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Tamer Suggested: Top 60 Questions Frequently Asked During Thesis Defense
Presentation · May 2019
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Important research questions during the study.
Ch 1
Ch2
Ch3
Ch4
Ch5
They could ask you to explain/justify any statement in the thesis
Nu
1
Questions
Ch
In few sentences, can you tell us what your study is all about?
1
The question is simple right? Many professors will tell you that most students get choked
on a question like this. Anyways the question is simple, but a bit technical. To answer this
question, you need to know every detail of your research project from chapters one to the
end. The question needs an answer in form of a summary of the entire study, therefore, to
ace this particular question you need to know every detail in your abstract. If you wrote a
good abstract, this question will be a cross over for you.
2
What is your motivation for this study?
1
Now you must be careful here. This question can be very tricky and it goes a long way in
convincing your panel members that your study is worth their time. Another way this
question could be twisted is WHAT IS THE RESEARCH PROBLEM?
To answer this question, you may decide to elaborate on the problem investigated in the
study. Your zeal to solve this problem becomes your motivation. Do not state financial
reasons or the need to graduate as a motivation as you may easily go off point.
3
Did you bridge any gap from your study?
1
4
Every research study must have a problem. Your ability to solve this problem and explore
into areas not yet researched on gives you the full marks allocated for answering this
question. You must be able to convince the committee members that your approach is
unique and it has covered areas where much have not been done by other researchers.
Why you choose this title?
1
5
What is the significance of the study?
1
Just like stating how your study will contribute to the body of knowledge, you will need to
state the importance of your study. To answer this question, you will need to highlight how
your study will aid the government in policy development and implementation, how it will
help other students who may wish to conduct research studies on the subject matter and
how organizations and the society will benefit from your study.
7
What limitations did you encounter?
1
This is another simple but tricky question. Most times the question is not asked to
1
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8
sympathize with you, rather to get loopholes to criticize your work. To answer this
question, you must be careful with words as you may implicate yourself. Be careful enough
not to sell out yourself. Do not discourse limitations in your methods or data analysis
techniques as this may imply that your study may be biased or not well researched. Use
simple limitations like difficulties encountered in combining lectures and project instead of
limiting your study.
How did you establish the limits around the scope of your data collection?
1
9
What is the scope of the study?
1
This one is a cheap or should I say bonus question? Here you quickly state the delimitation
of the study in brief.
10
What are the main issues and debates in this subject area?
1
11
What were the crucial research decisions you made?
1
13
What is the research
explain/understand?
14
Who will be most interested in your work?
1
15
What is the theoretical and practical gap?
1
16
Is your literature current (up-to-date)?
2
17
Have you obtained the local literature on this topic?
2
18
Have you included in the literature the major theories, concepts, factors, and
variables connected with your research?
2
19
Have you collected and reviewed enough literature? Have you been exhaustive in your
literature search?
2
problem?
What
phenomenon
are
you
trying
to
1
2
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20
What method or strategy did you use for your analysis* technique * for coding
analyzing and presenting data?
3
21
What statistical tool/s are you using to test each hypothesis?
3
22
What are the expected relationships between the independent variables and the
dependent variables? Why do you expect these relationships?
3
23
Why use a five-point scale? Seven-point scale? Why not use objective data?
3
24
What sampling technique are you going to use? Why? How are you going to choose
the sample from the population?
3
25
What is the population of your sample? What list/directory you are using?
3
26
What are your dependent variables?
3
27
What are your independent variables?
3
28
Are there moderating/ mediating variables? Why these moderators/ mediating?
3
29
Where did you get your research framework? Is it your own? Why this framework?
3
30
How do you justify this framework?
3
31
Why chooses this method?
3
As discoursed above, you should not only state a particular method for the study. You must
also be ready and able to justify why you chose the method in a convincing manner. At this
point you are free to quote sources or similar studies where such methods were adopted.
32
Why did you use thematic analysis / qualitative content analysis?
3
33
Why did you use this software Atlasti. Ti 7.5// spss 23
3
34
How well did the study design work in practice?
3
35
What was the most challenging aspect of your research?
3
3
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36
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What Methods or Sampling Technique did you employ?
3
To answer this question, you must be familiar with your research methodology. Your
chapter three (in Most Projects) must be at your fingertips. Your ability to justify your
sample size and technique will be highly rewarded here.
37
How did you analyses your data?
3
38
Why did you use this research methodology? What did you gain from it?
3
39
What were the main ethical issues of conducting this research?
3
40
What is your measurement Instrument?
3
In simple terms, what data collection method did you employ for the study? Here you state
if questionnaires were distributed or data was gotten from secondary sources. For more
information on measurement instruments
41
What theories or theoretical framework is your study based on?
3
This is a very technical question but interesting. Before you step into the defense room, you
should know at least two relevant theories that relate to your study. For example, the
“impact of motivation on employee productivity” will be based on Maslow’s Theory and
other theories of motivation. If you cannot find relevant theories to back up your study,
consult your supervisor for help.
42
What are your research variables?
3
Here you will need to convince your panel members that you know what you are talking
about. You need to explain your independent and dependent variable(s) to convince them
that you are on point. Your variables are present in your project topic. You need to identify
these variables and know their definitions as well to ace your defense.
43
What is your protocol in qualitative analysis?
4
44
Can you describe your main findings in a few sentences?
4
45
What are your findings?
4
4
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At this point it is expected of you to present your results or findings from the study in a
clear and concise manner. Always link your findings to your research objectives/questions.
This will make your panel members to easily be carried along.
46
How would you relate your findings to existing theories on the study?
4
To ace this question, one will have to read extensively. You should know existing theories
on the subject matter as well as empirical studies too. Your ability to link your findings to
previous research studies (Whether they agree or not) will go a long way in validating your
study. You will score good points here trust me
47
What are the contributions (to knowledge) of your thesis?
5
48
How will this study contribute to the body of knowledge?
5
At some point the need for justification will arise and that is when you will be asked to
mention how your study will add to the body of knowledge if approved.
Here you will need to use your methods, case study or any unique model or conceptual
framework used in the study to defend it. For more information on how to tackle this
particular question
49
What is the implication of your work in your area? What does it change?
5
50
How would a policy maker be able to utilize your findings?
5
51
How do your contributions generalize?
5
52
How did you deal with the ethical implications of your work?
5
53
Based on your findings what are your recommendations?
5
Recommendations are very vital in every research study and should not be joked with. In
essence you should know your recommendations off hand.
54
What are the empirical, practice, and theoretical implications of your findings?
5
55
What have you added?
5
56
How have you evaluated your work?
5
Intrinsic evaluation: how have you demonstrated that it works, and how well it
5
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performs?
Extrinsic evaluation: how have you demonstrated its usefulness for a specific
application context?
57
What is the implication of your work in your area? What does it change?
5
58
Can you explain how did you implement your study?
*
59
How is your study covering your variables?
**
60
Are your theories supporting your results? How?
***
6
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