Have you been wondering about the importance of putting in claims in your thesis and their importance? If yes, then your another concern would be that how important and relevant it is to support those claims with substantive arguments so that the reader is convinced. Well we can understand this further by reading the post.
Academic writing is largely meant to focus on making claims about the existing facts in the world. Whether your research is based on qualitative or quantitative data, the same holds true. Making a claim in your doctoral research over what is existing holds much value only when the reader is in of the opinion to accept the claim. Whenever your PhD, makes claims that are all together new or surrounded by any kind of controversy, it is justified for the reader to ask, why the claim should be accepted? You have to as a researcher give a good reason for the claim and give the significance that why the claim should be accepted. A justified reason has to be presented because of which the acceptance of claim should become comfortable for the reader. If your claim lacks a supporting argument then it becomes nothing more than an assertive statement that does not have substantial support for proving it. The claim that a PhD scholar makes for doctoral research, often does not satiate with a single argument and may need various steps or what we can call as layers of arguments. These different layers of arguments would also require conclusions, not just at the end but at intermediate level so that there is a gradual progression towards the final conclusion and linkages established at each stage. Remember that the final conclusion has to be the justified answer to your primary research question.
We can say it with surety that if your PhD lacks sufficient depth in arguments it would not be able to satisfy the examiner or the panel. The worthiness of a PhD depends upon its ability to argue upon the claims it puts forward. When you write your thesis, pay emphasis on giving reason for each claim that you make and why it should be accepted, I would rather also say that pay emphasis upon why are the contrary claims not worth accepting. This substance in your thesis is crucial and gives the unique content and distinctness to your thesis.