In my pre-submission draft I had suggested that the evidence suggested 1 of 2 possible conclusions (both of which I've varyingly favoured over the years), but was told that I had to stick with one or the other when submitting my thesis (it's the application of a particular social science theory within a particular context). I asked for an opportunity to thrash-out the ideas before deciding on how to procede, but as my meeting were few & far between (1 year I only had 3!), they were mostly for admin. & my sup. never really discussed my ideas with me.

Before submitting my thesis I told my sup. that I had concerns over whether I would be able to defend the main conclusion that I ended up in my thesis, and that I felt I should revise my interpretation to the other alternative - but he told me not to bother, and be brave. Very uneasily, I submitted (time unexpectedly ran out, due to reg. change).

I requested mock viva, but he's been away most of the time since my submission, so this hasn't happened.

I've just finished re-reading my thesis, and (on stepping back from my thesis for a couple of weeks - never been able to do this before, as haven't had a holiday, evening, or weekend off since I began rewriting after my last leave of absence) feel that the main conclusion is indefensible. I feel the alternative argument that I in the end removed is more probable.

I've also finally been able to get hold of the paper by my extn. examiner's that crosses over with my field, and find that he demolishes the equivalent of my conclusion, but supports the one that I ended up removing

So I have to go into the viva being more sympathetic with him, with no hope of defending the thesis as I submitted it. Confidence was going to be pretty low, but now I'm wondering if I should even bother going :-(

Any advice on how I should handle this situation?

Hi there
I've not been in this situation myself, so I'm not sure if I can help much. The only thing I can think of is to take the viva for what it is, in that it is an opportunity to discuss your work with very experienced peers. If you can go in there and give valid reasons for the conclusion you decided upon in the end, then that is all you have to do.. Even if your external doesn't agree with it, if it's a valid and defensible conclusion then it should be ok, that's the nature of research after all. I think you should definitely say that you have considered other conclusions and do say that you seriously considered the other conclusion and give your reasons, but so long as you can give reasons for why you chose your final conclusion. At this stage, even if you don't entirely agree with it, just go in there, defend it logically as best you can, acknowledge that there are other conclusions and state clearly why you did not choose them. Of course you should go to your viva and do your best, the worst that can happen is they ask you to resubmit with your other conclusion I'd imagine, which is not as bad as not going and losing everything that you've worked for.

Good luck, trust in yourself and be brave (up)

Thanks Bilbobaggins

(For the moment) my crisis in confidence has subsided a little, having read this:

www.sussex.ac.uk/Users/dt31/download/phdviva.pdf

In formulating a key argument (that I'm now repeating as a mantra in order to memorise it for the viva), I realised that, although I'm none too comfortable with some of the assertions, I still agree with my overall conclusion, and feel that I've made a valuable contribution (I feel a bit brazen making such claims, but I guess I'd better get used to doing so for the viva!)

Cheers