Overview of catalinbond

Recent Posts

Pets and Phd life :-)
C

my cat once said 'hello'

I think it might have been a meow, cough and sneeze all at once, but it sounded pretty funny.

Council Tax exemption
C

i live with a friend (who is a PhD student) I work, so have to pay the 75% of full amount (about £600) as my wage is considerably more than PhD studentship i don't mind paying this myself, but wish i'd consideredd it when deciding to get a flat with her.... i'd be a lot better off if living with other workers.

Council Tax exemption
C

it also depends why she will not be workign or claiming bnefits, if it is because of the terms of her visa, then she is also exempt from council tax as a spouse of a non-british full time student.

If it is because she just chooses not to work, then she'll only be eligable foe the 25% discount. If you do not report her living there it is fraud, you're unlikely to get caught, but some poeple will take moral issue with it.

Having a breakdown???
C

whilst i can't directly comment on PhD as I havn't even started one yet, I have see people break down over work. Generally people who are perfectionist and try so hard, and care so much about getting it right, they freeze at the first stages, as the fear of not being perfect.

You need to take a step back, you say you won't be able to stop thinking about it, but if you manage to do something else for a weekend, rememeber what life is about outside of the PhD, you'll come back refreshed, with fresh eyes, and more able to see the bigger picture of what you're trying to say.

is it really that bad?
C

i came to this forum for help and advice finding a PhD, yet many of the posts here are related to how stressed, depressed and dissatisfied people are. So my question is, is it really that bad? cos it's making me think maybe i should rethink my whole career path!

Dodgy problem at interview coming up 8(
C

you're not the only ones worry about this, I've got an interview next week, and another application on the way. I would like either but feel more comftable with the second. what do i do if i get the first? there's no way you can turn down a funded PhD but I'd feel i was missing out on the second, so would it be ethical to go for it anyway and turn down the first a month later?

PhD applications, how honest to be at application and interview
C

I have a few issues about applications and how honest to be at interview. I am in the process of applying in at a uni I currently work at. There are 40 projects and a limited number of studentships and so it will be a fight between all the candidates for which projects get the money. I also have an interview in another uni next week, which i suspect is gonna be the same deal. The question is how honest shoudl i be regarding the other pending applciation? especially as the topics are similar but have a lot of differences, and this may reflect on my commitment to the project if I admit this in interview. ALso I'd rather the project at the uni i am now, but may hear about the other one first. If i get the studentship can i hold off accepting til I've heard back from the other? (probably dubious) or should I accept and withdraw other application? or accept and then drop out if i get the other studentship?

sorry for a lot of questions. I really want to do a phd and really want the right project, but feel i'd be happy with either.

PhD Interview - what do I wear???
C

I had a PhD interview last summer, it was very hot at the time and I wore a skirt and fairly casual short sleeved top with a collar (not quite a shirt but almost if that makes any sense!). They interviewed three of us, one of the guys turned up in a smart suit and the third in combat trousers, walking boots and a t shirt. I wish i could finish this off by saying who got the PhD, but all i know is that I didn't! they didn't seem bothered by what any of us were wearing.

ps good luck in the interview, I've got one next week too. getting nervous.

Norming the stimuli
C

i'm kinda speculating here, but from the sound of it you want to run some sort of reliability statistic (like cronbach's alpha) to see if the ratings for each dimension are similar across raters, or whether they show greater individual differences and are in that case unreliable. If you have a alpha value of around .8 you can assume there is a high degree of agreement over the ratings, and then take the average rating as the norm value for each face on each dimension. These can then be compared to whatever measurement of recognition you are using.

On the other hand the addition of distictive features after the norming process has stumped me. Maybe i'm misinterprettign what your trying to do....

not so bright after all...
C

i'm pretty much in the smae position, there's loads of things i'd like to do but trying to formalise this into a pesearch topic is a nightmare.

I've gone down the other route a few times (graduated 2003)and had 4 interviews for different PhDs and been unsuccessful everytime, mainly i think cos i wasn't passionate enough about the topic, especially as I'm quite reticent anyway.

hope you come up with something, what area/subject do you want to study?