Hi ya folks
im two years in and just realised that i have made a fundamentle error in one of my calculations. I have had a paper published using this error in my equations and no one spotted it. My question is should i keep quiet and hope no one notices, as its been missed up to yet and include the error in my final thesis in the hope my examiners will also miss it. Or should i come clean change my last two years worth of work which will probally take a couple of months. I know its bad science to carry on ignoring it, just feel like im not bloody worth a PhD after making and missing such a simple mistake.

if its not too obvious i would chance it and after i graduate, write a paper revising the method. or simply do the corrections now - whatever makes you happier. all it does is change your completion date?

I am not in your field, therefore take my advice only as a suggestion based on personal experience. I can imagine that the prospect of an extra couple of months revising your work can be daunting. However, you have been very lucky to spot it before submission. There is nothing wrong by admitting a mistake, there are no supermen or wonder women around. I would take the chance to make the changes now, or it could be more difficult later or even jeopardise the results of your viva. Are you prepared to take the risk?

Hello- I'm not science based so maybe things are very different from what I imagine. But if you finish the thesis, based on flawed (fundamentally) equations and so evidence/results, then hand it in, wouldnt it be a bit of a nightmare if someone did notice it and challenged you at the Viva about it? Plus, as youve noticed that it is a mistake/innaccuracy at this stage, wouldnt that sort of spoil the satisfaction of completing a thesis (i.e. you would have a thesis with fundamentally flawed data in it)? Hope I havent misunderstood, but hope you manage to make the right decision for you...

Not meaning to dismiss what Vince has said, but forget about 'satisfaction' gained from writing your thesis. The bigger risk is ... if your extern did pick up on this error, would it mean major rewrite!

Talk to your supervisor about this and take their lead (... I'd be inclined to make the changes now - if the supervisor says it's necessary - rather than falling down at the final hurdle!).

Take a deep breath and come clean, you'll sleep better in the long run. You can't go into a viva with this hanging over you. Far better that you confess yourself (to your supervisors and also publish an erratum relating to your paper) than be 'outed' by someone else. I do sympathise. How you handle this kind of thing can literally make or break your career so do the right thing and be honest. All best wishes.

well folks
I think I had already decided what to do before posting but most of you have come to the same conclusion as me im coming clean. I have a meeting with my supervisor this afternoon so ill see what he thinks first. Im just worried ill come across as not capable as i shouldn't have made such a silly mistake.

Thanks for the advice

Focus on your thesis, in thesis you can write the correct equation but publish corrections of the paper later. I guess that there are no rules how fast after dicovering your errors you have to publish corrections.

I agree with Ann and co. There's no shame in making a mistake, everyone (at least, everyone honest) will admit to making slip-ups. But knowing that there is a mistake and still publishing or submitting would not be good science - although I know it does happen, but you sound like too genuine a person to do that.

I had to re-do 600 samples once: the quality of my HPLC column had dropped so much that my results were irreproducible. Took 2 months but at least now I have some valid results, and also now know much more about validating methods, which will be useful in future.

no i did not publish the papaer knwing i ahd made the mistake its only just this mornignt hat i noticed.

Good luck this afternoon with your supervisor. We all make mistakes. Coming clean takes courage. Don't feel silly - I am sure others will respect you more for this in the long run. Best wishes!

I'm sure you must have heard the voices of reason on this forum so far Come clean and make the neccesary adjustments now than gamble and face the consequences later.

Keesha: so did you publish or not a paper with that error in equatio????In your first post you say you have published ut...confused...

yes its published

i think that if its published its not such a bad error - its just a difference in opinion that can be corrected/ improved later. thats me anyway!