Following, I share some highlights of the viva.
10 minutes presentation
I have to do a presentation. You have to consult your Internal Examiner (IE) whether you need to do this, because in some department this is not a requirement. Presentation will act as a buffer, to ease your tension- this is according to the Independent Chair (IC). But I found, doing presentation can be very stressfulL
Independent Chair (IC)
There were 4 of us in the meeting room. Since both of my examiners are less experience in conducting viva, an independent chair was appointed. Under the university’s rule, this IC will act as an observer or a referee to see the viva is conducted in a fair play..Mamat IC masa viva aku adalah sangat sempoi. Bestla..at certain points, dia pon ada menyampuk jugak, making the process a little bit less stress.
Qualitative research
Doing qualitative research is not easy (sapa rasa senang angkat tangan?) And writing qualitative material can be very appalling at times. Walaupun ramai yang selalu kata, “ ala..Yana takpe, she can write…” (thank you)..tetapi tuan-tuan dan puan-puan, ini telah menimbulkan masalah juga.
When writing any statement in thesis, you really have to be certain whether it is based on your findings, informal discussions or your assumptions. It’s not wrong to give opinions but you really have to provide evidence-, which can be from your findings or literature reviews. In my case, although they praised the flow of the thesis,…some parts still need justifications to support arguments/statements.
Try to answer the questions
Although aku dah prepare banyak potential questions, none came up! But if they did came up, mungkin aku lupa yang aku ada tulis soalan tu. So, masa viva..it’s belasahla labu time!
Try to answer all the questions. If you don’t understand, asked them to rephrase. If you can write it down, even better. I wanted to do it (write qs, perhaps the gist), but the IE won’t let me…so dengar je la soalan yang keluar, macam interview kerja plak rasanya.
They are enthusiasts and interested
Janganlah fikir kalau kita kena ‘grill’ teruk-teruk, the thesis is bad. Most of the time it is because the thesis is good and they want to know more. But it is hard to think that way especially if you are under pressure.
Macam aku hari tu, soalan yang keluar bertubi-tubi macam pop corn meletup-letup. Bila dorang penat, they had a break; coffee and biscuits. Then they started again. The IC (independent chair) siap ketuk gelas lagi, ting ting ting,,round two (sabar je la..ingat ni wrestling ke?) Aku rasa memang teruk la especially part yang aku tersekat-sekat. They kept saying that the thesis is good tapi aku rasa itu hanyalah ayat penyedap kan hati, hahahaha
10 minit yang penuh debaran dan sangat panjang….
Keluar je dari meeting room, terus ke bilik Alan. Meraung la kejap, hahahaha (nak gelak bila ingat balik) Tapi masa tu sebab tension giler kot and aku rasa memang akan fail!
Tak senang duduk aku…tak tau apa nak cakap ngan Alan pon. Masa tu memang aku berdoa supaya tak fail dan redha dengan apa yang aku akan dengar kejap lagi….
When they call me in
Me and my supervisor went in together. The IC told EE that the supervisor can be present during the announcement. The EE said…wow, this is interesting..She then stood up, followed by the IE…I remembered she began her announcement by saying..”Haliyana Khalid, it is my pleasure to award you with..(masa ni aku blur lagi..) Last aku dengar, congratulations Dr Haliyana Khalid..Bila dia hulur tangan barula ‘terjaga’ lebih sikit (this is really happening)
It’s all for the better
Aku masih lagi tak sangka yang aku dah habis viva. Perasaan? Sedikit anti-klimaks! Apa yang aku boleh cakap berdasarkan pengalaman aku..Bila buat Phd jangan selalu risau, walaupun risau itu perlu tapi jika terlalu risau, nanti tidak ke mana. Dalam phd, jangan berlumba, nanti kecewa. Kita boleh menjadikan pencapaian orang lain sebagai inspirasi tetapi bukan kayu ukur pencapaian kita. Phd bukan UPSR, PMR, SPM atau ijazah. Kita bukannya berlumba-lumba untuk menjadi ‘top of the class’, ‘deans lists’ atau pun ‘teachers’ pet’. Setiap kita mempunyai hala tuju and skop penyelidikan yang berbeza. Kita berjuang dalam konteks kita sendiri.
Kita perlu mengikis tanggapan bahawa yang habis phd dalam masa 2 atau 3 tahun adalah lebih pandai daripada mereka yang mengambil masa lebih lama. Kita juga perlu mengikis tanggapan bahawa yang tiada pembetulan di dalam thesis adalah lebih pandai daripada mereka yang diberi masa yang lama untuk menyiapkan kerja akhir. Inspirasi bukan kayu ukur!
Penilaian viva adalah subjektif. Walaupun kita dan supervisor sudah merasakan bahawa thesis itu adalah baik, tetapi belum tentu ia mendapat penerimaan yang serupa dari ‘external examiner’, dan begitulah sebaliknya.
Pada saya, semuanya bergantung kepada kuasa Allah, and it’s all for the better!
