Cheers Wally

Yeah, I think some kind of incentive is the way to go, although strictly speaking if the females haven't been given an incentive and the males have then that could mean an effect on the experimental results... but pragmatically speaking I expect most experimenters ignore that, or vaguely refer to it in the discussion.

I am finding some participants rather uncouth. The last one kept taking calls on his mobile while he was looking at the stimuli... sigh

Still, it's marginallly better than working in a call centre as I once did. ;-)

Hi all

I'm in psych and collecting data for my dissertation. Having trouble getting the last 19 males. Have done the whole participation pool thing (where the first years get course credit), have done uni-wide intranet advertising, have put up posters, have used an undergraduate to recruit his friends. Just need to get the final 19 and am reduced to standing outside my building and soliciting males (!) Very undignified... am considering shorter skirts and more makeup - it's that bad. How can I get them in?

Thanks KB - we are both psychs so it's interesting to hear you have had a similar experience

I think I saw my MSc project as just a way of getting used to experimental design (I've come from the softer social sciences over towards biological psychology). I have received two As and a B for modules so far, so I am doing well. But because I haven't really been in the sciences for long I tend to mostly be getting my head around stuff, and I'm far slower to criticise things as I'm just trying to understand it in the first place!

But it's all part of the process I suppose. Usually when I have one of my mini-crises it motivates me to learn a lesson from it, so I'm just gonna have to do that. I suppose if you just write up what you have done to the best of your ability then you can't go too far wrong.

I don't want to be a
(turkey) !

Bug - I've been reading your posts and you need to send in a subtle intermediary. That way you need not lose your dignity. Being analytical means that even if you are heartbroken for a couple of days, hopefully you'll be able to think your way out of it and move on...

Eska - that is hilarious that you couldn't think of anything. The other day I was wondering what had been the "happiest moment of my life"(wish there was a little TM symbol). I couldn't think of anything in particular... But just because we can't think of cheesy 'moments' doesn't mean anything. Maybe the likes of us just make every moment of our lives brilliant/romantic!

Walminski - I like the idea of your baseball field method. I do tend to think that if you are doing your best to do things that make you happy, be it professionally, socially, hobbies, whatever, then you will naturally run into likeminded people because you are being yourself. But you must first of all be very honest with yourself about what it is that really makes you happy, even if it's weird!

Thanks Sue for your support - I am very grateful for it as I've been up all night worrying.

I think I saw my sup's excitement as an opportunity to jump on board a ready-made project (even if I didn't find it completely engaging). I did have some input in the early stages but then he just took it elsewhere and I stopped reading a lot, thinking I had the theoretical issues nailed (when I didn't) .

I suppose one good thing to come from it is that I won't ever be this passive again, and it's good to have discovered the perils of passivity during my MSc rather than during a PhD.

The next potential yawning chasm would be if I started to think that everything my supervisor-to-be said was correct instead - I'd just be substituting one of them for the other. No, I must figure everything out for myself on a case-by-case basis, as that's what true independence is all about. Thankfully the PhD project I have in mind is much more my own brainchild so I will probably feel more engaged with it. Best I can hope for with my current project is to indicate in the introduction the specificity of what we are looking at and to make the other recommendations in the discussion. C'est la vie!:$

Hey Sue

I don't know what your area of expertise is, but couldn't you rejoin the civil service for a bit and then think about consultancy or working for a campaigning organisation or something? Surely going back to square one permanently won't be necessary?

I empathise as my long-term day job is also uninspiring and (in my view) the sector where I work is going about things in totally the wrong way!

So I'm doing my MSc and am in talks with a potential PhD supervisor from another university. I was chatting to this person today about a potential research proposal and she asked conversationally what I was doing for my current dissertation. I explained it and she pointed out that it would have been really good to collect data on another important variable, something I haven't done. She kindly described this as "a mistake". I happen to think she's right, but it's too late now, nearly all the data's in.

This makes me feel upset as I have been going great guns on my MSc and now I can see a potential blot on the landscape. When thinking about my reasons for not collecting data on this important variable I have the following reflections:

I chose my MSc dissertation topic because I was interested in a certain phenomenon and my current supervisor ran with it, got excited and then linked it to something else he was interested in. He almost seemed to be saying that he wanted me to collect data on this thing he was excited about. If I had been more independent-minded I would have stayed a bit closer to the aspects of the phenomenon that I'm interested in. But faced with an excited supervisor and a project almost handed to me on a plate, I just lazily went for it and collected the data. I really do think my potential PhD supervisor is a better researcher than my current supervisor so I respect her opinion. If I had had greater interest in my dissertation topic then I would have done just that extra bit of reading and spotted this crucial necessary variable.

I feel this episode says something about my current lack of independence as a researcher and I regret just going with what was more or less handed to me. I wish I had questioned my current supervisor's judgement and not assumed he must know more than me and that it would all be alright. I feel that I have to learn to think more critically and I feel that this episode has exposed my shortcomings.

On the bright side, the potential PhD sup is interested in my proposal and wants to apply for funding together, and she has shown herself to be very astute and I know she will push me much more than the current guy. I think I've allowed myself to see this MSc far too much as 'training wheels', when, with an extra bit of effort I could have read more literature, seen this gap in what we were doing, and told my current sup that we should include the missing variable.

Having failed to collect data for this variable could, I think, take me down a grade for my dissertation, which is a shame as I was hoping that very good marks would help me with PhD funding.

Oh dear - must grow up as a researcher NOW

:-(

Cakeman I'm relieved you turned up!

(up)

I don't know enough about this, either. Is there a biochemist in the house?

I think that when people refer to the 'primordial soup', they mean a bunch of chemicals that were there at the time and might have been responsible for the beginning of life. Everything's made of carbon, isn't it? And you'd need water too...

I think there was also a famous experiment where they might have put some candidate chemicals in a flask to see if life began growing, but I don't remember what the results were.

Coo, this is like Conversations With The Ill-Informed Part 17...

Good Luck with your quest, Jinkim!

I really do want to enjoy it as I've always been enchanted by winter wonderlands. But we don't really have the infrastructure here for it. I bet if this standstill continues for too much longer it'll start affecting the economy. Then some politician will make a big speech about how life goes on, more rocksalt will magically be produced, and we'll all be told to pull our fingers out. I live in the south-east where it's not too bad, but in other parts of the country they can't really pull their fingers out, as the snow's too thick....

Anyone know if this is set to go on more than a couple more weeks?!?

I have always thought of myself as someone more suited to winter than summer, and I often fantasise about Scandinavia. However, I am really quite p***ed off with the snow's effects this last week.

I was really looking forward to the new term of my MSc, as I absolutely hate my day job - it makes me feel bored and rather lonely. But the first lecture was cancelled due to the weather. Not only that, but a related talk I was going to attend on Monday eve has been cancelled for the same reason, and last night my friends wouldn't come out because of the weather.

I really hate my job and I really love my studies and all things related to them - my studies let me hang out with like-minded people. But this weather means that none of the glorious perks of term-time have been available to me, and conversely, work has been 'business as usual'. Am saving myself from deep gloom by going to the local museum and reading stuff related to my course, but oh woe! when will it end?!? (down)(sprout)(down)

Hi there

Just in purely practical terms, a good way of dealing with procrastination is to work in short timed bursts with rewards in between. A really simple and well-used way of doing it is outlined here: http://www.pomodorotechnique.com/

There's even a short free e-book on it to download. You don't need the whole 'kit', just download one of the many timers available online. Then you can work in 25-min bursts with little breaks in between and just aim to accomplish a few of those per day, say 3 or 5 or whatever (or if you're feeling really barmy at the mo, just go for 1!). I find it takes the rumination out of procrastination :-) (up)

Hi Walminski

I've suffered from insomnia for about 15 years now. It waxes and wanes in tune with my overall life satisfaction. Also, I am in the terrible habit of ruminating on stuff overnight. The most valuable lesson I have learnt is that you can't really control your thoughts very well (it's very labour-intensive) but you can control your actions. So when you have difficult thoughts you can acknowledge they're there but try not to get too involved with them - just try to see them as if they were passing clouds. In those situations you can take positive action - you can get up and do something relaxing or at least phone a friend or something.

I fear this post is not coming across as too helpful, and perhaps rather simplistic. But I strongly relate to the stuff you have said about loneliness and insomnia and all of it, so you are not alone. I can recommend you a short, practical book if you want to PM me. Xmas is a mad time for everyone except the 0.07% of people who have perfect partner, family, life and bags of cash.

Take care, look after yourself.



(tree);-)(tree)

Well, let's see if she and I can manage to get funding first! I know quite a few people at some of the top universities and I don't think they understand why I would want to go anywhere lesser. But I'm quite a bit older than the average student and I think some of the 'new' universities can also be more understanding about those of us who might also have to work for a living - and also sometimes I think they have a better focus on applying the research, and on understanding how to communicate it to laypeople.

I also do agree that my friends' posh supervisors with loads of publications annually are probably largely running on the labour of their lab students... a scenario my potential sup is probably dreaming will happen to her in about 10 years' time! I'd like to help her achieve that goal because I believe our sub-field has something very important to offer to the wider discipline... I'm sold. (If we can get the ruddy funding.) (up)(sprout)(up):-x(up)

A 'poly', (correct me if I'm wrong, everyone), is an abbreviation for 'polytechnic'. These were institutions which granted more vocational degrees and were generally thought of as academically inferior to more established universities (which themselves are very varied in quality). In 1992 the then government decided to put polys on an equal footing with other universities so all their names were changed e.g. the Poly of Central London became Westminster University, etc. Arguably this has only been a cosmetic change and standards still differ wildly. I said 'arguably'. :p