Tell me about it, I'm currently battling my way through version 17! We are forced to upgrade every time at our uni. Consequently I have turned to Simca P+ for PCAs (they scare me in SPSS) and even braved R for CA and CCA! I have a serious new found respect for R, if I don;t get a job when I'm finished and have about 3 months with nothing to do, I'm going to sit and properly learn it... :p

good luck Chris!

lol that would make more sense Wally! :) Good catch DanB, I was seriously getting worried about myself there!

it's an absolute max of 80,000 in mine I think, and I have been told also if you can make it shorter go for it! Shorter, but still good! Reading anything concise is much better than reading waffle that's saying the same thing.

hmmm, I would have thought it's actually a really high number, but now I'm not so sure....
If for example 1.5E5 = 150000, then your -3.403E38 should = -340300000000...

I have been doing SPSS all day myself however, so my brain is frying as I type so I could be very wrong!

lol it wasn't offensive Wally at all, I just have no idea what he means by it and was hoping you might know! :D Maybe I'm not holy enough to understand!

See Pineapple, be thankful your posts make sense at least!! ;-)

It sounds like you've got plenty of good feedback on your thesis and your research so far, even if it's not from your supervisors. Saying as you know this is how they usually are, for better or worse (mostly worse I'd imagine..), just try to put their negative comments out of your head and concentrate on the constructive comments, and you will be fine I'm sure. They are probably just jealous your PhD is looking better than theirs was! :p

okily dokily ladies and gents! Today is a new day!

Yesterday I managed to get an extremely poor intro and an alright methods section sorted for my next chapter/paper, today I will be working on the results section! It is a bit of a beast, I seem to have got many more results and fun stuff than anticipated, so I have to write it all up and see where/how it fits and if I'm keeping it! So goal 1, is to look at exactly what I've got and start drawing up tables and captions!
Good luck everyone! And Sneaks, I hope you've not had a total meltdown before your interview, just breathe deep breaths and try to stay calm!

eh Wally..."the history of Ireland proves it.." what now?! :-)

Aww Pineapple, I know it's hard but try not to let it get you down! I hate when supervisors do this, it's not exactly what you need at this stage and they are just being twats. Focus on the positives, you've got most of the work done, you have your submission data and at least your supervisors are thinking of who to get for your viva. So you are in a good position, just ignore their comments for now, concentrate on getting your last 2 chapter done, and then take some time away and give yourself a break. Then go back, check over what you've done and make any changes you think you need and send it to your supervisors. Whatever they tell you, just be brave and make any changes you agree with. Remember it's your thesis, not theirs. If you are happy with what you've written and will be comfortable defending the content, the methods, results and the structure of your thesis in the viva then that is the best you can do.

And remember, negative supervisors don't always equal poor work, they could be awful people!

Congratulations Dr. Amanda!! Have a great time celebrating!! (up)

Hi there

I was in a similar situation as yourself a few ago, I started my PhD with absolutely no experience in the practical work and no knowledge of one of the major techniques I'd be using. Seriously, nothing. I knew a bit of the theory for the context of the thesis but that's it! My supervisor made me spend the first 4-6 months just reading and writing reports, more for myself than him, so I could properly understand the topic and what I was going to be doing. He refused to let me do any lab work in this time, as it wouldn't have meant anything to me.
Everyone else who started the same time as me had previous experience in their field and were all working away in the lab and it was very difficult to be the only one just reading, but it was exactly the right thing to do. It helped me gain a thorough understanding of what I was doing and why, and I had to spend a lot of time telling my sups about my topic as they had never worked on it either. So I knew more than them, even then! Which was scary!
I have also had the feeling that were less concerned with my topic because it's not their main field, but it was just me being worried, they have always been interested and enthusiastic about my research. I'd say you should as your sup is you can do some lab shadowing at least to see what others are doing and learn some techniques that maybe you've not used before and get an experimental plan sorted so you can begin to figure out what you'll be doing once you get started. But don't be too concerned about what others are doing, it's your project!

I hate it too Pineapple. I spent last night wondering what the hell I'm doing and if it's all really worth it. Which of course it is, somehow, I'm not sure entirely why yet (I can usually remember but it's slipped my mind now..). But we are most definitely not leaving this far to the end, imagine looking back in 5 or 10 years and regretting it?! I'd rather do another 9 weeks of hell that a lifetime of regret. We can take it, we are hard as nails! :-s

Ok pep talk over, time to get back to the drivel...although if you were planning your week off, take it, you need to trust and enjoy your breaks, you really will feel better for it!

ok folks!

Goal 1 today was go for a run, which i did and am now feeling v pleased with myself :)
Goal 2 was sort out a few things to get online - Sneaks, you'll be proud of me, I finally ordered the Just Dance game and found one called Dance on Broadway which I've ordered too!
Goal 3 - to calm down and get started on my chapter! The plan is to write anything, so long as I'm writing, I can feel the dreaded writers block approaching from the west, so I better get cracking before I stall altogether!

EV, don't be feeling guilty about that, you got 4 hours work done which is better than nothing, 4 hours closer to the end! Just start afresh today and see how you do! Good luck!

Ah pineapple! Like you I'm submitting in September, but I still have essentially half my thesis to write, not to mention corrections to you are in a good place compared to me! Take a day or two off, go and do something fun to help you relax and come back to it motivated and ready to tackle things. If you are anything like me you'll not be able to write if too stressed, I always just end up panicking about how little time I have and not actually doing anything!