I completed it, but had to look for a definition of 'haptic'. Good luck with your study!

I had a fairly similar experience too (submitted my proposal and then became aware of a paper that addressed a lot of the questions I was asking and should definitely have been mentioned!). I just spent some time thinking through the implications of the paper for my own research, the things I was doing that meant mine was different etc, and I talked to my supervisor about it the next time I met him. I had spent time worrying about it too, but my supervisor said it wasn't a big deal at all.

Done - good luck with your study :)

I did things the opposite way round, and did my undergraduate degree with a brick university and my Masters with OU. I got a funded Psychology PhD place after completing the Masters, and the fact that it was with OU definitely wasn't a problem. I asked my local OU office for a reference for PhD applications, and the reference was great and stressed how self-motivated and independent you need to be to complete an OU qualification, so if you haven't already, I would recommend asking OU for a reference to send with your PhD applications.

I'd be the same as HazyJane if this happened - it would make me very uncomfortable and not because of sexuality, but because of the breaching of a professional boundary. I echo what others have said about keeping a professional manner and distance to get things back on track.

If you haven't already, it sounds like it is time for a chat with your supervisor, or with someone at the university (maybe student support service, or whoever looks after the wellbeing of the PhD students in your department?). It sounds like you are caught in a vicious circle of feeling unwell, not getting things done and feeling worse as a result of that. There's no 'failing' about it, you're not well and dealing with the side effects while adjusting your meds. Don't put the extra pressure on yourself of keeping up appearances with your PhD. My advice would be to seek any support you need and to make the right people aware of what's happening. The PhD can get fixed later - you first!

In a book I'm reading at the moment (on IPA, a qualitative research method) there's a small section about how generalisation may not be possible but you can look at theoretical transferability instead. This is kind of similar to what Piju wrote and is about comparing your findings to existing work, or making connections between your results and current theory, so you are still connecting your work to a bigger picture without making claims that your results can be generalised.

I haven't come across any good websites for qualitative analysis either, sorry! I think the info is more readily available in books.

As AislingB says, there is a lot of variety in the detail you need to record - some types of discourse analysis require everything down to noting micro-pauses of fractions of a second, while other methodologies are concerned more with the content. The stuff I'm doing at the moment is more about looking at how people make sense of their experiences, so I need to capture their words but not all the little pauses and 'umms' etc. The approach I'm planning to take is to skip anything that's wildly off-topic and abbreviate my own rambly questions, but to pay close attention to my participants' answers. It all depends on the methodology you're using.

I definitely couldn't do transcriptions in a place where other people were talking and making calls! I work from home most of the time. Is it possible to get some work from home days, or does your library have silent study rooms you could use? Or are there other rooms in the uni you could book to get away from the noise?

I don't know how your colleague could do qualitative analysis without transcribing. I guess it depends on what he hopes to get from the research - if it's purely that he's listening for certain content then it might be possible, but anything that requires a degree of interpretation would be difficult to do without a transcript. At least, I wouldn't trust myself not to listen selectively for things I thought were important!

One good piece of advice I got early on was to try and get rid of a 'nasty' job that's been lurking on your things to do list. For example, it might be that the situation with IT is dragging on and getting you down, and dedicating some time to sorting that out might improve how you feel about other things.

I agree that the other PhD student you spoke to is just ultra-competitive. Unfortunately some students are like that - you can't have a conversation without them trying to pull ahead. Everyone's PhD is different so it makes no sense to compare yourself on the small elements that can be quantified. I'd be extremely surprised if anyone consistently produces 2000 words a day, not least because they'd have produced an entire thesis-worth of material in a month and a half!

I had marking to do in the first semester of my PhD, and I also started out slowly, but it does get easier with practice. As others have said, you can't correct every little thing, and you will notice loads of students making the same errors, so try to devise some stock phrases.

Finally, I'd say ten minutes of listening to your supervisor talk shop is not a break, no matter how well-meaning she was. I'd probably find a way to hide somewhere else in the uni for a proper break in your shoes - I like anonymous places like the library or the main refectory where the last people I'd find are staff and other PhD students :)

If you've already been accepted for your PhD, then you've been accepted on the basis of the qualifications, skills and qualities you already have. My final result for my Masters came in after I'd been accepted for my PhD, and to my knowledge no-one connected with my PhD has ever seen or asked for my Masters results! As others have said, uncertainty and self-doubt are very common feelings connected with starting a PhD, and in no way indicate that you're not a strong enough student.

I previously did some paid transcription for someone, and found it a bit of a slog - it is time consuming, and I tried to do it in big bursts when I had the concentration.

Now I'm cheerfully doing interview after interview for my own qualitative research, aware that I'm storing up a lot of transcription for myself! I'm trying to tell myself it is better for me to do it, though, because the methodology relies on me getting really close to the data and I guess transcribing it will serve a dual purpose and I'll be starting to spot themes as I do that. It does take forever though. Good luck!

If your uni has a counselling or student support service, it should be possible to talk to someone confidentially - this is something you can ask before talking to them. There may even be a telephone support service so you don't need to give any personal details.

I've seen your other thread that you posted now, and it's clear that you're in a difficult situation. Is there an identified member of staff at your uni/department who is responsible for PhD students as a group? Or a student welfare service, student union rep etc? I would go to someone like that and talk about the problem, as it does sound like you need to get some support.