The document discusses preparing for a PhD confirmation seminar. It describes revising presentation slides to improve linkages between topics, provide more methodological details, and reduce the number of slides. Sample slides are included to demonstrate how the author addressed issues like linking contexts, explaining the sampling method, and justifying the research question. The author learned to fix problems, view the seminar as a learning process rather than an exam, and get feedback from others to best prepare for the confirmation seminar.

1. Sharing Experience
Preparing for
Confirmation
Seminar
By
Yenny Tjoe
PhD Candidate
Griffith Business School
International Business & Asian Studies
Y.Tjoe@griffith.edu.au
27/03/2013 CEPH PhD Meeting 1

2. “I want to learn and
make it better”
27/03/2013 Yenny Tjoe, CEPH PhD Meeting 2

3. What I needed to fix
Power Point Slides:
• From Introduction until Methodology
• No linkages between contextual fields
• No details about sampling and data collection
methods
• Too many slides
Time management:
• Spent more than 30 minutes Image: www.collegeparent101.com
27/03/2013 Yenny Tjoe, CEPH PhD Meeting 3

4. fix the problems
(5 days to confirmation seminar)
48 Slides reduced to 31 (plus 10 hidden slides)
Important improvement:
1. Linkages between contextual fields:
State one sentence to provide a good transition from
one contextual field to the other
2. Methodology part:
Sampling method rationale
Step-by-step data collection analysis method
27/03/2013 Yenny Tjoe, CEPH PhD Meeting 4

5. Methodology – Data Collections & Rigor
Primary Data: Secondary Data:
- Quantitative • BMKG
• Survey Research (Meteorological, Climatological &
 Household Demographic profiles, Geophysical Agency)
food storing, livelihood activities
 Size: 200 Households per village • Local Weather
(daily temperature & monthly precipitation)
- Qualitative
• Observation
 Focus group discussion Before
 Field Observation
Strategies to improve the validity and reliability of this research:
•test the level of correlation between variables using Statistical correlation
•cross-check (triangulation)  village head, local community leaders and teachers
•recording with tape recorder (focus groups)
•taking field notes
27/03/2013 Yenny Tjoe, CEPH PhD Meeting 5

6. Methodology – Primary Data
Quantitative Data Collection Method N = 400 households (200 per village)
Household Survey Adopted WHO Immunization Coverage Cluster
Survey Method (WHO 2005)
Before Survey:
Pre-Test Questionnaire  Training Research Assistants  Conduct Survey
Random Walk Methodology
Before Analysis: (WHO 2005, UNICEF 2008)
Remove Outlier  Conduct Reliability & Validity Test
Data Analysis:
 Livelihood Vulnerability Index After
 Probit Analysis  Stata Statistical Software
Qualitative Method Observation & Learn
(Argyris and Scho 1996)
Focus Group Discussion
(Goff, Gregg, & May 2001; Sankaran 2005) - Identify collective norms
(Friedman & Rothman 2001)
A group: 4-5 members
- Generate information
Women; Teachers; Religious Leader
(success & failure in coping with drought)
Recognize community needs
27/03/2013 - Create model 
Yenny Tjoe, CEPH PhD Meeting “problem reference”(Harris 2001) 6

7. Fix the problems… (Continued)
3. Research Question Part:
Recall from the literature which leads to the decision to ask this
particular question
c. Is there any relation between the perspectives of extreme dry weather
condition and the coping and adaptation of subsistence communities?
“Adaptive pathway to environmental stress may be related to how
people interpret the causes of such changes.
For subsistence group, to cope is to maintain important resources for
food, spiritual, and cultural needs.
Their ability and driving force of adaptation may be explained by their
needs to maintain a particular resource”
27/03/2013 Yenny Tjoe, CEPH PhD Meeting 7

8. Adaptive pathway of Subsistence Communities
Perspectives on the causes of drought and land degradation:
• “God’s plan”, “This is the end of the world”  may take no action
(Harrison 1987; Setiawan 2007)
• Relate the degradation to the absence of a livelihood resource
- Lack of animal (manure) for cultivated space
(Case: Malian subsistence communities combine herding & farming (Crane 2010))
Cope is to maintain important resources for:
- Food needs
- Social & Spiritual needs (Callaway 1999; Thornton 2001)
- Cultural identity (Crane 2010; Colombi 2012)
Image: http://www.geographical.co.uk/magazine/lembata_-_aug_10.html
My Confirmation Seminar PPT, 6/March/13, Slide No. 30
27/03/2013 Yenny Tjoe, CEPH PhD Meeting 8
http://are.berkeley.edu/courses/EEP151/current/peasant.jpg

9. On the day of Confirmation Seminar
Image: http://www.instant.ly/blog/2013/03/4-
unexpected-strategies-for-understanding-your-
Image: ethnicwords.blogspot.com
Know your audience
customers/
Introduce yourself briefly and thank the people
for coming to the seminar
Have a small talk with them (Assessor, HDR
Convenor)
27/03/2013 Yenny Tjoe, CEPH PhD Meeting 9

10. Summary: Preparing for Confirmation Seminar
• Show your PPT slides to others:
- PhD meeting
- Your colleagues, partner, friends
(who support you all the way)
• Be flexible  fix it (change it when necessary)
• Change your mindset
“This is a learning process” instead of
“This is an examination”
27/03/2013 Yenny Tjoe, CEPH PhD Meeting 10

11. Image: www.collegeparent101.com
Image: www.thehistoryblog.com
27/03/2013 Yenny Tjoe, CEPH PhD Meeting 11