Transcribing is, without doubt, the bane of a PhD student's life. It takes me 8 hours to transcribe a 90 minute interview. So, for 30 minutes, I'd say about 2 and half hours for each. I am a slow typer though, so you may be quicker. I found it really helpful to use MyTomatoes when doing it, so I did it in a series of 25 minute blocks with a 5 minute break in between each - rapid progress with frequent breaks.

Data matrices all done. Took me longer than expected, so I'll have to flippin' well get the questionnaire redrafted tomorrow and get working on that presentation for my research seminar. Looks like I'll be missing Britain's Got Talent then...:-(

I'd be careful with the idea of a pygmy hedgehog. They're very cute and everything but they're mostly nocturnal and quite shy and retiring creatures. They can take a little while to tame, too. Other than that, I think they cost c.£150 or so.

2/3 of my cognitive interview data analysis done - will be finished tomorrow, along with the final redraft of my questionnaire.

Have to start a presentation for a research seminar tomorrow as well.

I'm not being sponsored or anything - but get yourself down to Asda for a cheap suit. I bought a suit from there for a conference and a pair of plastic leather shoes - and I actually looked quite nice. Definitely felt professional. The thing is, I packed this suit in a sports bag and when I pulled it out there were no creases or anything. Must admit, I felt slightly academic wearing it as well. And with all the polyester, it's very difficult for stains to stick on the material. A professional look at low prices - can't argue with that.

Damn, Nonethewiser - what a horrible thing to happen. It's almost like an act of God or something. I wish I had some words or advice or wisdom, but I'm honestly not sure what you can do about something like that happening. Forgive my ignorance, but is there no way you can change your experimental design to try and compensate for this crisis, or truncate your study? It's just it's not your fault and there appears very little you can do about it otherwise. Is there no way you can get access to this equipment elsewhere? What has your supervisor said about it? Best wishes. :-)

I can't really add to what Sue2604 and Keenbean have said. All I can add is the platitude that a PhD is like a marathon taking place on a roller coaster track. There are sometimes when it's an uphill slog and you feel tired and demotivated and other times when you seem to make a lot of progress and feel very motivated. It's like a block, 3 to 4 year cubed (yeah, I know, not even Einstein would try and tun time into an area - so back off maths boffins). At one side of the cube you have the start flag and at the other side you have to end ribbon. By which ever way, you have to navigate your way through, sometimes making more progress than at other times.

Believe me Emaa, no-one procrastinates more than me. And I've been really demotivated as well. But a week or 2 later, I'm back chasing The Dragon (my PhD) - better not express it in that way to my supervisor! So, I reckon you'll be motoring away again in no time. And as has been said, it can be really helpful to take a break and then get stuck into things again. That's the way I try and do it. Also, use Sneaks' One Goal Thread - it's a now proven method of accountability.(up)

I think I'll do something like this next week: http://blog.pch.com/.a/6a00e5536577048833012875ae6b02970c-800wi

Only, I'm holding up an enlarged version of my approval letter, with Dr X and a happy patient holding on to it, smiling at the camera. Take that NHS ethical approval department!

Yes, I've just found it - the letter of approval - so I'm okay. It's them with their wires crossed. I thought, there's no way I'd have started research without that!

I think I might be in trouble - lots of it. I got an e-mail this morning from someone over at NHS ethics asking if I'd still like to proceed with my ethics application, which was started in 2008... The e-mail is below...

I am working through all of the pending studies over at X, and the above study was being set up with for Dr X

The most recent communication dates back to 2008

Shall I mark this project as abandoned or would you like to still seek R&D approval

Many thanks

Best wishes,
X

Erm, I thought I already had ethical approval and I've already conducted most of my research. I think I might just ignore the e-mail, not bother responding and just get on with it, even though I feel like the Fugitive. Of all the things that can happen, it had to be this. It's too late in the game now to start messing with stuff like this. Hmph!

If I were you, I'd probably just get a hamster - maybe a Russian dwarf hamster or something. Ferrets (polecats are in fashion even) are fun, but they stink, as Teek says - had one when I was a kid. There's always a rat - low maintenance, built to last. In fact, I have a mate who has a bald rat and it looks like a funky gremlin. You could even think about going loco, and getting something a bit more tropical...a red trapdoor spider or a sugar glider, a centipede or a burmese - there are lots of different pets and I wonder which you'll get?

Sorry, Chrisrolinski, couldn't get this one for you this time. :-(

If I don't get a job, I have a plan....

Go on Britain's Got Talent with my Flamin' Amazin' Aeroplanes' Act. This consists of rapidly turning every page of my thesis into a paper plane, setting them on fire and chucking them at my Vice Chancellor, who is pinned to a spinning target board. I'll obviously win it and then go on to form a highly successful circus for all of the unemployed PhD students. Aside from the Flamin' Amazin' Aeroplane's Act, we'll have the Underwater Laptops Act, Crashin' Hard Drives, Transcription Tricks and an act involving SPSS and Matlab - I'm still working out how to make that one look exciting to everyone though. So, yeah, not worried...

However, Wally never did become PM. Due to his lack of social skills, from doing a PhD, he rather inappropriately asked the Queen if the toilets in Buckingham Palace contained heated water so that when she went to 'freshen up', cold water did not splash up and offend her bum? He received a slap (thanked God, to himself, that he wasn't being knighted at the time instead) and was turfed out onto the mean streets of London, only 7p credit on his PAYG mobile phone. Meanwhile, back in parliament, the other PhD students were making big changes...

Yeah! All transcription is now done - just the data to analyse tomorrow (I've already got my matrices set up) and that's the end of Phase 2. So, goal for tomorrow: analyse data, redraft my questionnaire, send them off to my sup. As a side not, I'm so glad my interviewing is done for this PhD. There's only so much offered coffee I can drink, so many inane conversations about everything from the weather to the price of eggs I can have. They were all lovely people but, heck, I'm glad it's over. Because whenever they'd side track into a long missive about what granddaughter Annie was doing at school or their son Trevor was doing down in Somerset, I'd think Christ, I've got to transcribe this.