negative result in phd

S

can someone please throw some light on whether a negative result in ph.d deter the confering of degree?

M

I am not sure if I understand what you mean by 'negative result' (e.g. you might mean 'findings were the opposite of those expected' or 'findings were null'). Also, by 'deter the confering' I presume you mean 'fail'. But if your question is 'If I don't get the results I expected, will I fail my PhD', then answer is no, because the way the research was conducted and interpreted etc is generally of much more importance than the findings. Sorry if I am misunderstanding your question though.

S

Thank you for your prompt response. You got my question absolutely right.I am in a deep doubt as to whether I can proceed forward with my analysis. Thanks once again.

S

Sometimes proving something doesn't work is just as important as proving that it does - as long as your reasoning for doing the experiment and the way you conducted it is sound, then it certainly wouldn't mean automatic failure. One of the chapters in my thesis was about how I tried a certain practical technique and found it very challenging to get reproducible results. The conclusion of the chapter was basically explaining how I scrapped the technique and moved onto trying to predict the results from an algorithm instead. As long as there is a sound explanation of what didn't work, why and what implications this might have/what needs to be done next, then a negative result should not be an issue.

M

In Medicine, there is Journal of Negative Results in BioMedicine.
In Physics, Michelson won the Nobel Prize in 1907 for negative result in an interferometer experiment.

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