The feedback is appreciated guys - I'll let you know what I finally come up with!

Hi,

I was wondering if anyone else approaching the end of their second year at the end of the summer is similarly lost in everything they've gathered with no idea how to even start managing the information? My PhD is in the social sciences and what I have is a lot of interview notes (taking from recordings), piles of papers/speeches/other literature and a title (amazingly) which captures exactly what I want to say. The problem is the volumes of the material and the need to structure it in such a way that I know what I have and where it fits into the big picture (I've tried different ways of structuring it digitally into folders etc but always end up with things that can end up in multiple places, getting frustrated and given up before the job is even half done). The biggest piece I've written was my Masters dissertation 20,000 words which no longer seems like an epic achievement and the idea of doing something 5 times the size has started to cause a few panicky moments . I'd really love to hear some thoughts on where to go from here. Pick a chapter and dive straight in or be more methodical about data management. The best idea ive come up with so far is to try a write out a list of claims/hypotheses that I want to test and then to go through all my material and see what stands up and what doesnt....

Anyone know of any good sites which gather together information on travel awards and grants? I'm looking to apply for some monies to help with my field work next year.

Cheers,

thephder

Hi people,

Just wondering if anyone here has experience with backing up NVIVO. I just got NVIVO 9 and having loaded a ton of data into it I'm now worried about losing it. I have an external hard drive for back things up on but wasn't sure what files I need to back up. Is it just the project file or all the source files as well?

Thanks

-thephder

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1468-2486.2011.01057.x/abstract

Watson, S. (2011), Securing the Practical Turn in Constructivist Theory. International Studies Review, 13: 532–534

I can only get access to this Journal up to 2005 :(

just sending you an email now

This is great Ady, thanks so much

Can anyone recommend some good literature on undertaking semi-structured qualitative interviews? I'm particularly interested in how to best develop questions for this kind of interview.

Cheers (up)

I was just wondering if it is acceptable to justify my choice of case studies for my PhD on the basis that I don't have the resources to travel extensively. I have a choice of around 8 locations, all of which would be suitable for what I'm trying to do. I can narrow those 8 down to 3 on the basis of added value in terms of the type of data I would get. I would love to look at all three but that's not going to be possible. Of those, two are on the other side of the Atlantic while one is in Europe. I'm leaning towards the European one because I'll be making short week/fortnight long trips once a month and need to make every hour count. Going to Europe means i) cheaper travel, ii) no jet lag. Beyond that I'm really struggling to think of reasons why I should go there and not to one of the destinations across the pond.

Any thoughts/experiences with this kind of decision making?

Hi all,

I was just looking for some advice regarding a presentation I have to give next week. It's only 5 minutes and basically I need to offer an overview of my PhD thesis as it currently stands (which it doesnt since I'm only just coming to the end of my first year). What I have are ideas, good ideas I like to think and its going to be at least 6 months before they are published. However, I've just prepared a quick presentation (they wants slides and a poster ugh ... for 5 minutes!!?...nvm) and tbh it all looks pretty dry with the good stuff filtered out. Since its only 5 minutes I can easily skirt around stuff that I don't want to talk about ... the question seems to be do I try to give an engaging talk that gets people interest, or do I remain cagey, give a brief run down of the basics from my original phd proposal and a few bits that I have published already?

Any thoughts/experiences? I'm naturally a sharer but in the last year that's been drummed out of me by other phd students telling me to be extra careful with what I say. But I dont want to miss the opportunity to impress as this often leads to other opportunities.

Hey Hiccup - I have my own annual review coming up and am basically in a similar process of compiling info on everything I've done over the last year, everything I want to do next year, and a written piece of about 8-10,000 words with the aim of having it a) published in a journal and b) forming the core of my theory chapter.

As for the last 12 months I've had a paper published, done two presentations, attended numerous methods and skills courses (mandatory ugh), attended as many workshops/conferences related to my area as possible, read a reasonable amount of literature (no idea how much but probably not enough to be enough, but more than enough to be relatively unconcerned about what I need to catch up on) which I've written papers about (both around 8000 words), not for publication but will eventually form a substantial part of the literature review. I also work part-time in a job where i've been able to develop a lot of transferable skills (fieldwork, research, workshop organisation, presentations etc) so what i've lacked in terms of academic output I've made up for in all around development as a researcher.

Sounds like I've had an extra four months on you - and DONT be panicked by subjective experiences. And as for feelings of paranoia I'm pretty convinced (enough to have sleepless nights) I'm the same - not working hard enough, not reading enough, not writing enough - seems to be the feeling for all first year students. Aside from trying to work a little harder, read a little more and write a little more the only other thing I can think to do is hope that I'm not one of the few who "really" isn't doing enough.

Good to see another first year phd student here!

I'm not speaking from a position of great experience here, so hopefully some 'older' heads will respond as well but if my supervisor came to me and asked for all my notes and references so that he could write a paper I would be a bit concerned. I'll give you my own contrasting experience to put this against:

Earlier this year my supervisor suggested that we co-write a paper. He basically threw down a thousand words or so and asked me to run with it for a while. That meant time in the archives, as well as a few interviews, for me etc but I happily shared my notes and observations because it was established from the start that we were doing this together - there was a clearly something in it for both of us. As it happened my supervisor insisted that I be put down as the lead author on the paper in recognition of my efforts.

What he brought to the table was a vast wealth of experience in the subject area that helped to fine tune some of the things that I had written as well as make sure things I hadn't thought of were included. Even more valuable was the fact that it meant his name was alongside mine - I'm sure the paper has been more widely read because of his name rather than mine. All in all the whole process was an enjoyable and valuable experience.

Given what you have written above I don't think you're being paranoid to be concerned about this - what I would do though is have a conversation with your supervisor to establish exactly what you are getting out of this - if you are named as a co-author then it might be worth it just because it might help to get you noticed more for what sounds like very little extra effort if he's going to write it and put your name on it (though if you feel that the paper would be strong enough without your supervisor's input this is obviously irrelevant).

Really though I think you would be best off talking with your supervisor about how this paper can be turned into a truly collaborative piece.

Thanks Batfink I really appreciate the reply. Your account is pretty accurate of what I've been going through although I have known all along what the thrust of the paper is I just haven't been able to express it on paper. The frustration seems to be coming from the fact that I feel it should be easy to write and it just isn't. I don't even think it's a lack of understanding the subject (a problem I've had in the past) because I can talk to someone who is not an expert about it and explain it quite clearly. But I definitely take on board what you are saying about starting with a blank piece of paper. I have about 18,000 words (twice what I need) saved across various documents and now feel compelled to find a way to force them into the essay just because I've written them, even though actually they don't fit with the purpose of the paper.

Anyway I feel I've had a bit of eureka moment this evening which hopefully means I'm getting somewhere. Unfortunately it won't make direct use of most of what I've written - I guess I just need to remind myself that the hours I've already invested in writing those 18,000+ words were not wasted as they have been spent thinking hard about what I want this paper firstly, to be about and secondly, to achieve.

Thanks for the pick-me-up (up)

Argh, this is probably going to be a rant more than anything but a rant is what I need. I'm frustrated with myself because I have to write a 10,000 word paper for my annual review -- due next month. I've written about a third of it so far but have been disrupted by a vacation (actually that wasnt a disruption because I felt good coming back to it) and a work trip across the atlantic which nackered me out, and left me with a chest infection which I'm only just recovering from. In two weeks I go off for another 8 days to a summer school which will leave me with one week to go when I get back. I therefore essentially have 3 weeks to write this paper (i've done pretty well all the reading I need to), minus a few days where I have to work (job). Thats effing ages I know but the paper is proving really difficult to write as I'm trying to do something original and very theoretical. I'm having sessions where I'm writing about 1000 words, then deleting virtually all of it, getting pissed off and then going off and doing something completely unrelated to my phd for an hour or two. I then come back and repeat. This is a ridiculous cycle to be in. I think I kid myself into thinking that by doing something unrelated for a few hours I'll come back fresh for another stab but its just not helping. All its doing is wasting time that could be spent on other stuff that I need to do (i.e. preparing other elements for the annual review, preparing for two presentations that I also need to give next month, or starting to do some reading for a book chapter I've been asked to write). All in all my complete inability to nail this paper is preventing me from doing anything productive! I either need some good advice or a kick up the arse.