Oh I thought I could PM with an attachment, but apparently not...

Yes, will send it to you.

I'm in Psychology / developmental communication - so related. I think if you do well in your Masters then your undergraduate background would in no way hinder your getting PhD funding.

14k is the stipend, I presume? I'd be depressed if I thought I was earning less now then I did when I left school!!! So maybe don't consider it a wage as such! It's like a student bursary or grant that you don't have to pay back...
Anyway, sorry for the ramble! If you are eager to keep working and actually earn then perhaps you could see what is out there in terms of engineering jobs that tick the boxes? If you look at some job specs that look good, begin to write some applications, and then start to think that you can't bear the thought of not working in academia/the university setting, then maybe that will help you make your decision.

Arg... it's just too hard! I need to do a lot of editing at home. Guess I could do the work and then edit it at uni. Just won't work when I'm less organised... ! Microsoft is useless! I might give Open Office a whack and see what happens when I open that in my various versions of Word.

Hello,
Does anyone have any advice about saving in Word and opening document using another Word version (eg. when I send drafts to supervisors). It seems that figures are in the wrong place, disappear altogether etc. V stressful. Don't want to convert to PDF. Any advice?
Cheers

I think it is the norm. That person will be putting in loads of work and making it publishable. You could try talking openly about it to see if something can be negotiated - like you do it instead.

I see. Makes sense. : )

Thanks Zutterfly. I have just written a section on recruitment! Thankfully my participants are only seen once, not longitudinally. But I need a fairly large sample from a hard to reach group - so it is indeed a challenge.

The participatory approach sounds very good - did that improve uptake in your study? (Hard to judge I suppose since you changed to it fairly early in?)

As I was reading that, a lightbulb appeared above my head and I thought: case study! If my group comparisons aren't telling me what I thought they would, I could look more in depth at some of the video data I have collected. Thank you for sharing!

I'm sort of brainstorming now, so if anyone else has an experience to share, please do!

Hi all

I wondered if you could offer an example of where you got results you weren't expecting and so changed your research plans, or where you anticipated some unexpected (!) results and had a nice plan in place about what to do next. Sorry for the vagueness of this question. I am writing my first year continuation report, and it has a section for contingency plans. I am struggling to think outside the box, so any advice appreciated (will speak to sups later too).

Thanks!

Your theory is probably right!!!!!!!!

In my Masters most people began their proposal and conducting research earlier on in the year. Then the last 3 months were spent frantically still collecting data, analysing, and writing up.

I just wonder why your supervisor is even suggesting that option. Do you have a particularly ambitious protocol? Or have you struggled in the past? It does seem quite normal to be doing your dissertation in that time. I think it meant to be rushed/stressed/full of coffee by nature! Most important question - can you see yourself doing it in that time?

Do you just mean the writing up part? If so, yes, absolutely do-able. If you mean collecting data and analysing also, big squeeze I'd say.

done :)