Intention Matters Too

Whatever your research, you care about the results and conclusions of the work you’ve done. The tangible contributions you’ve made are what show your examiners (and everyone else) that you’re good and have made a difference. Right?

Yes.

But that’s only part of the story – and for some candidates that perspective can be worrying.

What if you didn’t get all the results you were looking for? What if some problems were too big, too messy or too complicated to resolve?

Your contributions matter, but the work matters too. Your intentions matter. Why did you pursue a project or area of research? What were you hoping for? How did you try to explore it or solve the problem?

It’s essential to be able to talk about your contributions at the viva, but just as important to talk about how and why you were pursuing them in the first place. Regardless of whether or not something worked, why did you go after it?