As MistaG says in America professor is a general term for lecturer meaning anyone who lectures in a university can call themselves a professor, whether they have a PhD or not.

In Britain the title Professor is only used by senior academics that have been promoted to the position of Professor after a long career of research. However, there is no reason why someone who has produced enough research of high quality can be promoted to Professor without a PhD (although this is very rare).

I have an interview for a funded social science PhD next week. However, I do not have anyone nominated as my supervisor and have not discussed my proposed research with anyone at the university at all. Has anyone else applied for a PhD in this way? Will they ask me about who I would like to be my supervisor at the interview? What is the procedure for getting a supervisor if you apply in this way?

I am really confused about this and don’t want to say anything stupid at the interview about how the proposed PhD will be supervised so any help at all would be greatly appreciated.

Hi Zelda,

I think it depends on whether or not you are using other methods to gain data for your research as well. If you are using these interviews along with other methods (i.e. participant observation, focus groups, documentary sources etc) then the amount and length of interviews you are using may well be enough.
However, if you are using interviews as your main (or only) source of data then I would agree with Sylvester and say that you have to aim for an hour to get the required depth.

Thank you for your help Golfpro and SixKitten. That research proposal is very useful, despite the difference in subject areas. Thanks again.

Hi Golfpro, yeah it would be really good to have a look at your research proposal. Could you email it to [email protected]

Thanks for your help

Thank you for your advice SixKitten. I am rewriting my proposal now, taking into account what you have said. Did you include research questions in your proposal? If you did was it just the main research question that your thesis followed or a number of different research questions? I'm a bit confused about this bit.
Golfpro - I'm working on the proposal now, it has to be sent away with my application by the end of the month.

I am currently applying for a social science PhD and have just received the application pack today. In this it says I do not need to write a full research proposal, instead I need a summary of my research proposal which should be no more than 500 words.
I am totally stuck about what I should do for this proposal - how can I fit everything I need to say (methodology, background, existing literature, theory etc) in 500 words. Does I just briefly outline the area I'm interested in, or does it need references and links to other literature etc?
If anyone has successfully done a short research proposal like this, or has any ideas on this could they please help me?

Hi Londoner. I am in a similar situation to you as I am also applying for a social science PhD.

The only point in doing a social science PhD is to get a career in academia. Very few other occupations are going to be impressed with an Anthropology PhD, in fact it may count against you as you will have wasted three years doing a PhD which has no relevance to the field in which you are seeking employment.

The situation is different in science where there are considerable opportunities to go into industry or other non-academic employment with a PhD.

You say that you don’t want to teach at all, in which case I see no advantage in pursuing a social science PhD. By the sound of your post you seem to like the idea of doing a PhD without thinking about what you will do once you have completed it.

Sorry if this sounds harsh but there is no point in wasting your time, effort and money for a qualification that will not help you in your career.

Hi. When applying for a social science PhD how many words does the research proposal have to be? The university application forms I have looked at ask for 500 - 1000 word proposals and this seems very short to me. Is this the only proposal that you submit with all decisions (such as admission to the university, whether you get funding or not) based on this, or do you have to submit a more detailed proposal at a later date?

You could try having a look at the book 'Developing Effective Research Proposals' by Keith Punch (2000). This book is an excellent guide when writing research proposals for social sciences, and has a really good section on explaining methodology within a proposal.

I'm looking to apply for PhD in Sociology later this year and have put together a research proposal. However my research is on a fairly unusual topic and therefore I am a bit lost on how to find a supervisor. Would the best course of action be to contact the postgraduate secretary of the university I have in mind explain what my research is on and take things from there, or should I write/email potential supervisors directly?

I have just finished MA Sociology and plan to apply for PhD next year. I really enjoyed doing my MA dissertation and have been told by my supervisor that the topic I did it on is interesting and original. I would like to know how acceptable it is to use the same topic as a PhD research proposal, and do the PhD as basically as an expanded version of my MA dissertation. Is this acceptable, or will it be seen as pointlessly going over the same ground again?

I am looking to apply for a PhD in Sociology as I have recently finished my MA in the same discipline. Before thinking about funding, can anyone help explain the entry requirements that a university asks for from PhD applicants? I was under the impression that a good first degree (2:1 or 1st) and an MA was sufficient, but I have recently heard that some universities set their own higher criteria. People have told me that some universities require a mark of over 70% for MA dissertation and 60% plus in all other MA modules from prospective PhD applicants. To what extent is this true and how much does this vary from university to university?