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Nathan

Questions For Examiners

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The viva is a discussion. While your examiners lead with questions and comments to get you talking there is plenty of space within the conversation for you to ask questions too.

Before your viva think a little about what you might ask. You don’t have a specific limit but it could help to give this some thought beforehand. For example:

  • “What did you think of Chapter X?”
  • “Can you think of any interesting areas related to…?”
  • “Is it a good idea for me to publish something on…?”

You might not get to ask every question you have considered, but thinking ahead of the viva will help you make the most of the opportunity.

You could ask what they liked about your thesis but that’s probably going to come up anyway!

Nathan

The Flow of Discussion

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It’s important to remember that the viva is a discussion.

The viva is not a quiz, not an interview, not a question-and-answer session. Your examiners have notes and questions and plans – but no script. There is no big sheet of things to tick off.

Questions and comments are prompts. They are a means to get you to talk. They help you find your way through and help your examiners see what they need.

Questions are not skewers! Comments are not automatically criticisms!

The discussion in the viva flows from your examiners: most of the questions will come from them. But that still leaves room for you to ask questions. There’s space for you to dig deeper too.

And even if the discussion does start with your examiners, where do their questions come from?

From your research, your thesis and ultimately from you.

Nathan

Quizzical

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Some PhD candidates think of the viva as a TV quiz show. How do I know this? Because many, many candidates over the last decade have asked me questions like:

  • How many questions can I get wrong?
  • How can I score highly?
  • Can I pass on questions I don’t know?
  • How big is the thirty-second timer in the room?!

…OK, maybe they haven’t asked that last question! 🙂

But the questions people do ask give a window into how they think of something.

Thinking of the viva as being like a game show, even in some small ways, is not helpful. The viva is not a quiz show. Questions are not only true or false, they’re not multiple choice or needing to remember a fact.

The viva, first and foremost, is a discussion. That’s how you respond. That’s how you engage with your examiners.

Knowing things and being able to share information helps, but be ready for a conversation and not a quiz at your viva.

Nathan

Finding The Answer

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Lots of questions have answers.

Answers are things that are known: factually accurate, true or perhaps established as a logical argument with sufficient supporting reasons and information.

If you were asked a question and needed to find an answer in the viva there are lots of things you could do or try:

  • You could stop and remember the answer, or at least attempt to.
  • You could use a piece of paper and calculate something that leads to the answer.
  • You could stand up at a whiteboard and draw while you talk to explain the answer.
  • You could check your thesis to look for a piece of information that holds the answer.
  • You could ask a question of your examiners to help explore the situation.

Lots of questions have answers and if you are trying to find an answer in the viva there is a lot you could do to find it.

 

But not every question has an answer.

Some questions seek opinions. Some are hypothetical and explore a scenario – or how someone thinks about it. Some questions have an answer – and you might not know it. Some questions don’t have answers, but they are worth exploring all the same.

If a question has an answer you might be able to find it. If a question doesn’t then you can still engage with it.

Not every question has an answer, but every question asked at the viva is something you can engage with and respond to. If there’s an answer there then there’s plenty you can do to find it – and if there isn’t you still have an opportunity to demonstrate your work, your ability and your knowledge.

Nathan

Opinions

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The viva is a discussion. It’s not a Q&A. It’s not an interview. It’s not supposed to be combative or about proving who is right or wrong.

Remember that your examiners are allowed to have different opinions to you. They may not agree with a conclusion. They may think that X needs more Y to account for Z.

And that means that you may have different opinions to your examiners. Different opinions don’t mean that someone is wrong. It might mean that – or it could mean that someone needs to think more, explain more, share something else or do something else.

If your examiners ask for a change or strongly suggest something then ask why. Explore more and dig deeper. And do your best, not to prove them wrong, but to engage as best as you can with what they are offering to the discussion.

Nathan

Discuss Your Research

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Viva prep necessarily involves reading your thesis, making notes and checking things out. For all the help this work brings, it doesn’t match the mode of work you’ll be engaged in at the viva.

In the viva you have to talk. More than that, you have to listen, think and respond to questions. You have to discuss what you’ve done for the last few years, what that means, what you know and what you can do.

So practise. Before the viva, discuss your research in any forum or format that you can find to help you. A mock viva can help. Coffee with friends can help. Giving a seminar and taking questions can help. Use all the opportunities you have or make some more to help you rehearse and help you be ready.

Then go to your viva and have one more discussion about the good work you’ve done.

Nathan

Things The Viva Isn’t

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It’s not a quiz.

You need to know a lot, of course, but you’re not expected to have rapid recall or a photographic memory of your research and your thesis.

It’s not an interview.

You might choose to dress smart, but you’ve not applied for a position. The focus and purpose of the viva are radically different.

It’s not a game.

The people involved have roles but aren’t players. There are rules to be followed but there aren’t moves to make or best strategies to employ.

It’s not a question and answer session.

There are going to be lots of questions but the structure and flow is not simply question and answer, question and answer.

 

The viva is an exam.

The viva is a discussion.

The viva is a challenge, but one you can prepare for.

The viva is one more day to demonstrate your capability as a researcher.

Nathan

Your Turn To Speak

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The viva is a conversation between you and your examiners. They use questions to facilitate a discussion about you, your research and your thesis. They’re looking for you to demonstrate your capability as a researcher and the contribution in your thesis.

So, when it’s your turn to speak:

  • Pause.
  • Make sure you understand the question.
  • Know that not every question has an “answer”.
  • If the first thought in your mind is “I don’t know,” then pause and think again.
  • Take your time when speaking, there’s no rush.
  • Use diagrams or sketches to help share your points, if appropriate.

And remember to actually respond to the question!

Nathan

Tell Them

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In my earliest academic days I was given the following advice for structuring a presentation: tell them what you’re going to tell them; tell them; tell them what you told them.

“Them” in this case was the audience. Over the years I’ve realised the heart of the good advice here: set expectations, share what you’re sharing and summarise at the end.

It is good advice generally.

In the viva you’re at the stage of telling your examiners what you told them in the thesis, more or less. You’ve set it out for them, they read it; now you have to summarise, clarify, expand and make sure they get what they need.

Of course, there are more ways you could tell them at the viva too.

You could tell them a story. You could tell them more. You could tell them what you left out. You could tell them what you didn’t get to do. You could tell them what you hope to do in the future. You could tell them what you plan to do next. You could tell them your opinion.

You could tell them lots of things, but remember that the viva is not a presentation, and it’s not the questions that come at the end. It’s a discussion. Prepare to tell your examiners lots of things, but prepare to be part of a conversation rather than someone simply answering questions.

Nathan

Yes, And

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One of the main principles of improvisational comedy is “yes, and…”

There’s no script in improv. If you’re on stage and someone says something, you agree with them and build on what they have said. If someone remarks about the (imaginary) hat that you’re wearing you accept the idea they have introduced and build on it.

How remarkable, I’ve never seen a hat like that before!

Yes, it was my grandfather’s he made it himself-

-he sewed a great mass of tentacles on to the brim?

…Yes, and it’s very comfortable, would you like to try it on?

Scene! (that’s quite enough of that!!)

 

While the viva might not be a time for laughing and joking, the principle of “yes, and” – of accepting and building on what has come before – is definitely part of the discussion you’re going to have.

Your examiners will ask questions and your job is to engage. You say yes to the question and then build on the discussion with your words.

It’s not about saying yes to every comment, or agreeing with every point: you say yes rather than try to divert. You say yes and engage rather than try to evade the topic or displace it with something you’d rather talk about.

In the viva your main responsibility is to engage with whatever questions your examiners ask. Say yes to their questions and then share your thoughts to give them what they need to help you pass.

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