like) to talk with my examiners about what they did not understand about my submission.
I have prepared a file with some questions & answers that I believe would help understand what were my objectives, and I would love to understand how to manage this situation (I have found this answer on quora which is quite positive: https://www.quora.com/What-should-I-do-about-my-my-PhD-psychology-thesis-coming-back-with-a-revise-and-resubmit-because-the-examiner-did-not-understand-my-statistics)

Can you give me your suggestion on how to behave and what not to do?

Best
Luca



My suggestion is that this is a terrible idea.

Your Q&A document sounds a bit like Lucedan's thesis for dummies....
1) Your viva and thesis should not need additional explanation
2) If I was your examiner, I would be annoyed that you felt I wasn't bright enough to understand your thesis.

P

Quote From lucedan:
Hello everybody,

I am waiting for my reports from my examiners for a revise and resubmit. In any case, it is my intention (or better, I would like) to talk with my examiners about what they did not understand about my submission.
I have prepared a file with some questions & answers that I believe would help understand what were my objectives, and I would love to understand how to manage this situation (I have found this answer on quora which is quite positive: https://www.quora.com/What-should-I-do-about-my-my-PhD-psychology-thesis-coming-back-with-a-revise-and-resubmit-because-the-examiner-did-not-understand-my-statistics)

Can you give me your suggestion on how to behave and what not to do?

Best
Luca


Why would you think your examiners didn't understand your thesis?
Have you considered the possibility that either your thesis or your performance wasn't good enough?
I ask because on another thread you gave me the impression that your supervisor had chosen your basic PhD approach for you and you had blamed your supervisor when criticised for that.

L

Nope. Actually I asked my supervisor whether "I would like to do this: is it possible half pieces, half theory?". And he said "yes". But at the end of my viva, and not at the beginning, they just made understand that my theoretical part... well... that's nice... but... . And I didn't really received any specific comment on why it was not valid. I guess they were not expecting that. Probably I did not make clear in my written part why that was important for my title. Unfortunately I was not asked questions like: "What is this here for. What is the context. What are the achievements. Why do you think it is important".

Now I would like to understand why for them that work that has taken 3 years to me is not contributing to knowledge, but I don't know how to ask this as I feel like I could use an irritating approach. I mean, overall it was a good result - they said that they want me to work more on what they believe is my talent, and that the other part is just... just... . And I do believe in my work, and without criticizing the judgment of my examiners, I would just like to have the opportunity to present it, as I do really believe that I could not present half of my submission. I was just allowed 1 sentence in the very end.
Notice, it's more a matter of feedback. Basically, from the informal chat with my supervisor, they want me to throw away my written part almost completely. What I want to do is to collect information to improve it, even if it is not for my resubmission. I would like to address the concerns, and to do that I think it is good to explain first what was my purpose.

The fact is that I don't understand now how the process works - whether I can collaborate with my examiners on what they will give me to do, or if I have to communicate with them only through my supervisor.

P

To be honest, I am having a lot of trouble following your posts but it seems clear to me from your initial posts on this subject that you had problems right from the start. The examiners are in no way forced to ask you about your entire thesis. I was questioned on only a section of mine for example.
It appears you failed the viva so badly that by the time they had concluded this, it was reasonable to bring things to a conclusion without going any further.
I think you are going to have to wait for their comments before you can clear this up.

54326