I’m thinking about the conclusion to my PhD, so I’ve returned to the literature on what examiners are looking for. Stephen Potter’s book ‘Doing Postgraduate Research’ contains a list of potential viva questions, so I’m going to think about how I could answer those, and then see which elements of my answers will fit comfortably within my conclusion. I’ve included the questions below, ordered according to the section of the thesis I feel they are focused on.<\/p>\n
Some of the questions are easy to answer, but some are tricky. I’ll have to give some thought to the issue of how I have evaluated my research. Hmm.<\/p>\n
Abstract<\/strong><\/font><\/p>\n What have you done that merits a PhD?<\/font><\/p>\n In one sentence, what is your thesis?<\/font><\/p>\n What is your original contribution to knowledge in your subject area?<\/font><\/p>\n What are the main achievements of your research?<\/font><\/p>\n Intro<\/font><\/strong><\/p>\n Why were you interested in this research topic?<\/font><\/p>\n Literature review<\/font><\/strong><\/p>\n What are the main issues and debates in this subject area? How does your research relate to these?<\/font><\/p>\n Which are the three most important papers which relate to your thesis?<\/font><\/p>\n Who has had the strongest influence in the development of your subject area in theory and practice?<\/font><\/p>\n What published work is closest to what you have done? How is your work different?<\/font><\/p>\n What are the most recent major developments in your area?<\/font><\/p>\n Methodology<\/font><\/strong><\/p>\n What were the crucial research decisions you made?<\/font><\/p>\n Why did you use the particular research methodology in your thesis?<\/font><\/p>\n What are the alternatives to the approach or method you used?<\/font><\/p>\n What did you gain by the approach or method you used?<\/font><\/p>\n What would you have gained by using another approach?<\/font><\/p>\n Were there any ethical implications relating to your research? How did you deal with them?<\/font><\/p>\n What would you do differently if you could do your thesis again?<\/font><\/p>\n How have you evaluated your work?<\/font><\/p>\n How do you know that your findings are correct?<\/font><\/p>\n Analysis<\/font><\/strong><\/p>\n Summarise your key findings. What was the most interesting to you?<\/font><\/p>\n How do your findings relate to the literature on the subject?<\/font><\/p>\n Conclusion<\/font><\/strong><\/p>\n Whom do you think would be most interested in your work?<\/font><\/p>\n Have you thought about publications? Which journals are appropriate?<\/font><\/p>\n How long-term is your contribution?<\/font><\/p>\n What do you see as the next steps in this research?<\/font><\/p>\n If you were given money tomorrow to continue your research, what would you do?<\/font><\/p>\n Personal summary<\/font><\/strong><\/p>\n What advice would you give to a new research student entering this topic area?<\/font><\/p>\n Has your view of your research topic changed during the course of the research?<\/font><\/p>\n What have you learnt from your research experience?<\/font><\/p>\n Potter, S., & Swift, J. (2006). The examination process and the viva. In S. Potter (Ed.), Doing Postgraduate Research<\/em> (Second ed., pp. 251-275): The Open University \/ Sage Publications Ltd<\/font><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I’m thinking about the conclusion to my PhD, so I’ve returned to the literature on what examiners are looking for. Stephen Potter’s book ‘Doing Postgraduate Research’ contains a list of potential viva questions, so I’m going to think about how I could answer those, and then see which elements of my answers will fit comfortably […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31,25],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-273","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-research-progress","category-things-to-remember"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/r.m.ferguson\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/273","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/r.m.ferguson\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/r.m.ferguson\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/r.m.ferguson\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/r.m.ferguson\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=273"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/r.m.ferguson\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/273\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/r.m.ferguson\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=273"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/r.m.ferguson\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=273"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/r.m.ferguson\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=273"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}