This might seem a bit pointless, but I reached a personal milestone yesterday. I'm now 24 and I begin my PhD in October, and yesterday I finished working at a cafe I have worked in for the past couple of years. The reason why it was important to me was the fact that it might be the last low-paid, low-skill job I ever have to do (touch wood). I come from quite a poor background and thus have had to have a job since I was about 10. I started washing dishes for the chip shop downstairs and earned £1.20 an hour. Then at 12 I got a paper round which earned me about £15 a week (money went so much further 12 years ago), followed by a job again washing dishes in a hotel where my aunt worked. After that at 16 I got a job in a chicken factory (incidentally, this turned me vegetarian), followed by University where I worked in a stockroom for Next, followed by working as a refuse loader (binman) for my local council for a summer. Then I got a job in a snooker club, got attacked by a ned and decided to pack that in, which was followed by again washing dishes in a restaurant, although I got trained as an assistant chef eventually. Then I worked for Historic Scotland as a Steward which involved giving guided tours etc, but I still worked some evenings in the restaurant. Finally I ended up in this cafe even though I worked there before, left, and then came back again.

And so, I am taking tutorials whilst I do my PhD, on top of my scholarship, which is far better money than all of these jobs. For me, I feel so relieved to have hopefully put all this behind me. Some may find all this a bit uneventful but for me it represents the light at the end of the tunnel and it feels damn good.

I have to ask Helena, how and why?

You can also use yousendit, the free service of which allows up to 100mb. There is a handy downloadable client which allows you to right-click on a file and send it pretty much right away, no hassle.

Just another option for you.

Of course, get as real to the participants experiences as possible, warts and all.

I was wondering if anyone has managed to get any funny words, phrases etc into their work? I was very proud of myself earlier because I managed to get Wayne Rooney into my Masters dissertation.

Just to lighten the mood :p

Right now is quite a hectic time at University in the UK due to semester starting again soon. However, do check with them at the start of next week because it is important to know.

0 to 10 yes

So, basically, can I say that whether you are in the yes camp or no camp it has little effect on how you think of politicians even though there is a significant difference between the two groups?

Aye, I did consider that. But it's ok because having a small effect size is not actually a bad thing for the analysis at all.

Thanks for your help

A lot, its taken from the BES 2010 and the sample is about 15,000. Although the Yes outweigh the No's, the no group still has over 1000 people in it.

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I've done a wee independent t-test looking at whether there was a difference in the level of trust for politicians between those who had and hadn't heard (whoever they are) of the MP's expenses scandal. I've done the test, which is significant, but I have also calculated the effect size (r) which is small (.09).

We never covered effect sizes in quant methods, and so I'm unsure about what I have found. Am I right in saying that even though there is significance between the 2 groups that being in either the yes or no camp has no substantial effect on your level of trust?

If someone could help me out I would be most appreciative.

:-)

hmm, could that be a clue as to where you are based?

I have a big external HD connected to my PC. When I had a leak in my flat it was the first thing I went to save after the cat. More important than the PC as far as I am concerned. I also have a USB stick to back up written work etc. You can't be too careful when it comes to this type of thing.

I'm way up in Scotland but I would be open to meeting people off the forum. Everyone here seems really nice and passionate about their respective fields.

Just heard and I didn't get it. Would have been nice but I already have a scholarship from the Uni to fall back on.