Structured viva voce as an assessment tool during formative examinations in biochemistry among undergraduates

Assessment is a part of every step of professional growth. Conventional viva examination is subjective, non-transparent, and unstructured; it may be prejudiced. We evaluated the merits and desirability of using structured viva over traditional viva as an assessment tool for formative examinations in Biochemistry, and to obtain students' and faculty's perception of it.

The study was conducted in the Department of Biochemistry, J.N. Medical College, Belagavi, during the 2nd internal assessment examinations. Students were briefed about a structured viva. They were divided into 8 batches (25 students in each batch). Half of the batch gave a structured viva and the other half gave a traditional viva. Later, crossing over was followed. After the examination by both methods, students' performance was compared in both groups. The feedback was collected on a Likert scale from the students and faculty regarding the structured viva. Statistical analysis was done using Microsoft Excel and Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 21.

The overall scores for the structured and traditional vivas were 5.94 and 6.17, respectively. This shows that the scores are almost the same in both methodologies used in the study. More students got average (between 5 and 7) and high marks (7 and above 7) in the traditional viva. In contrast, more students got low marks (below 5) in the structured viva.

As the mean scores obtained by students using both methods were the same, we cannot conclude that the structured viva is a better assessment tool than the traditional viva. However, the method was perceived well by both the faculty and students. To support this pattern, a larger sample size than the one utilized would be required.