The verdict

Pelajar telah diberi peluang untuk membentangkan tesis dan menjawab persoalan yang timbul. Keputusan sebulat suara adalah seperti berikut:

TESIS DITERIMA DENGAN PINDAAN BESAR

Pelajar telah diberi 60 hari daripada tarikh viva untuk membuat pembetulan dan pengesahan daripada Jawatankuasa Peperiksaan sebelum laporan tesis yang sebenar dihantar kepada Sekolah Pengajian Siswazah. Pembetulan yang perlu dibuat adalah seperti berikut:

1. Perbaiki abstrak dengan penerangan yang lebih jelas mengenai metodologi, penemuan utama dan kesimpulan. Ketiga-tiga aspek ini didapati tiada atau terlalu ringkas. Pastikan kedua-dua abstrak dalam bahasa Melayu dan Inggeris sama pengertiannya. Perbaiki kekurangan yang dinyatakan oleh setiap penilai secara terperinci.

2. Perbaiki Kenyataan Masalah supaya lebih jelas dengan menekankan kepada rangkakerja teori yang hendak dikaji. Sila lihat cadangan yang dibuat oleh Pemeriksan Luar di mana ia menekankan kepada phenomena self-directed learning dalam konteks yang berlainan. Nyatakan juga dengan jelas apa yang telah diketahui berkaitan dengan self-directed learning dalam situasi krisis dan bukan krisis.

3. Sorotan Literatur perlu diperbaiki supaya lebih mantap. Rajah di muka surat 28 tiada penjelasan yang lengkap. Pertimbangakan samada ia perlu atau tidak kerana tidak jelas mengapa ia diperlukan. Tambah maklumat seperti yang disyorkan oleh Pemeriksa Luar berkaitan dengan para di muka surat 67. Dengan memasukkan kepentingan self-directed learning dalam konteks budaya yang berbeza di antara Timor dan Barat adalah unsur penting bagi kajian ini.

4. Terdapat kekurangan penerangan dan rujukan dalam koteks kajian kualitatif berkaitan dengan concept mapping. Konsep ini sebenarnya tidak diketengahkan dalam kebanyakkan literatur kajian kualitatif, oleh yang demikian sekiranya ingin digunakan ia perlulah disokong dengan penerangan yang sangat jelas dengan bukti-bukti penggunaannya. Kalau tidak dapat dijustifikasikan dengan jelas ia tidak perlu digunakan dalam kajian ini. Memadai dengan menggunakan analisis yang generik bagi data kualitatif.

5. Perlu konsistent dalam kenyataan persolan kajian atau objektif. Penemuan menunjukkan jawapan kepada lima persoalan kajian walhal persoalan asal adalah hanya tiga. Semak semula bab penemuan kajian supaya penemuan kelihatan tidak mengelirukan. Pastikan komen daripada Pemeriksa Luar dan Dalam yang terperinci diambil kira untuk perbaiki bahagian ini. Bahagian ini perlu diubahsuai supaya lebih jelas.

Nota dalam Field notes sepatutnya adalah data dan ianya perlu dianalisis dan dibentangkan penemuannya bersama-sama dengan data temubual. Sekiranya ia hanya nota untuk penyelidik dan bukannya data ia dipanggil field diary. Pastikan pembentulan dibuat. Ringkasan untuk menerangkan penemuan kepada persoalan kajian adalah penting ia perlu dibuat dengan jelas supaya pembaca dapat ringkasan penemuan dengan tepat.

6 Rangkakerja konseptual di muka surat 174 mengelirukan. Adakah ini teori atau model yang terhasil daripada kajian? Atau working hyphotheses yang menunjukkan perkaitan antara beberapa angkubah yang terlibaht dalam phenomena kajian? Kajian ini tidak cuba memahami perkaitan antara angkubah dan ia juga bukan grounded theory yang dapat membentuk satu model yang baru. Perkaitan yang ditunjukkan mungkin boleh dijelaskan dalam bentuk working hyphotheses dan bukannya rangkakerja konsep yang baru. Cuba fahami pengertian rangkakerja konseptual.

7. Pastikan konvensen penulisan thesis mengikut bidang pendidikan dewasa ia itu APA edisi ke lima diikuti. Cara menulis rujukan, membuat kuatation, dan menulis number perlu mengikuti APA dan konsistent

Theme 1: How was their learning process like?

How was their learning process like?
SDL is a process as viewed by Caffarella. In the context of breast cancer, a survivor goes through a typical process consists of the followings:
-Coping with the results
-Seeking information about treatments
-Preparing for personal life changes

-Coping with the results
After getting much suspicion about some signs of lump in their breasts, they start to seek information. Their sources of informations are family members, relatives, friends, doctors and internet. After the signs that they have match with what are suggested by the sources of information, they take the initiative to see doctors in order to confirm their suspicion.

Seven of the participants were mentally prepared to face the news that they were diagnosed with breast cancer. Examples of their reactions:
1. Hanim said she did not break down because she had knowledge about it before and prepare to accept the news.
2. Karima was told that the result was positive on one breast, but that does not mean she was going to die. She was prepared to accept the news.
3. Nora was told to get her partner to accompany her to the doctor's visit but she did not think that it is necessary. She said that she would still be okay to hear the result.

Some emotional moments were experienced by two participants, Rina and Thanam.
1. Rina cried in doctor's room when the doctor broke the news.
2. Thanam went 'blank' when she was told of the result. She was thinking about how her situation was going to affect her two children, she kept asking "Why me?".

-Seeking information about treatments
Seeking for information is the first thing that they did in order to learn more about their disease. For example,
1. Swee Lan did not wait any longer, she asked her doctor what she should do.
2. Nora went to the bookshop and start buying relevant books on cancer.
3. Hanim, having her third month of pregnancy, browsed internet to get information on how her situation affect her yet to be born baby.


-Preparing for personal life changes

THEME SUMMARISED

How was their learning process like?
Coping with the results
Seeking information about treatments
Preparing for personal life changes

Why did they learn?
The need to ascertain information
The need to understand how to cope with the disease
The need to help other patients and survivors to learn

How did they learn?
-What were their learning activities?
- What sources did they draw upon?
Reading (books, other printed materials, and internet articles)
Talking to others (consulting doctors and asking other survivors)

What challenges did they face?
Emotional effect of exposure to information
Concern about reliability of information

What were the learning outcomes?
Being able to make informed decisions
Gaining personal understanding of the situation
Spiritually inspired
Concern about other patients and survivors

3. What have you done that merits a PhD? What have you accomplished in your research? In one your sentence, what is your thesis?

What have you done that merits a PhD?
My investigation provide insight and understading to phenomenon of SDL in Malaysian context.

What have you accomplished in your research?
I have completed an investigation ...

In one sentence, what is your thesis?
My thesis is

2. Summarise your key findings? What are your main findings?

My findings can be summarised into four: the learning process, the motivations, the strategies, the challenges and the outcomes.
The key findings are the learners learn as they need to ascertain information about their diisease, they need to understand, and they need to help others. Theere were two main strategies used: by reading from various sources and talking to doctors and other survivors. In the course of their learning, the challenges that they faced were in terms of emotional effects of exposure to information and the reliability of information that they received.

1. What is the area you wish to be examined?

My research focus on self-directed learning of Malaysian women with breast cancer. My are is located under the discipline of adult learning where self-directed learning is an important component. My wish is to expand knowledge base of SDL in Malaysian breast cancer context as there have been a dearth of published data in teh inquired area.

Viva questions

1. What is the area you wish to be examined?
2. Summarise your key findings? What are your main findings?
3. What have you done that merits a PhD? What have you accomplished in your research? In one your sentence, what is your thesis?
4. Would you briefly summarise your research effort?
5. Can you highlight the major contribution that your thesis make? What have you done that merits a PhD? A PhD research is supposed to be a contribution to the literature. What is your contribution? What are the contributions (to knowledge) of your thesis? What contribution to knowledge does your PhD thesis make?
6. Who in your area of study would agree with your findings? Why? Who would disagree? Why?
7. What areas of further research did you uncover?
8. Where could you publish your findings to reach the audience that could profit from your work?
9. How did you reduce biases and prejudices?
10. What additional work you plan to undertake as a result of your study?
11. What did this exercise in research teach you?
12. How do you intend to use your findings?
13. What is original about your work? What is your original contribution?
14. How would you describe your methodology, and why did you decide to use this? Why have you done it this way?
15. How have you evaluated your work? How do you know that your approach is correct?
16. What do you think the weakness of your research methodology?
17. What are the alternatives to your approach? Looking back, what might you have done differently?
18. How did your research emerge? What are the motivations for your research? Why is this problem you tackled worth tackling?
19. You discussed further work in your conclusion chapter, who long do you think it would take to implement and what are the problems envisaged?
20. What do you plan to do next? What do you see this kind of research moving in the future, what are the openings?
21. What have you gained from your research approach? What does your result mean?
22. What have you learned from the process of doing your PhD?
23. Has your topic changed during the course of your research? How has your view on your research topic changed during the course of your research?
24. What are the three most important papers / references in your research?
25. What are the major developments in your area of study? What is the current industry state in perceiving the problem you investigated? Is your field going in the right direction?
26. Any ethical issues relating to your research?
27. How does your research contributions generalise, and to what extent it would be significant to the bigger scenario? How does your system cope with bigger examples? Are your findings likely to be found in other sectors, for example?