{"title":"Never Smile at a Crocodile: A bad Viva Voce by the rule\n book","authors":"D. Remenyi","doi":"10.34190/jbrm.17.2.02","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"This is a narrative, the objective of which is to open a conversation about some aspects of how doctoral degrees are examined. The focus here is on a viva voce which was conducted for a mature candidate who had been registered for his doctorate for some 10 years and who came close to failing this examination.The narrative presented is a description of a viva voce examination which was conducted by the rule book and resulted in what is described here as an outcome which the degree candidate and his supervisors regarded as unfortunate. There was no misconduct on the part of anyone but some mistakes were made by the degree candidate during the examination in that the candidate did not answer well the questions put to him and the examiners did not attempt to correct him or assist him with his nervousness, which was quite apparent. As a result, the candidate’s examination performance was regarded by all to be poor. The problem which caused this unfortunate event, it is argued, lay in the lack of concentration on the part of the degree candidate and the absence of what John Maynard Keynes once referred to as the goodwill of the examiners, which was in short supply (Checkland, 1981). This narrative and the accompanying reflections reveal how delicate the viva voce process actually is and why in its current form it may need a thorough review. The paper concludes with the suggestion that the viva voce needs reform.","PeriodicalId":38532,"journal":{"name":"Electronic Journal of Business Research Methods","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0000,"publicationDate":"2019-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"6","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Electronic Journal of Business Research Methods","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.34190/jbrm.17.2.02","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q3","JCRName":"Business, Management and Accounting","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 6
Abstract
This is a narrative, the objective of which is to open a conversation about some aspects of how doctoral degrees are examined. The focus here is on a viva voce which was conducted for a mature candidate who had been registered for his doctorate for some 10 years and who came close to failing this examination.The narrative presented is a description of a viva voce examination which was conducted by the rule book and resulted in what is described here as an outcome which the degree candidate and his supervisors regarded as unfortunate. There was no misconduct on the part of anyone but some mistakes were made by the degree candidate during the examination in that the candidate did not answer well the questions put to him and the examiners did not attempt to correct him or assist him with his nervousness, which was quite apparent. As a result, the candidate’s examination performance was regarded by all to be poor. The problem which caused this unfortunate event, it is argued, lay in the lack of concentration on the part of the degree candidate and the absence of what John Maynard Keynes once referred to as the goodwill of the examiners, which was in short supply (Checkland, 1981). This narrative and the accompanying reflections reveal how delicate the viva voce process actually is and why in its current form it may need a thorough review. The paper concludes with the suggestion that the viva voce needs reform.
期刊介绍:
The Electronic Journal of Business Research Methods (EJBRM) provides perspectives on topics relevant to research methods applied in the field of business and management. Through its publication the journal contributes to the development of theory and practice. The journal accepts academically robust papers that contribute to the area of research methods applied in business and management research. Papers submitted to the journal are double-blind reviewed by members of the reviewer committee or other suitably qualified readers. The Editor reserves the right to reject papers that, in the view of the editorial board, are either of insufficient quality, or are not relevant enough to the subject area. The editor is happy to discuss contributions before submission. The journal publishes work in the categories described below. Research Papers: These may be qualitative or quantitative, empirical or theoretical in nature and can discuss completed research findings or work in progress. Case Studies: Case studies are welcomed illustrating business and management research methods in practise. View Points: View points are less academically rigorous articles usually in areas of controversy which will fuel some interesting debate. Conference Reports and Book Reviews: Anyone who attends a conference or reads a book that they feel contributes to the area of Business Research Methods is encouraged to submit a review for publication.