I second that. It's an American term for literature review. I actually have quite a few 'literature surveys' in my papers collection - and they're identical to literature reviews.

Shani, I really wouldn't like to use discourse analysis as an analytical framework. You have my admiration!

Thanks Jayney. It's looking like it's going to be a qualitative descriptive method, so I guess I've just answered my own question.

Just a quick question really - can proper scientific research papers be used for qualitative documentary analysis? I've read that rich historical documents and the like can, but I'm just wondering if the same can be said with papers from scientific studies? Sorry my post isn't as sexually charged as the one below :-)

Nope, just business. Being a PhD student, I need to be professional about things. And on that note, I'm winning once again.

Good luck Chrisrolinkski - I'm sure you'll get there though!

I've got tickets with some mates to see them live this August - £49.50!!!!

I can't possibly allow you to win!

Golfpro, if you're going to be using it, don't buy it I'll seed it for you if need be.

I see my supervisors every 2 months or so, but I'd like to meet with them more often to be honest. I do enjoy being independent (which is what I'm training to be broadly speaking), but I have no-one to bounce my ideas off and I don't really feel any pressure. It'd just be nice to talk to someone interested in my work really.

Hehe, yeah, know what you mean. Been pretty nonchalant about my work so far, but now it's starting to get to important parts I'm thinking otherwise. I'm thinking about getting them to discuss a general topic instead or questions, actually. Good idea about the biccies! A ice breaker if nothing else.

Thanks Jayney Erm, damn spell checker on my web browser.

It's all going Pete Tongue! Call me imbecilic, but I've just realised the enormity of the tasks I face and how ill prepared I am. Papers are scattered around me everywhere I look, I've got a focus group coming up, I've got no questions for them to chew over and don't even know how to hold a focus group anyway. Now that's all perfectly surmountable as far as I'm concerned, but I just feel stuck in the mud, going nowhere with anything too fast and the end product of my final research feels so, so far away. And there's just so much to think about before I get there too. And my head feels like it's going to explode. And I'm a bit bored with it all to boot. Anyway, nothing negative really - just venting my spleen.

Hiya, you're welcome. Given that you were such a regular poster at one point and then you vanished, I was wondering about the outcome of the panel (cos I recall you working your socks off just before it!). I thought it was either the worst or you had an incredible amount of work to do. I'm certainly glad it was the latter Please keep us posted on the progress of your chapter writing, since it'll give me food for thought when I (eventually) get round to writing my won chapters. All the best

Hiya, just a quick note to ask if anyone knows what has become of ChrisRolinski? I used to enjoy reading his posts -cos I could identify with them in a number of ways - and now there is nothing... Anyway, I he's probably just really busy but it's be nice to know all is well.