Lifting the veil on the viva: The experiences of psychology PhD candidates in the UK

Apart from a few, mainly negative, anecdotal reports little has been published on the experiences of UK postgraduate students during their vivas for their PhDs. In this study we collected more detailed and more representative data on these issues by asking over 100 psychology postgraduates to complete a questionnaire on their experiences. Our respondents were almost equally divided between those who found the viva a positive experience (44 per cent), and those who found it a negative one (39 per cent), despite the fact that 85 per cent of them were successful in their vivas. Eighty-two per cent thought that their viva was fair, but 60 per cent made suggestions for improvement. There were few differences between the experiences of males and females and the fulland part-time candidates. However, those candidates who were required to make substantial changes to their theses were significantly less positive on several measures than were those who passed their vivas without the need for major changes. We conclude by discussing the implications of these findings for candidates, supervisors and academic institutions.