I feel a bit better about it all now. I had a chat with someone who I share one supervisor with and who started his PhD the same day as me, and it seems like we're both in a similarly frustrating place and are making similar amounts of progress, which has reassured me! I've come up with a brief plan for what I need to do next, I just need to think it through a bit more. But I'm tired now! Time to go home.

Hope you've all had good days!

Hi all

Good luck with the analysis chapters Button, it's something I'm not looking forward to writing myself.

I'm struggling to make progress today, feel like I'm just tinkering at the edges of my research rather than getting on with it. So maybe this afternoon I'll think about my analysis and plan out my next steps. And actually get on with it!

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Ha, data analysis isn't my favourite either. It just seems to take so long! Feels like I'm not making any progress, though I'm sure I am really. At least I hope I am - I'm hoping that I'll suddenly realise I'm way further forward than I thought I was!

My eyes are tired from squinting at SPSS all day, so I'm going to turn the laptop off and take a break, then do some reading (from printed stuff!) this evening.

Good luck with all the work! Lindalou, I know how you feel, but it sounds like you've achieved loads, so a well earned flop!

Hello everyone

Haha, Emmaki, I had a late start as well today, I set the alarm for 8 am but just couldn't get out of bed! Looks like a bit of a late night for me tonight to make up for it!

Today I'm carrying on with my data analysis, just ploughing my way through my list of things I need to test. I need to havew a proper think about the next stages of the analysis but I'm feeling really dopey today, don't know why, so I'll leave that til tomorrow I think.

Sorry, I tried too but no joy.

All my variables are now re-coded, so time to get on with some testing. Making reasonable progress today, despite being distracted by the wetness of my feet after getting caught in the rain this morning - I really need to buy some new shoes!

I put both my PhD supervisors as second/third authors on papers I write - they sort out between themselves the actual order they go in. They both read through and comment on papers I write, so they do contribute, but even where their contribution is minimal they would expect to be on my papers. Personally I think that's fair enough - they're guiding my development as a researcher so they are having an input into my papers, even if it's more indirect. I'm applied social science/psychology/environmental studies, very cross-disciplinary, and that means that neither of my supervisors are exactly in my field, but I think they'd be right to be a little offended if I didn't include them - it's not politics so much as recognition that they have a role in my work.

Morning everyone.

That does sound like a lot of planning, Button - I wouldn't have the patience for it, but it sounds like it works well for you! I do plan my writing, but not that in-depth, it tends to take me, say, a day to plan a chapter and then four or five days to write it (assuming I know what I'm going to say and don't need to go away and do extra reading as I go along).

Today, I'm going to blitz through some analysis stuff, in preparation for starting my exciting new (to me) stats technique. Goals:
1.) Re-code variables to allow for analysis
2.) Carry out analysis on re-coded variables
3.) Plan out what further analyses I need to carry out in the light of the findings
4.) If I have time, start writing up the results

I agree, it really does depend on the person and the job - and what you're comparing an academic career to. I was working for fifteen years in a variety of jobs before starting my PhD, and while I enjoyed some of those jobs more than others, they all had different stresses and different advantages. As far as I can see, no job is perfect, but academia at least has the potential to be interesting, and challenging, and engaging. And sure, there are better paid jobs out there, but there are also masses of jobs that are significantly worse paid. The hours might sometimes be long, but there's ways of organising your workload to reduce that. And there are other advantages too - I'm not likely to get death threats or be physically assaulted at work, or to be treated as a mindless little dogsbody too thick to have anything worthwhile to say, or to do something so meaningless that I want to gnaw my own arm off just to relieve the tedium of my existence - and that's all stuff I've felt in previous jobs! An academic career doesn't sound at all bad to me, you just have to be realistic about the reality of any type of employment.

Heh, yes, it does sound like you're all doing very well at the moment!

I've had quite a good day so far today, made progress on everything I was aiming to look at, and now I have a couple of hours to get on with some more data testing. Recoding my variables is taking longer than I wanted though! Oh well.

I would say accept the offers too. I was in a similar position - I was offered a place by one university but had to wait to hear about funding from them, and meantime had an interview and was offered a place with funding at another university. I verbally accepted both but when the funding offer from the first university came through I had to choose, and at that point I chose the first university and turned down the offer from the second. Both universities were fine with that - I'm still on good terms with the uni I didn't go to and am actually writing a paper with the person who would have been my supervisor there if I'd gone there. They understand about the financial situation. Just be honest about it and let them know your decision as soon as you can. Hope that helps!

ooh, congratulations, Dr Bond! That's great news. And the description of the viva is reassuring too!

Good morning everyone! I'm back after a week away from these boards - I was on a residential training course for a statistics technique for two days last week, then spent the rest of the week going back over the course notes and making sure I really understand the technique, as it looks perfect for my research.

Button and Lindalou, sounds like you've both made huge progess over the last week or so! And hello to the new faces on the thread too!

My goals for today:
1.) Continue thinking through the tests I need to run on my data before starting with the new technique
2.) Start running those tests
3.) Write an action plan for the next event to be run by the voluntary group I chair, before tonight's meeting - oops, should have done that before today!

Sorry, I tried but no subscription.

Hello everyone.

I slept in after a relaxing evening, must have needed it, so am only just starting work now. Oh well. Today I'm going through my notes on the statistical analysis techniques that I need to be familiar with before next week's stats training course. So today should be useful but hopefully not arduous, and then I'm meeting mates in the pub tonight. Perfect Friday!

Good luck with all today's targets!