Today I had two video calls in preparation for the viva that will take place in another few days.
The much more important call was with my supervisor; I thought that we were going to have a mock exam but he started off by saying that there is no point in him improvising questions because probably the examiners will ask something else. He then continued to say that the examiners will not be 'out to get me' and will not ask questions such as 'what did you mean by ... on page 32' and similar. Instead, I should think of the exam as a discussion between colleagues.
One interesting point came out of our discussion today: I feel that I older I get, the more open I am to compromise. There is a lack of 'ego', something that will be very important in the viva, but also in my research itself. I wrote about this in the thesis, albeit in different terms, when I discussed the confirmation bias. Frequently people who 'research' subjects are open only to ideas and statements that strengthen their point of view/beliefs, or as it is commonly put, they only hear things that confirm their original position. In the thesis, I state that I tried to be as free as possible from this bias, in that other people's ideas can strengthen the 'product', whether it is a thesis or an enhancement. The idea is to create the best possible product, utilising everybody's ideas. As I have written sometimes at work, I don't have a monopoly on good ideas. People start from different viewpoints that lead them to differing and sometimes surprising endpoints, and it is often my job to incorporate these various ideas into a whole, introducing a certain amount of synergy.
So, unlike some doctoral candidates (apparently), I am open to whatever suggestions and/or corrections that the examiners may have. We are trying to improve the topic, without regard to who suggests what. I think that anyway one has to lose one's ego to a certain extent when the entire doctoral process begins with the supervisor suggesting various options and changes.
My supervisor advised me to enjoy the experience as it is going to be the only time in which I can talk at great detail about my research with people who are interested in what I have to say.
I said that I doubt that I am going to feel very nervous about the exam: first of all, I will be in my own home and so the surroundings will not threaten me. Secondly, the fact that I cannot fail removes a great deal of pressure; my supervisor mentioned one student who did fail, but that was because he was not prepared to take anyone's advice, not least the examiners'. I am going to view the viva like a meeting at work, when I try as much as possible (and not necessarily successfully) to lose myself in the subject and not get mired down in my personal agenda.
The less important call was to the DBA administrator; this was mainly to check that the Teams software (which will be used for the exam itself) that I installed on my computer works properly. We use Teams at work, but that is within a closed user base, whereas here the meeting is a one off. From what I happened, I see that it is best to open Teams (it takes a long time to load completely) before clicking on the link to the meeting instead of doing it the other way around. That's the reason for having this call!
The administrator closed off by saying that he would see me on Tuesday and that I should try to enjoy the experience as it is going to be the only time in which I can talk at great detail about my research with people who are interested in what I have to say. Does that sound familiar? True, I copied and pasted that sentence, but he did in fact repeat almost word for word what the supervisor said. This must be the party line, in the same way that the text says that 'the doctorate teaches one to become a researcher', and not a world expert in some arcane subject, as public belief would have it.
On to Tuesday!
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