Agreed - you probably won't get anyone willing to do this for less than £15-20 per hour. Best to limit your request to doing the analysis and then you write the report yourself. To be honest if you can't write your own report based on the analysis, then there's a problem in your group.

And lesson for next time - don't wait until 4 days before a deadline to consult a statistician. Ideally ask for input at the design stage and develop an analysis plan at the outset.

Sample size depends on
(i) what you're measuring/what your hypothesis is
(ii) how much variation you expect to see between your study subjects (in this case companies)

When you get hold of a textbook suitable for your field look at 'sample size calculations' and that should help.

As a rough guide, if the answers to your survey question are numbers (e.g. revenue) or can be coded into categories (yes/no, high/low/medium) then you can do statistical analyses and it's a quantitative study. If your responses are free text and then you're picking out common phrases/themes etc it's qualitative. I suspect your work will be quantitative (or you can make sure you ask the questions in such a way that it is).

BTW - my perspective is as an epidemiologist and for me this stuff really matters. For you, maybe the sample size can be estimated - you could sweat and toil to make all of this perfect and then it doesn't matter to your examiners. As a general rule with any stats, if the stats matter and you're not an expert, it's a good idea to run it past a statistician in your department before you go too far.

Ian's link is very helpful.

Just to add my tuppence-worth I think the main points for consideration are:
- Why do you want to do this? You need to be sure in your mind what your motivations are or else you'll get half way through and be wondering how you got there.
- Do you think you would be suited to the kind of studying a PhD involves. I'm guessing a PhD in history can be quite isolating, so you need to work out whether you will enjoy the lifestyle.
- Do you have a project/area in mind? How will you go about identifying a suitable supervisor?
- How will you secure funding or self fund?
- Will a PhD help or hinder your job prospects? Are the lost earnings worth it? This has always been a concern in academia but is increasingly so, with post doc positions becoming more competitive and the job market outside being over saturated. Make an honest appraisal of this, get advice, and not just from overoptimistic professors who will sell you the dream.

Finally, consider that the PhD qu is not necessarily just a yes/no qu. 'Not yet' is an equally valid answer. Maybe getting a year or two's work under your belt first might help you clarify a project proposal, open up other sources of funding, and give you some relevant experience which aids in applying for jobs after a PhD.

Good luck

It's possible. I once had a month between an interview and a rejection and although it wasn't said explicitly I did get the impression that I might have been offered it had the first candidate turned it down. Ditto a job where myself and two friends applied, one was rejected outright and myself and the other friend who were more suited to the position didn't get rejected till the day after the interviews were scheduled to be held (i.e. I reckon if they hadn't liked any of the first round of interviewees they might have called us in).

Even if they don't offer it to you, maybe maintain good communication with them because if they like you they might be supportive of you applying for a future opportunity.

Good luck.

Your examiners know that you had no leeway on the deadline, so I'm sure they won't mind. I'm pretty sure it's not like a driing est where >x minors=a major!

Congrats on the job offer btw!

It is not in the interests of universities to let a capable and willing student drop out at this late stage. I heard somewhere that completion within a certain timeframe was a metric unis were now being assessed on, so I would have thought that avoiding you having to quit would be something that they would take an interest in.

Talk to someone in your department admin/student union to see what the options are. They may well be able to sort something out as an exceptional case. If the only way forward is to self fund you could maybe ask for an interruption of studies so you can raise some cash/apply for grants, or go part time as others have suggested. There are some small charitable trusts that do do grants for short periods or students who are in difficulties.

If self funding through employment isn't possible, and loans are the only way, then do think carefully and honestly about the likely job prospects in your discipline or in related non-academic fields. To have to leave the PhD without finishing would be unfortunate, but so would racking up a massive amount of debt and then finding that not only does the PhD not help you find a job, it is actually a hindrance with the job market as it is.

I hope things work out for you.

Many clinicians undertake research degrees, either PhDs or MDs. Depends on your motivation though. If you think you would enjoy research and would like to incorporate it into your career, then it's a good way to go. If you want to exclusively focus on clinical work in the long term, however, you might find it less useful. That said, I think in some clinical specialities, research degrees can aid promotion to Consultant level.

I would suggest:
- Talk to people in the speciality you're thinking of pursuing to see what the opinion is of research. Try to talk to both junior staff who have taken that path, and senior supervisors who can advise as to the career harms/benefits.
- Before plunging in to a PhD/MD, get some research experience first, even just a couple of small projects. It will help you see whether research is for you and might help you find an appropriate topic/supervisor.
- Consider the financial implications - clinical fellowships are better than non-clinical studentships, but not as good as the money you would earn as a full time doctor. There might also be eligibility criteria to fulfil, including nationality requirements.

As an aside I do know people who have done a PhD in the middle of their undergraduate clinical training, but that isn't necessarily best for everyone! So you need to work out when is the best time. It might be straight after graduating, or it might be once you're a registrar. Lots to think about! Good luck :)

Inspirational! Well done :)

And good luck with what's still to come.

Or you just go to the website of the journal in question and look it up in their archives/use their search facility.
http://jasn.asnjournals.org/content/by/year

That said, in this case that doesn't work. The absence of an issue number and the fact that the page ref is 153A suggests maybe it was an abstract in an conference proceeding perhaps?

So this example is a little tricky but in general going to the specific journal website will probably do the trick.

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Re: what to wear - are you male or female?

My inclination would be that if it's a govt job then smarter than if it were an academic job. I'd guess smarter end although maybe not completely formal (e.g. shirt and jacket but maybe tie optional; for females smartish top and a jacket). But I haven't had any interviews at the post doc level so hopefully people who have will come along soon and advise.

Congrats on getting this far and good luck for the interview :)

Congratulations Corrine! :)

I don't have answers to your questions I'm afraid but just to highlight the fact that if you want to work in an NHS setting and you're not a university or NHS employee then might need to get a 'research passport' which clears you as a researcher, as well as the approvals you're seeking for the project.