YEAAAYYYY... I PASSED MY PHD VIVA...

Alhamdulillah...I didn't know how to describe my feeling yesterday after 1 and 30 minutes stood there, answered all the examiners' questions, defended all the approaches (particularly theories, methods and data analysis) that I used to undertake my phd research.

Before the viva session, both of my supervisors were so good to me (I love my supervisors), kept my spirit up, kept telling me that I'll do well because I'm the expert of my thesis and my phd project. My second supervisor came to see me before my session to present my works and to defend, and said that I'll do well. For the viva exam, I chose my supervisor to attend my viva session. It's the right decision. My first supervisor attended the session. Her role is just an observer. I thanked her because she jotted down all the points for doing minor correction. And later, she confirmed again with the internal examiner about all these minor changes. She is really a good supervisor! I felt at ease also throughout the exam session knowing that she is with me.   

The viva exam surprisingly was quite constructive and yes, tough!  Overall, I felt that the viva exam is actually the process of checking your understanding and knowledge, and whether your works are really making some contributions to the academic world. The examiners also wanted to make sure that you're the one who conducted the research and wrote the thesis. They were critical on the arguments about my research contributions. 

Throughout the viva session, the external examiner, a Professor from one of the universities in London kept smiling  and kept repeating 'You're good..I really like you... this is what I like...' hahaha At the end of the session, I asked them weather they have more questions that they want to ask. He said ... 'What!! You still want us to ask more questions'... hahaha kinda funny.  

Throughout the session, they asked me to clarify several things that I wrote in my thesis. There are also few trapped questions which I think I have answered quite well. Well, as a researcher, you're sort of know the answers for these questions. If you conduct your research, and write the thesis, read all the references that you put, it's not that difficult to address these questions. There's also a question about some theories, in which I don't actually anticipate that they will ask. Yet, the examiners kept probing about my knowledge of these theories. I never said I don't know. I have some knowledge (err quite limited actually hahaha) about these theories so I just gave my opinions and defended my choice of theories. It took quite sometimes to convince them. But at the end, the internal examiner sort of negotiating with me about the amendment on the choice of theories. He asked me to put a new theory and just do some critical writing on the structuration theory. He gave impression that I didn't make any mistake about using structuration theory and its assumptions. It just that he thought that the way I used the theory was a bit different. I guess, it's because he's not that familiar within the stream of works from information system research discipline. My supervisor at the end of the session also kind of disagreed with his point. Anyway, the truth is before attending the viva, I kinda anticipate I'll be trapped in this kind of situation. My works will be assessed by two dominant/different minds - the internal examiner is from the organizational research, and the external is a Professor in Information System research. Well, this is the kind of risk that I already anticipated when I chose to do the interdisciplinary research for my phd project. This is also the kind of scenario that I used to experience with my usual supervisory meeting. My first supervisor is from the information system research background, and my second supervisor is an organizational researcher. Well, my experiences dealing with them actually trained me well to handle this situation, i.e., in the viva session.

The internal examiner no doubt was very critical about my works. Yet, I still think he is a really nice guy. At the end of the session, he came to me and asked me to contact him via email if I need his help to address the correction etc. Although, he came up with so many tough questions, yet I'm glad! Now I know my extent of capabilities...hahahhaha **angkut bakul sendiri*** 

After the defend session end, I was asked to wait outside the room (about 15mins). The waiting game is really killing me. Then when my supervisor asked to come in to the room, I saw all of them stood up...hahaha I actually sat down on my chair, then felt awkward, then I stood up again. The internal examiner asked the external examiner whether he wanted to make the announcement. The external asked the internal to make the announcement. Then, I heard 'Congratulation Rohaya! You passed your exam with minor correction, and we give you 3 months to do these changes in your thesis'. I shook hand with them, and then hug my supervisor. It's over, and I passed. The correction will probably take less than a month...so no worry at all. I actually passed my PhD. I immediately sent an sms to my husband to tell the good news. I passed my PhD exam!

Later, I spent about 20mins with my first supervisor to properly type the requested corrections, and then confirmed again with the internal examiner...then all set. I met my second supervisor and hug her again. I'm so happy...we agreed to have a good celebration in February when I come back again to London. Later she sent me the following email:

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Hi Rohaya,
Heartiest congratulations again :) Baggy just told me that you did a superb presentation and defended questions very competently and confidently.
Well done! We are so delighted! Take a good break tomorrow. 
We will go out for a nice dinner/lunch in February to celebrate!
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I just want to tell the world, I cannot achieve what I have today without the support of my husband. He is such a wonderful husband, and I thank God everyday for this gift - to have him as my husband.