There will be someone in overall charge of PhD students, find who they are and get in contact with them.  I had to do this when my supervisor went off to do other things, and I talked about it to the postgrad school secretary, on a formally informal level it was that person who was critical in re-establishing the link, and getting things moving. If you are funded then someone will be unhappy that you are being left on your own, and if you are self funded, then they have an obligation to give you what you pay for, which is not for your supervisor to take off without them having put something in place for you, its a contract. Here a certain percentage of the fees is kept aside for student expenses, see if you have a similar arrangement, otherwise make them find you someone else who you can actually see once in a while if you need to do so.

Welcome to the 'old' end of the spectrum! :-). Seriously though I think many of the problems and joys apply to everyone. As a fellow part-timer the things mentioned already are true, it is a little bit different when you are not on campus all the time, and sometimes people do forget that when arranging things during the day, but on the whole it isn't a big problem. Do make sure you have your library access sorted as this is important, there is nothing worse than being geared up to do a search, only to find your Athens login has run out. Also before you start, get reading a few books about the PhD process. Dunleavy's book 'authoring a PhD' has been mentioned by several people, me included and is well worth a read. I've also found Hart's 'Doing a literature review' and Clough and Nutbrown's 'A student's guide to methodology' really helpful. They both can be used to focus upon what you actually want to do, rather than what you think you want to do :$. When I read Hart's book it actually helped me finally put my finger on what was the real problem I was looking at, as opposed to what I initially thought was the problem and it has sent my research in a completely different direction, it produced the 'Ah ha' moment, which is always useful.

Do you think the CAT will sit on the MAT????:-):$

your supervisor will have a reason for this. All those already mentioned are valid and important. They may think you have potential to get published in a 'better' journal (they may even think someone might take your idea and run with it before you get your thesis in, after all once it is out there you have spilled the beans on the contents). Certainly you can't add anyone's name without their consent, would you be pleased if someone did that to you? Your supervisor has the experience, and you need to listen to them.

Had a meeting at long last with my supervisors and one of the things we discussed was my data. I have yet to start to analyse this, some won't be that much of a problem, but I have collected close to 5,000 requests and responses. These cover a range of things, from requests for help with practical work, to best buys for equipment via general work type questions. My aim is to sort these into categories, and then divide them further into sub categories, followed by looking at the type and number of responses to each question. Supervisors suggested things like nvivo etc, but I am not sure they will be suitable as I think they are much more likely to be of use for conventional interviews. A long time ago when I worked in a hospital lab, we tried to use software to try to find a relationship between about 2,000 femoral heads, we duly put in all the data, size surface, etc. etc. - and every single one was given a different category, which was no use at all, and we ended up doing it manually. I'm really in favour of doing the same here, getting it all printed out and sorted that way. Could I justify this on the grounds that it would be less likely to produce errors, or is there any software that would cope with this?

Dunleavy (2003 )'Authoring a PhD: how to plan.draft, write and finish a doctoral thesis or dissertation' Basingstoke; Palgrave Macmillan. Lots of good stuff in there. Well worth a read. :-)

number one, get an extension, you should get that easily enough. number two, take a little bit of time out and read Dunleavy's book, about setting out your chapters, and his thoughts on the writing process, number three, look at Hart' s book, writing a literature review, not for the literature review bit, but for the way to go about looking at what you have. I made some surprising discoveries about my material using this book. Remember that 'no result' is also a result, just a different one to the one you were expecting. you can write about the way you would use this to further your research, picking out areas that you think might yield interesting material if pursued. Look at your results from a different angle, see if they tell you anything, mind map it, doodle it, let your thoughts on it wander down different paths. You have done most of the work, have the rest of the stuff sorted, go for it. Don't let your non-visible supervisor get in the way of what you want to do - and don't forget you have paid for his time, it is a contract between you and the uni, so it shouldn't be a case of he hasn't got time, and if he really can't be bothered, go to your postgrad dept and suggest that as your super is unable to help you, you need someone to fill the vacancy so that you have the support to help you finish this. Otherwise of course you will have cause to appeal against any adverse outcome My supervisor was recently hauled over the metaphorical coals for lack of communication by someone higher up than him and has now got back in touch, so a word in the right ear may do wonders for their availability. Don't give up, and don't let them suggest you should do so. Course there is time, as for the future, worry about that later, concentrate on getting this finished first. You can do it!:-)

congratulations and well done!!!:-):-). An inspiration to all us poor souls who are still in the middle of it, proves it can be done!

I'm also working on several chapters at once. It helps me mull over ideas from one chapter whilst writing another, it is sometimes quite amazing how you sometimes get a bright idea about another chapter when plouging through another one - well I do anyway :-) - perhaps i should hav ejust said idea, not all are that bright in the cold light of day!:$

Is your questionnaire ready for piloting? That is, have you got some other people, other students are a good bet as they have fellow sympathy :-) so that you have the wording right? What I did was to then test it out on some people who were leaving my specific area of study, so they had the knowledge necessary to understand the questions from a professional point of view, but as they were leaving, they didn't receive the final version. This was quite important for my study, but might not be for yours. However, one thing mentioned at one of our meetings here was the need to make any necessary changes and then pilot the changed questionnaire too, something worth thinking about. I suppose the actual number depends upon how many people are available. The entire number of people available to me was much smaller than your proposed number of questionnaires, but my pilot was with 15 people who were leaving. Also the group knows what I am doing, knows me (in a virtual way) and the process was conducted via the internet. This made it swift, I had a high return rate (only 2 people didn't manage to fill it in, and that was through a technical problem which we were unable to solve, and they have subsequently joined in other bits of discussion anyway. I still produced a covering letter though, I think it is quite important, especially as it allows you to not only introduce yourself, but provide the recipient with information, like how they can withdraw, how you are going to treat the information etc. This would probably reassure the recipient and make them more likely to fill it in. 

Read Hart 'Doing a literature review' :-) Thats the second time I've put this on this site today :$ but I have found it sooo useful. It put a completely different slant on the way to approach it, and certainly clarified what was supposed to be there for me.

I've just about got to that stage too, I've done a revised plan of attack through to completion and have got my chapter headings sorted at last (I had some before, but was never quite happy with them, so regarded them as vaguely unsatisfying, if you know what I mean). I found three books most useful to help me sort things out, one is Dunleavy 'authoring a PhD' which I know many others have also recommended. It gives clear advice about the way to go about it. Clough and Nutbrown 'a student's guide to methodology' not exactly about chapters, but if you do the exercises as suggested, it certainly helps to get your head round things, and can help clarify exactly where you are going and what you are supposed to be doing, and last, but not least, I found Hart 'Doing a literature review' surprisingly helpful in getting my ideas sorted. I've used this one over the last few months when I was trying to get an idea about the best way to go about my lit review - I chickened out a bit and started on other chapters, kidding myself a bit that I should do these first as my research has a lot of book type stuff in it - and it has been so helpful, so much so that has put a completely unexpected slant on the research, a kind of 'eureka moment' i suppose. i did lots of diagrams etc. using this book as a starting point, and like you I had lots of 'stuff' and lots of potential homes for it, the book really helped me sort it out. Definitely worth a read :-)

I have a full time job, but it is in a school (don't get the all the holidays off though, but can work at home for some of the time and get a bit more than others might, but on the other hand I can't just book a week or a day off if I need it). I do some work most evenings, but not all, and not always a lot, and I work part of most weekends. i have the usual domestic things to do, plus there is a large garden that needs attention, especially just at the moment. However I regard these times as 'thinking time' and I have had to do a lot of that to finally - I think- get an idea of what the true basis of the problem I'm looking at is. I work when inspiration strikes and that is for me quite a productive way of doing things rather than working for a set number of hours per day which doesn't suit me at all, although I expect that is partly to do with the subject. Each to his own i think:-)

Chris, I've just come back on here, this is a horrible thing to have happened whenever it happens, but one thing you do need to do is not bottle it up, you need to let your emotions out, so I suggest you get some old plates or something and throw them at the wall, or the floor or any surface available, you will feel better, rage against something, anything preferably inanimate as it can't tell tales - pets and people tend to get alarmed - and release some of that tension. You owe it to yourself to get through this after all the work you have put into it, once it is over and handed in you can deal with the other stuff, one step at a time. sending hugs  and best wishes x

My supervisors have gone AWOL too at the moment, but I'm getting on with things myself and will prompt them again when I have something substantial to send them - which should be in a few weeks I hope- I need them to do a few things on the admin side, but that will have to wait until September now as the last date to submit for the next hurdle will be gone by the end of next week. However I still have time to get the necessary things sorted, and I will have made progress in other chapters so all is not lost. I am not quitting because I'm pretty sure it is only pressure of work that has made them forget that I'm here (being part time and working full time means that I can't just pop in to see them, and one has moved away anyway). They don't know a lot about my area so they are good at sounding out ideas etc. but not so much help on the sourcing of material. It does get a bit lonely when you feel you are working alone whilst others seem to have loads of help - but on the other hand at the end you will be able to say it was all your own work!:-)