That's bad luck Sneaks. Could it be that your thesis is looking at 'x' and to research this you chose 3 specific studies. Therefore in the greater scheme of things it is not these 3 studies that are important per se, but rather your overarching hypothesis or research question of the thesis?? The 3 studies are just your 'way in' to investigating whatever it is that you are investigating? Or maybe I'm way off??

You sound on a roll these last few days Tusco, good for you (up)

That limbo feeling must feel totally alien after years of working so hard to produce your thesis. We dream of finishing and having time off but when it happens it's hard to disengage straight away. For the moment I think you've done all that you can do so yep, take the time off to enjoy your family and just having time to do all the other things in life. I definitely don't think you should prepare for your viva just yet.

Give your babies a big cuddle and enjoy them - Mummy's all theirs :-x

You're a lot faster than me, Pink. My lit review which I wrote from scratch but was able to copy 'n paste some pieces from elsewhere took me six weeks. My methodology took me four. At the moment I am re-drafting both after supv's comments and don't think they'll be ready to re-submit until mid March.

are you saying Cakeman that women in their 40s are past it?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!!?!? Back in the 80s some of us were more than 'a reasonable catch' despite the shoulder pads, poodle perms and whitewashed denim!!!

Just to clarify, I didn't read the theses (yikes no!!) but I skimmed them looking for how they applied the concept. I skimmed them online and did a word search for what I was looking for. I deliberately chose ones way outside my area. The idea being that here is other disciplines which have used this concept and now I'm going to now apply it (for the first time I think and hope!) in my discipline. What I wanted was (a) I did this, (b) I did that and so on. It's amazing how many theses, presumably passed ones, which actually don't tell you in clear language how the person went about things. In fact I beginning to wonder if mine is too basic coz that's my approach :-(

That's great Clarabelle, congrats. It's a great feeling when a presentation goes well.

Congrats about the work possibility as well. (up)

Well done all, and Sneaks for submitting.

I have just inputted 1,500 words into my methodology chapter which feels good. It's a whistlestop tour of other disciplines which used a similar framework to me. Supervisor suggestion (and an innovative one) but difficult. Have you ever tried skim reading PhD theses in other disciplines and then summarising in a few bullet points each?? Not for the faint-hearted but I did it in two days!!!

This is my show my face at uni day so my evening goal is not to drop off at seminar I am expected to attend. That may be harder than skim reading those PhDs!!

sorry I don't know but I googled it and there seems to be online forums devoted to vista and track changes problems - could be worth a try??

Trust takes time and though I'm generalising about the entire elderly population (!!), many older people like talking to a young person so I don't think your age should be a negative issue. Maybe are you asking them too many questions???? Give them time to think and try not to be afraid of silences. Also, return to questions further on in the interview - after 30 mins or so they should be more relaxed so you could say "can I ask you again about 'x'? Have you thought about returning to your interviewees a second time? That way you might get deeper insights from them as they will relax with you over time. You could use a mix of qualitative methods (I am) and triangulate between them - but that does takes time.

If it's stated between 100-200 words I would think that 200 is the absolute ceiling and that you should cut it back. That's a pretty short word limit even for an abstract so they must be tight on space.


Of course if you submit with a pdf they can't check your word count (can they???) so you might get away with it. I just think it's so hard to get accepted that anything that's not 100% as they request will get you rejected.

One question is not going to hurt but what might happen is that her answer may well trigger another question and on and on it goes. I would 'til next week's meeting and ask her the question then. After that 'casually' ask her if it is okay if you email her from time to time with questions. If you are not going to have regular meetings, would she be okay if you emailed her once a week with questions. Gauge her reaction. Does she reply to emails normally, have you heard grumbling about her inbox being clogged up, is she known to be approachable via email, by the time she replies will you have met with her anyhow???

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I just dream that one day (this year, oh please this year) that I'll submit. My other dream is that Jon Bon Jovi will take me away with him - haven't told my hubs that either!

Hi Chococake (your name makes me hungry!!)

That's a good idea about putting your name in the header. It can take time for supv-student meetings to develop a format that everybody is happy with and finds comfortable. If I have a specific question I have taken to write them down, otherwise I find I'm back in the car going "d***, forgot to ask him that". The two page summary idea of yours is a good one. Being honest she may not even read that but at least it shows her what you have been doing. You can always let her know that it is a summary and that you can give her the extended version if she wants - my guess is she won't take you up on that.

I don't know your supv of course but I certainly should imagine she would check with you before sharing your ideas with others. However, all the more reason for putting your name in the header! Re: not give it all away - unless you don't trust your supv I wouldn't keep stuff from her. She is supposed to guide you, be your sounding board etc.

My meetings have evolved over time. I used to worry that I didn't share that much but as Batfink says I found we had more to discuss as I started getting drafts down on paper. Try not to stress it too much. There is no right or wrong way and hopefully over time, 'your' way will evolve.

Re: sharing other stuff with supv, I always keep it light and never went into the nitty gritty of my life unless necessary. Even then I would only do so if I thought it was impacting negatively on my work. You want your supv to think "Chococake, I can rely on her!"

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