======= Date Modified 14 Jul 2010 10:01:42 =======
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Read the Guardian *sorry potentially offensive*

Well, that's all my schematic diagrams done. I hope 6 of them in one chapter is not excessive. It'll cost at least 4,000 words if I can't use them all. Watched all the third years graduate live online today. Curiously, I didn't see any PhD students graduating with them - and I'm sure there's more than me in the school.
So, where to next? Hmm, start writing the chapter that these diagrams go in, I suppose.

Word of the day: Concantanation.

Thought of the day:coulda, shouda, woulda

Oh, Teek, if you want to do some schematic diagrams, use Invisio. It's magical because it mysteriously puts all the lines in the right place.

I'd go with Invisio - I'm using it to do schematic drawings for my PhD. It's very easy to learn how to use it and quite intuitive. In fact, I've managed to knock out 4 complicated schematic diagrams today using it.

A PhD is long,
The work goes on and on,
You research a field,
And start with great zeal.

Ontology informs your methodoloy,
You collect data to analyse later,
You write about and disuss what you find,
And find you're behind.

You live like a monk,
smell like a skunk.

I'd definitely go for the first option. And with reference to Dowhatnow - blimey, don't sell a kidney. You have 2 in case one fails - just like with lungs and fallopian tubes. I've always said that if I was going to sell an organ, if things really got that bad, I'd sell a 3rd of my liver due to its regenerative properties. Having said that, with the advent of xenotransplantation and stem cell technology, it looks like we'll be priced out of the market.

Still designing schematic diagrams - hopefully I'll finish them all by the end of today. I wonder if I can have a results chapter that consists of loads of schematic diagrams. Hmmm...

Hi Botton, it seems the problem you are having is a typical one. I've found this page on the matter, which will explain things better than I ever can:

http://lists.adeptscience.co.uk/endnote/endnote_Sep_2004/thid_8870ed50520ecc19f11cd3ee8fc9f967.html

Perhaps your uni could provide you with the necessary Ezproxy password(s) if you ask? :-)

Oh, forgot to update on my writing up. I've started results chapter 2 by designing some schematic diagrams.

Why? :p

Sneaks, it probably will be enough. My methods are all integrated into one chapter, so although my studies can stand alone, I've decided to integrate everything together and organise it thematically.

And the chapters vary in size. So the methods is like 10, 000 words, methodology about 5,000 words, one of the results chapters I'm finishing now 6,000 words and so on.

Hi Sneaks, I haven't done it that way. I have a methodology chapter, methods chapter and then I'm trying to write the results chapters in a thematic way. So, I'm trying to make it al integrated.

I've got NVIVO 7 and 8 and tried using them both. Generally, I hated them. I've tried got Atlas-ti as well - hated that. Sneaks is right when she say that you can just use the comments on Word. That's what I did for one of my studies. I just used the highlighter function of words and comments to categorise things - and that was it. It worked really well and was much easier than using Nvivo. I'd also argue that it's every bit as effective, in terms of being close to your data, as using pen, paper and sellotape - only it's less messy. I was still cutting and pasting, making sense, moving things around - only it was all on screen. If you have little time and not much of a head for technical software (i.e. me), then I think it's the way to go. Of course, as Keenbean has said, if the amount of data you have is quite small (I.e. 10-15 interviews of around 1 hours duration), and you have enough floor/wall space, then use pen and paper. I only say that because I know of someone who had that much data for a thesis and did IPA-based thesis.

There should actually be paragraphs in that block of writing - not sure what went wrong there :$