JenniOne I agree that this is a great post. Nice to hear from someone who has had substantial difficulties yet managed to overcome them. Sometimes I am a little concerned that posts on this forum overrepresent the downsides of undertaking a PhD but yours is truly uplifting.

You deserve to be very proud of yourself. In fact go buy yourself some more cake..!

Dafydd

======= Date Modified 26 Jan 2012 11:02:57 =======
Watching Masterchef where 'Quantum Physics PhD' student is competing has got me wonderering, if you were not pursuing your current pathway through a PhD what could you be doing?

Me, I might pursue a career as a boat skipper. I have a yacht masters ticket but am cursed by a wife and daughter with horses so there is no time or money to keep up sailing as a hobby. But in a parallel universe I could jack it all in and take the family out to sea....

I tried to complete the survey as i allways do but not all the images were displaying for me. I am viewing using Safari as a browser on an iPad if this helps. I have not had this problem with surveys before.

I agree with DrJeckyl. A conference paper is more of an extended abstract and whilst it will have been through the organising committee it does not have the depth in content or in the peer review process.

I have had two papers presented at conferences (one from the podium and the other as a poster) that have subsequently had big overlap with papers accepted for publication in journals.

I am preparing my major review (upgrade) document and in this have to explicitly state the 'aims' of my thesis. A collegue went through a whole lot of pain when she was less than clear in the document and again when she had to face the upgrade panel. So it may be that depending upon where you are in the PhD process there is a need to develop a clear vision of what you are going to research.

I thought I knew at the start clearly what I was looking at but this then became murky but has resolved into something else which is less clear but the reasons for this lack of sharp focus are well understood.

Shahrani,

I have mine due in (called a major review at my institution) at the end of January, should be end of year one but as I am part time it is year two. We have a suggested format although we can change it if we like. I am very happy to share the template if it would help but would suggest you see if you have something at your Uni first.

I am looking into conducting a Stroop test and am hoping someone out there in PhD land will know if there is available some software or a an online resource that will enable me to set this up.

Nicely presented questionnaire.

Older male just completed it so hope this helps your generalsability.:-)

Thought I would post an update incase it was helpful to someone else's study.

Over the first two weeks of data collection 3 subjects had agreed to participate in my study (20 meeting study criteria had been asked). The invitation was asked after patients had completed a web based pre-examination form prior to attending a community based physical therapy service.

I changed the procedure so patients were invited to the study prior to the pre-examination questionnaire. This change alone has significantly increased the response rate and in the last two weeks a further 19 patients meeting entry criteria have been invited - only now half have accepted so we have an additional 10 subjects.

So it looks like I am back on track with the anticipated recruitment rate with no need for inducement :)

I have been asked to assist with an undergraduate BSc during which the final year students have to produce a ten thousand word research project. I am encouraging the course leaders to allow the inclusion of qualitative projects which is taking them out of their comfort zone (no bad thing!).

Is anone aware of a simple guide to framework analysis suitable for very novice researchers? Everything I have is inappropriate for them.

Thanks

Dafydd

I would echo Lazyjane. Use chart where it best illustrates your data but stick to numeric presentation of statistical data for the most part.

Unless your university provides free Qualitiative software you might like look at dedoose which is web based and because you pay for it by the month appears to work out much cheaper than other options.

In answer to a question I sent I was told that you can drop your subscription at any point but then pick it up and all your data etc is retained so you can restart analysis.

My field is healthcare research from a psychological slant so it is interesting to hear that inducements are not unusual.

Taking the helpful comments of those posting here (nice to see you got your first star Mariannechua!) alongside other reading I think it will be appropriate to continue to collect data from those taking part without an inducement (four recruited over last two weeks compared to projected ten) and then in a few months see if a faster data collection rate is going to be needed.

This way if I do offer inducements I will be able to compare statistically the responses from the non induced vrs induced participants and discuss the possible meaning of any differences.

Healthpsych,

If the doctorate you are considering is one of the partially taught ones as opposed to a more traditional route PhD then I would not worry at all about the stats or quantitive vrs qualitative methodology. These courses contain taught components that will help bring you up to the required level of competence. They are every bit as valid as a PhD but more focused on a skill set for a particular career path.

As to the qualitative vrs quantitive arguments - both absolutely have their place if understood and are equally rigourous. If you take a pragmatic stand point it depends upon the question you are trying to answer. If your ontology is different then you will tend to lean towards one or the other.

Good luck with whatever route you choose.

Dafydd

======= Date Modified 05 Jun 2011 19:47:35 =======
Awing,

The short answer in my experience would be yes you can take a masters dissertation topic into your PhD. This is what I have done.

However a PhD is very different, it is not just a bigger more in depth investigation than a masters. The process of applying for a PhD and then the early years work will help shape your questions and like many on this forum I have found that what I am working on now is not what I anticipated when I started 18 months ago.

There are big advantages in taking the masters work forwards, not least a familiarity with the literature.

Good luck with your applications.

Dafydd