What Committee Questions Are Really Testing

21 Oct 2026 · 1 min

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1:05

In this instructional monologue, Steve Tippins Ph.D. explains that dissertation committee questions fall into two categories: reflective, experience‑based queries (e.g., “what was the hardest part?”) and deeper methodological probes that ask why a particular research approach was chosen or rejected. He cautions candidates not to view methodological questions as personal attacks, but as tests of whether the candidate truly understands the range of possible methods and can justify the selected one. Tippins emphasizes that a dissertation’s goal is not to revolutionize the field but to demonstrate the candidate’s competence in conducting rigorous research. Success in a defense hinges on the ability to articulate why the chosen methodology fits within the broader research landscape and to answer the committee’s probing “why‑did‑you‑or‑why‑didn’t‑you” questions confidently.

Chapters

When you're in with a committee, there are going to be questions that look like the process type questions. Oh, what was the hardest part? What would you do differently? What advice would you give to people? And those are great questions and it's good reflective type questions. But the harder questions are when they ask about like the methodology. Why did you or why didn't you? And don't assume that that's an affront to what you've done. That's a, okay, do you understand? Approaches, different approaches. Now tell me why you didn't use this approach and why that was the appropriate decision, and why'd you use this approach and why it's the appropriate decision. If you remember that the purpose of a dissertation is not to change the world, but it's for the committee to say, yeah, they know how to do research. Well, they're going to poke and prod and see if you know how to do one thing or if you understand why what you did fits in the whole realm of all the types of research that can be done. And if you can answer questions like that, that's when you're going to be successful.