This page is designed to guide you through one of the most important milestones in your doctoral journey: the PhD proposal defense. Here you will find essential resources, including common examiner questions, practical checklists, and strategies to help you prepare with clarity and confidence. The aim is not only to anticipate difficult questions but also to help you strengthen your arguments, articulate your research contributions, and demonstrate ownership of your study. Use this space as your rehearsal ground, a place to reflect, refine, and gain confidence in presenting your ideas as a developing scholar.
Difficult Questions for PhD Proposal Defence
Chapter 1: Introduction
(includes background, research gap, significance, theoretical/conceptual framework, expected contribution, scope & limitations, and timeline)
- Why did you choose this research topic, and why is it important now?
- What is the problem statement, and how is it different from previous studies?
- What gap in knowledge does your study aim to fill?
- How does this research align with current trends or challenges in your field?
- What are your specific research objectives and research questions, and why are they appropriate?
- Why did you choose this research context (country, institution, or sample)?
- What theory or conceptual framework underpins your study, and why?
- Could another theory/framework explain your study better? Why did you not choose it?
- What assumptions are you making in adopting this framework?
- How does your conceptual framework connect to your research questions and methodology?
- What is the expected contribution of your research to theory, practice, and/or policy?
- If your findings do not match your expectations, how will you deal with that?
- What is the scope of your research, and why did you set those boundaries?
- What are the key limitations you anticipate in your study?
- Can your research realistically be completed within the given timeline, and how will you manage risks?
Chapter 2: Literature Review
- How did you select and filter the literature you reviewed?
- Which key authors and studies most influenced your thinking, and why?
- Are there conflicting findings in the literature, and how do you reconcile them?
- How does your review reveal the research gap you want to address?
- What debates or theoretical tensions does your research contribute to?
- Why did you exclude certain well-known studies from your review?
- How does your literature review justify the choice of your conceptual framework?
Chapter 3: Methodology
- Why did you choose this research design (qualitative, quantitative, mixed, case study, etc.)?
- How will you ensure validity, reliability, or trustworthiness of your study?
- What sampling strategy will you use, and why is it appropriate?
- How will you collect data, and why did you choose that method?
- What are the strengths and weaknesses of your chosen methodology?
- How will you analyse the data, and why is this approach the best fit for your research questions?
- What ethical issues might arise, and how will you address them?
- What practical challenges do you anticipate in data collection, and how will you mitigate them?
