Having had a couple of periods of unemployment and applied for anything and everything at those times, I would always take a job offer rather than the alternative. It is much better for confidence, motivation etc to go from one job to another than to try to get back into working after being unemployed.

It's a hard situation, grizzle, but at the minute you're the most vulnerable one in this picture, and the one with the most to lose, because your thesis still has to be amended and passed. In your position, I would try to set everything else aside and keep your focus on that. Even supposing it was straightforward to sue your ex-supervisor, I don't think time would be on your side in terms of getting the money when it was needed.

Here's how I would try to see the situation. Your ex-supervisor has undoubtedly cost you a lot in terms of support and guidance that was missing. If you spend the next while caught up in that situation, it's almost like his influence is being allowed to continue at this crucial time for you. The only way for you to take back any control and get a good outcome for yourself is to see what support you can get with your thesis at this stage, and forge ahead with that.

It's not a happy situation grizzle, and I wish you well with your corrections. Don't let them stop you from becoming Dr Grizzle :-)

Funnily enough my partner is looking for a part time Masters to do, and it turns out that a lot of the mainstream universities are offering online Masters (probably a sign of the times - less funding for Masters courses and more people wanting to fit them in around work). Hopefully this might lead to a better status for the genuine ones.

I think there are at least two different types of 'online university'. I would tend to agree with you about the ones that just seem to exist to collect money in exchange for qualifications, incognito, but as I've posted elsewhere, I did my Masters with the Open University and found it to be excellent, and it's largely online. I was also reading about an online university that has started with the aim of reaching people in countries with poor access to higher education, and it has some impressive sponsors and affiliations. Some people are not in a position to 'buy' the traditional uni experience and it would be a real shame if their achievements were discounted because of the scams that are out there.

Hi Incognito

Sorry things are so tough at the moment. It's not easy when things aren't straightforward with your family - I think family members are in a unique position to make us feel awful when they don't respond the way we want them to.

Have you met many folk where you are in Canada? I've never moved to another country, but I have moved to another part of this country and found it really tough-going - it seemed impossible to meet new people, and folk back home were getting on with their own lives and I felt very much out on a limb. Ultimately and for various reasons I moved back home, but that was a different situation to yours as I also found myself unemployed in the new place. I recently felt my social life was in a bit of a rut, so I'm doing an experiment at the moment and trying to start up a new social group in my area - sometimes I think it is good to meet some new people and shake things up a bit. Is it possible to get involved in something similar where you are? I know the whole 'join a group of people who share a similar interest' thing might sound a bit cheesy, but in my experience you can come out of these ventures with one or two good new friends and it can make a difference.

I hope the orthodontic work is something that will make you feel better in the long term. I imagine it's one of those things in which you go through various uncomfortable in-between stages.

One of the worst things about feeling depressed is that you lose the energy to do the things that might help, so you might find yourself needing to work against the grain of how you're feeling in order to get to a better place, if that makes sense. I hope things start to feel better soon.

Is it possible that the problems you've encountered with your software and data are worth reporting? Of course, it always feels better to get the results we're hoping for, but when things go wrong, it's often the case that something worthwhile can be reported from that too, such as the reasons why the results weren't as expected, and what should be done in future studies.

I just wondered what people's experiences are like regarding paying for the day-to-day running costs of your research - does your university provide a budget for this? My study is going to have minimal costs (just local travel expenses for participants) and it's just come to light that I can't access any funding at all. I feel I've been a bit naive in not realising this until now, but it didn't cross my mind because my project has such low costs and I've seen students from other departments handing in claims for thousands of pounds worth of equipment.

It's also just come to light that the uni doesn't pay any conference fees. I definitely haven't been naive in this case, as I was told when I started that conferences were covered as long as we were presenting, and it has surprised the staff as much as the students to find out that this is no longer the case.

I know I'm going to have to do some digging around for external funding, but just wondered if this is generally the case, or if folk here have been able to access these kinds of costs via their universities?

Hi
I'm not familiar with the Coolican book myself, but the stats text I have is David Howell's 'Statistical Methods for Psychology', which is a good resource but not exactly a fun read. A lot of people in Psychology rate Andy Field's stuff (which I've not used myself yet, but am going to have a look at - if you google him, he has a blog called Statistics Hell).

It does sound like they are all quite similar. I remember finding it stressful, as I had to give a month's notice to my employer, and had already told him informally, and then the uni just seemed to go completely quiet over the summer months. If you are in the position of needing to give notice, keep an eye on the dates yourself and chase the uni a little when the time is approaching for your notice to go in, because they won't necessarily feel any pressure to do things by a certain date. Oddly enough my supervisor did initiate contact and invited me to attend something over the summer, so I knew things were ok, but the admin side of things was slow.

Can I ask what is involved in the creation of your materials? i.e. do you need participants to be involved at this stage? I'm a Psychology PhD student, and although anything requiring human participants needs ethics approval, I've never needed to get this at the stage of creating materials. I think this kind of problem is quite common, though, when combining two different disciplines - I've spoken to other students who've arrived at Psychology from some other field and haven't realised how big an emphasis there is on things like ethics.

What a rotten experience! I'm so sorry to hear that happened. These things are extremely stressful so give yourself a bit of time and do whatever relaxes you til the shock of it wears off. Look after yourself.

Good luck!

In one of my previous jobs, an interview candidate was going on holiday straight after the interview, so she brought her holiday clothes in with her and asked if she could get changed in the loo! I thought she had a brass neck, but she still got the job :-)

You could say that you're available via Skype for the interview on 1st June or, if they prefer a traditional interview, from Date X when you'll be back in the UK. My own personal approach would always be to give minimal information and keep it business-like, but others may have a different approach.

I'd probably emphasise the positive in that - a kind of 'If selected for interview I would be available via Skype on the preferred date' - rather than anything beginning 'unfortunately....' or 'I can't attend....'. Good luck!

Looks good to me too!