Hey! I think it would be really good to be the first author if possible, especially if you're confident about your ability to write the paper. Could you possibly suggest to your sup that you would very much like to have a go at drafting the paper yourself, but would appreciate his help and feedback? If you have written the paper yourself then you should get first authorship, even if your sup has looked over a few drafts and provided feedback. And of course it would give you a good chance to get experience of writing papers as well. Best, KB

Done! You're lucky, just finished my PhD so plenty of time for distractions! Good luck with it, KB

Of course! I think I'm still gonna feel like a PhD student for a long time anyway! Best, KB

I passed my viva with minor corrections on 10th August 2011. My PhD was in clinical psychology (Alzheimer's disease). The viva was probably the hardest two hours of my PhD, but I was delighted with the result. Due to start a post-doc in bipolar disorder research at a different university next month. Thanks to everyone on the forum, you've been amazing! KB

Hey! I think two hours is fairly standard really- I know plenty of people who have had both longer and shorter vivas. Would love to say that time flew, but it didn't! My PhD was on Alzheimer's disease (from a clinical psychology perspective). Am just about beginning to unwind! Best, KB

Thanks everyone! It really hasn't sunk in yet, I still feel really wound up and stressed! The viva was really really hard, and I honestly came out of it fearing the worst. The external examiner was firm but fair, but the internal was a nightmare- really hard work and slightly rude/inappropriate in my opinion. But the changes are minimal, and hey, who cares now!

Yes, Catalinbond, 2 yrs 10 months from beginning to viva! But I've been very lucky with participant recruitment and my supervisor has been extremely efficient in turning drafts around, which has been a massive help!

Off abroad for a friend's wedding for a few days now, can't wait to have a change of scene and a chance to wind down!
Best, KB

Hey all!

After a two hour viva I passed my PhD this afternoon with minor corrections (about 3-4 sentences to add, 4 week deadline)! Am absolutely exhausted- the viva was actually really tough, I was absolutely delighted to get the result though!

Off to celebrate now- thanks everyone for all of your support- it has meant a lot to me over the last 3 years and of course I'll still be on the forum for a long time to come!

Best KB

Thanks all- she will just have to wait for what she wants I think!

I am pretty much done with the viva prep now and planning to have a chilled out evening. My viva is at 2.30pm if everything runs to plan. My external is only due to arrive at the uni at 1.45pm and I'm nervous about her train being late/cancelled etc, especially because she's coming from a city where the riots over the last few days have meant some train stations have been closed (not London, but another city that's been affected). So I guess I will have a result by late afternoon or early evening, will post as soon as I can!

Feel strangely calm...guess the nerves will kick in big style tomorrow.
Thanks everyone for all your support. Best, KB

Wow, Slowmo, you've been busy! I felt absolutely nothing after handing my thesis in last week. Nothing at all. I guess it's different because I have my viva so soon afterwards, but I sort of handed it in, went to my interview, have been preparing for the viva, and I have just felt the same all the way through. Calmer than I thought I would be but an ongoing nervous feeling in my stomach and throat, and it's been there for about 7 weeks now without a break. I am also sleeping loads, about 11 hours a night at the moment! Obviously if I had to be at work I would make myself get up, but at the moment I'm just letting my body/head get the sleep it seems to need. So I think it's pretty normal... if you have time then go do something fun, get the sleep you need, and you will recover! Best, KB

Hey! I have just finished writing up...it is a hard process. I would send her something to make her laugh. The most I've laughed over the last few weeks was when an old neighbour of mine (who moved away about a year ago, but who I'm still in touch with) sent me a pressie out of the blue- it was a voodoo doll of my supervisor, complete with pins! I think a good chuckle is good for the soul, so I'd go with something funny! Best, KB

Arrrgh, the woman will not leave me alone!

So she's hacked off that I'm moving away, she's made that pretty obvious. But I just got an email (I'm about 36 hours away from my viva!) with a list of things I need to do...things she needs copies of (by Wednesday for some bizarre reason- the day of my viva), telling me to clear my office out in the next fortnight, that my email is about to be cut off, that she wants a copy of another paper I've been working on (again, by Wednesday), and a whole load of other things that need doing. Okay- I get it, I need to clear off and tie things up properly. But does she really need to email that to me now, of all times?!! Couldn't it have waited for another two days until after my viva? It's almost like she is trying to stress me out!

On the plus side, this should be my last ever whinge :) because the viva might well be the last time I see her!

Grrrrr. Evil to the last! KB

[quote]Quote From sneaks:

for me - a MASSIVE bag of maltesers. Although unfortunatley I'm on a diet :-(
quote]

That made me laugh Sneaks- my boyf came round yesterday and he asked what I wanted him to bring me (he always brings me a pressie bless him) and I said Maltesers! He brought 2 big boxes round and I've been scoffing them all day! The best viva-prep food ever! KB

Hey Hailey! The type of sampling depends on how you are going to choose the 30 or so companies. Are you planning to use a particular method to choose which of the companies you're going to include? Whether your study is quantitative or qualitative doesn't really depend on the type of sampling you use- it's more to do with the type of data you have/are going to collect. For example, interview data is often analysed using a qualitative approach, whereas questionnaire data is often analysed statistically and that would usually be a quantitative approach. That's only a very simplistic answer- there are exceptions. Any decent stats book should have a discussion of these queries! Best, KB

Hey! There's no set number- it depends on what type of research you are doing and how broad your research questions are. In my thesis introduction I outlined 5 broad research questions, but within those questions there were another 3-4 specific questions that were outlined in the individual chapters. I don't know what subject you're in, but in the sciences it's common to aim for about 3-4 results chapters, so you need to think about what results you will have and how you will report them! Best, KB

Hey again Buzzy! I really feel for you. I've seen another person on the same team as me suffer with health problems (depression) and she's been treated appallingly by my sup and the department as a whole (from what I know of the situation- of course there may be more to it than meets the eye). I suffer from quite severe health problems at times too but have been well-supported through my studies- without the support I've had I wouldn't have been able to complete my PhD. You're in a really tough situation, but can you imagine keeping such a big secret for however long it would take you to finish? and also relying on someone else to keep their trap shut? You'd be under an awful lot of pressure and I honestly think that eventually it would come to light...academia is a small world. I agree you need a decent supervisor and it sounds like that definitely isn't the one you've got, but I think it needs to be legit. Of course, I'm not in your situation and I take on board that you can't talk about this with your sup. Could you talk to anyone else (chairperson/head of PhD studies) about having this person as an external supervisor? In one sense it sound slike things couldn't get much worse with your existing supervisors, so would it matter that much if they were hacked off? How long do you have left of your PhD? Best, KB