Brilliant news Alpacalover!! I so can't wait to be in your position!! :) I'd say have a few beers, you only ever finish writing your entire PhD thesis for the first time once!! I'll have a bottle of champagne on the go for when I'm ready to submit, but definitely some beers when I get the full draft finished!!

(up)(up)

I'd say do the masters first and gain loads of experience in different fields before doing the PhD. In ecology it's just as much about who you know and how many different things you can do as much as your qualifications, and doing a masters will help with this. And a massive help for a career in wildlife conservation is doing some volunteer work with the RSPB, local Wildlife Trust or something like that. It's looks great on CV and ecological-types love to see that you really are keen enough to volunteer. Ecology work tends to be more like a vocation than anything else :)

Whoo thanks for the replies guys!
I used non-parametric tests cos most of my data is not normally distributed, and I mean really really not normal! I don't think the ANOVA or Friedman test will give me the info I need, so I have just done with the Wilcoxon Signed Rank test for a few things. I know there are differences in my groups and I have an idea where they are, but what I really need to find out is what environmental variables are causing the differences. And I've got about 28 variables.... I have been told that a GLM will be able to sort it but I don't know what the non-parametric equivalent is. Also I haven't got much time to spend a few days trying to figure things out, and I'm quite bad with stats so it takes ages to get to know a new test!
Good idea about the SPSS 18 though Sneaks!

Hey AL! thanks for that! They are all Wilcoxon tests, it's the same sites samples in 2 different months and they have the same treatments for each month. But I've just found out that these tests aren't really what I want after all. They will tell me if there is a difference in the groups, and the post hoc says which group is different, but what I really need is to find out which of the many variables I've measured for each group is causing the difference. So it's back to factorial and ordination methods methinks. I can do CCA stuff in R so I'll give that a shot. Although I'm not sure there is anything apart from super advanced stats that will show me what I need... but thanks for the very kind offer of stats help! My boyf is a stats man too but although he's sitting in the same room, he's more interested in his computer game than anything else... pfff.

ok i got it, kind of. I need to use a Friedmans test, which I can do in SPSS, but there is no post hoc test function in version 17 which I have, only 18.
So I can do it in R...off I go...

ok, so I have yet another SPSS question. Im currently doing the most massive results chapter ever and in an attempt to keep it concise I need to do an ANOVA for my data. Although, it's all non-parametric stuff, so it shouldn't be ANOVA. The book I have says do Mann Whitney instead of ANOVA, but I have 4 groups I want to compare, not 2. I also don't want to transform my data as some of it is count data which I've got a paper that says shouldn't be transformed due to having lots of zero values and the problems with that. Also, I've used this as a reason for doing loads of other tests for other stuff, and I really don't want to have to go back to redo them all with transformed data.
So, the question is, what can I do? I have data from 2 months, split into 2 groups for each month. Ie. M!, group 1, M1 group 2, M2 group 1, M2 group 2. I want to see if there are any significant differences in the groups, i.e. between months and within groups within months. Anyone know what test I can use?!

A very tired thanks in advance...

Morning folks!
Another day another few hundred words eh?! :) Good to hear your partner could be ok moving with you Sue, these things all work out in the end! I hope the job application goes well! Today I'm feeling a bit crappy, like I've got a cold or something coming on so that's not exactly ideal. I'm all stuffy, sore eyes, achy and sniffly :-( And feeling good and crabby like you Alpacalover! What a pity your partner had to leave at this stage, that's not good having to go without proper hugs! I'm sure your friends will do their best though! And he will be back soon, and you'll be submitted soon and it will be all good!
I totally know the feeling about being worried about work, I've never been too concerned abut the standard of my work, I always felt it was fine and occasionally great, but I'm not a mad perfectionist. However at the moment it feels like what I'm writing is complete tosh. However I heard once that the best thesis is a finished thesis, so that's my aim! Do my best, get it done and fix it up if I have time, if not, prepare for the viva corrections. At this stage, we know we know our stuff, so we just have to relax and trust in our brains to produce the goods.

We are getting there, can you believe it?! This month and next month, we'll be submitted!

Hi there
I've not been in this situation myself, so I'm not sure if I can help much. The only thing I can think of is to take the viva for what it is, in that it is an opportunity to discuss your work with very experienced peers. If you can go in there and give valid reasons for the conclusion you decided upon in the end, then that is all you have to do.. Even if your external doesn't agree with it, if it's a valid and defensible conclusion then it should be ok, that's the nature of research after all. I think you should definitely say that you have considered other conclusions and do say that you seriously considered the other conclusion and give your reasons, but so long as you can give reasons for why you chose your final conclusion. At this stage, even if you don't entirely agree with it, just go in there, defend it logically as best you can, acknowledge that there are other conclusions and state clearly why you did not choose them. Of course you should go to your viva and do your best, the worst that can happen is they ask you to resubmit with your other conclusion I'd imagine, which is not as bad as not going and losing everything that you've worked for.

Good luck, trust in yourself and be brave (up)

lol that's grand Alpacalover!! Your plans sound great girls, I'd love a holiday in the tropics Sue!! I'm so jealous! I think though as I can't find a job yet I'll have to be somewhat sensible and party closer to home!
My plans are to have a week or so just chilling with my family, visiting cousins and friends from home that I haven't seen much of in ages. One cousin has just got engaged and another has moved into a house with his girlf who is also an old friend of mine so I need to spend some time doing normal things like dropping round for tea and a chat on a Saturday afternoon, omg I'm so excited about that! :-)
I'm also going to visit a friend in England who moved over a while ago and I haven't seen his house yet so going over for a weekend which I'm sure will be mad partying, I'll see my brother in London and spend a weekend in London with another friend who is finishing her 2 year masters in September as well! Although that last bit will be after the viva!

I got an email from my sup about my chapter, he said he got it (last Friday) and will have a look at it when he's back from holiday (next week). After telling me 48hour turnaround. nice. Anywhoo I'm working on chapter 6 at the mo, hopefully get it finished on Monday and then get started on the next Chapter on Tuesday. Ideally I want everything written and corrections almost finished by the end of the month, I haven't started refs or appendices yet but I keep telling myself it will be fine! I can't believe you're finishing so soon AL, that's mad! Good luck with your discussion, I've heard it's actually ok to write but I've not done mine yet!

We are sooo close!! (up)

It's motivating and terrifying Pineapple!
I just emailed my sup to check he got a chapter last week, after promising me a 48hr turnaround for corrections it's been a week with no response..and I got an out of office reply, saying he's gone til mid August! wtf?!! I really really really hope he's still checking emails, he's got 3 students submitting in a month!! I don't need the stress!
Hope you're having a good day Pineapple! A holiday sounds amazing too, I haven't had one in ages either...

First fun thing - a weekend in london with one of my bestest mates ever, day spa included! Nice!

Ahhhh!!

I just counted up the days I have left, and there's really not much!! I still have to write 2 whole chapters, finish one, and get corrections for most of the rest! And I've not even started the references, appendices etc! Oh my oh my!!

But I will not freak out, rather, I'm quite looking forward to when this ends! I'm planning all sorts of fun things and trips when I'm finished, and really looking forward to getting to actually spend some proper time with my friends for the first time in months!

I'm not planning this as an accountability thread or anything, just a place to post the latest, and remind myself that I'm actually looking forward to finishing! Feel free to join in!!:-)

I'd agree with Wally here, if you can get a masters out of it then do so, but if you can't or if you just want out then when applying don't say you've quit. It's ridiculously tough out there to get jobs at the moment, so you need to sell yourself in the best way possible. Do some volunteer work maybe and say that you've been looking for work but keeping busy and building your skills set by doing volunteer stuff, that way it looks like you're the worker type and haven;t been bumming around if you don't say you're currently doing a phd.

Good luck, I know it's a very tough decision to make.

ok got Goal 5 done but I'm struggling to dredge up the will for finishing goal 6, I must do it tonight... there's not even much left, I'm just sooo unbelievably fed up looking at correlations....

Aww Teek, I hope you're feeling a bit better today!! If this wasn't an anonymous forum and I was anywhere near you I'd say come over and have all the laptop-free chocolate you want! I continue to live in spanner land, I'm going home for a sups meeting in a week or two and taking the opportunity to go our for a drink with my friends who I'll not have seen in over a month, and when I happily told him my nice plans, it was met with stony silence...apparently I'm not allowed to socialise at this stage, especially not with boys...god. How pathetic.

Anywhoo! I got chocolate!!