Ph.D Tip: VIVA VOCE

Having completed and submitted the thesis, a candidate will then have to prepare for the viva session. A viva is basically an oral examination that is intended to ascertain that the contents of the thesis had actually resulted from the candidate's own effort. A panel of examiners will be appointed by the university. Normally there will be at least three members on the panel. The panel is chaired by a senior academic staff of the university. The chairperson is responsible for ensuring that the viva session complies with the rules and regulations of the university. The chairperson will also moderate the session in order to ensure fairness to the candidate. The other two members will be the external examiner and an internal examiner. The external examiner may be appointed from another university or even from the industry, while the internal examiner is appointed from the relevant faculties within the university. Both examiners are experts with qualifications and experiences that enable them to assess the PhD work submitted.

The viva may be conducted either as a closed or open session. In a close session, observers are not permitted to be in the room where the viva is conducted. In many universities, an exception is made, where the supervisor(s) are invited to attend the viva session, only as a silent observer. In an open session, members of the public, mainly from related industries and academics from within or other universities are invited to attend the session. At the discretion of the panel, observers may or may not pose questions to the candidate.

PREPARING FOR A VIVA SESSION

What does it mean when a candidate is invited to make a PhD defense, that is, to attend the viva session? Upon receiving the invitation to attend the viva session, a candidate can be certain of two things, first the supervisor(s) had approved that the thesis is worthy for the award of the degree being sought. Second, the examiners are in agreement with the supervisor(s). Knowing these two facts, the candidate should have the confidence to make the PhD defense. All that needs to be done now is to provide evidence that the thesis was the result of the candidate's own effort and that he/she fully understood what was done and what was reported in the thesis.

What should the candidate do to prepare for the viva session? The most logical thing to do is to master the content of the thesis and to retread some of the key literature upon which the PhD study was based on. At this point of time, this should not be a problem as no one else knows the thesis as wen as the candidate. What is more important now is to act the examiners.

How does a candidate go about doing this? The easiest way is to ask the supervisor(s) about the examiners' areas of expertise and interests. Though the university appoints the examiners, the appointments were based on the recommendations of the supervisor(s). Therefore in most cases, the supervisor(s) will be in position to advise the candidate on the examiners areas of expertise.

With such information, the candidate should look up recent articles published by the examiners and read them. Appreciate their work, go through their list of references and establish key references that influence the examiners work and thinking. The candidate should then compare his/her work against the thinking and approaches taken by the examiners. By doing so, the candidate will have a feeling of knowing the examiners and such feeling does help in discussion during the viva.

PRESENTATION DURING VIVA

It is almost certain that the candidate will be required to make a presentation on the work that had been submitted. It is impossible to make a thorough presentation, as the time for the presentation will not exceed 30 minutes. The presentation should be kept short and simple. A presentation comprising 20-25 slides that include the following heading will be sufficient:

(a) Introduction including the problem statement

(b) Objectives of the thesis and scope of work

(c) Literature review presented in the form of a chart that easily illustrates the gap of knowledge that the candidate is trying to fill

(d) Research methodology preferably in the form of a flowchart

(e) Major results, with minimum discussion

(f) Significant findings & conclusions.

In most cases, the candidate will not be interrupted during the presentation. Examiners will pose questions and seek clarification during discussion after the presentation.

DISCUSSION DURING VIVA

Discussions that follow the candidate's presentation can last anywhere between one to four hours. During the discussion the candidate must provide answers, offer clarifications, give opinions to the best of his/her ability. The candidate must confidently show that he/she was responsible in conducting the work and has a full understanding on why various procedures were adopted during the study. Whenever relevant, the candidate should make a Conscious effort in relating the PhD work being examined to the works of the examiners and of researchers they make references to. Such act will create a positive impact on the examiners.

DIFFICULTIES DURING VIVA

There will be occasions during viva that the candidate may face difficulties. A candidate should not panic or lose his/her temper during discussions in a viva.

Should there be questions posed by examiners that the candidate is not able to answer, he/she should be honest and say so. Examiners will posed many questions, failing to answer one or two questions will not lead them to fait a candidate.

If there are questions that fall outside the scope of the PhD study, the candidate should politely point this out and offer his/her opinion on the matter stressing that he/she has no data to back the opinion given.

Should there be points of argument that cannot be agreed upon, the diplomacy must be exercised. Ideally, disagreement must be allowed during the viva as long as the parties remain professional, should the situation becomes personal then the candidate should give way to allow for other points to be raised and discussed.

RESULT OF A VIVA SESSION

After the viva session, the candidate will be requested to leave the room while the panel deliberates on results. The wait will not be song, as the candidate will be informed of the results which fray be either one of the following:

(a) pass without correction.

(b) pass with minor corrections, usually a three month duration is given to the candidate to make the corrections.

(c) pass with major corrections, usually a duration of more than 6 months is given to the candidate. The corrections may require additional data to be collected. The candidate may also be required to re-sit for the viva when the correction is completed.

(d) reject, the work or the candidate did not meet the minimum requirement for the award of a PhD degree. However, it is very rare that a viva will result in the panel rejecting the thesis and the candidate's defense.

CONCLUDING REMARKS

Candidates will experience a feeling of relief and great satisfaction at the point when they are being congratulated by the examiners and supervisor(s). What does it mean? It means that now they will be conferred the PhD degree by the University Senate.

It is worth reminding that a PhD programme is designed to produce independent researchers. Therefore, a PhD degree is nothing more than a license, certifying that bearer of that degree is now capable of doing unsupervised research. He/she must now do more research to establish him/herself as an expert in a selected field. The PhD degree does not mark the end of a research study. It is actually the starting point for a career in research.