Huhu, what you are describing sounds very upsetting and really bizarre. However, it doesn't appear to be a fault of yours or any other conference participant and I would agree with TreeofLife's statement in that the 'odd retracted paper won't make much difference'. Not only that but all of the other contributors would be in the same situation-it would be very unlikely that all of you are going to lose all credibility because of this unfortunate event.

If it was a bogus event, is there any form of compensation (return of fees)? When you search XXXX and get the information about the bogus event, are there any links or other names, who you can contact for more information? Lastly, usually conferences have affiliations with Universities, professional or government bodies. Are you aware of any affiliated groups associated with this conference who might be able to assist with information or support in any way?

Hi Andrew, I am doing my PhD part-time.The conditions are not quite the same as yours.I''m a teacher and a deputy head, so during term time I only work a few hours on my study, but as teachers get extended holidays, for around 6-7 weeks every year, I can put in a mammoth effort. The official time to finish is, as Tree of Life noted above, 6-8 years. However, I think 5 to 6 years is a pretty good estimate if you are motivated and work regularly on your thesis.

My university, and some of the others I have looked at, won't allow a submission before 5 years, so for example, while I have just completed a full draft, I can't submit until Jan 17/2017. So this next year, I have an extended period to really edit and craft the thesis, plus fine tune all the other little bits, before submission. Just for the record, as far as friends and colleagues go, it seems like these last 4 years are forever and they wonder why I can't put in a crazy effort and submit in a couple of months. I think having that extra bit of time to really make sure all the connections, signposts, etc are there, and the thing is cohesive is a good thing.

I have also occasionally taken small amounts of extra leave here and there to finish off a milestone, and just recently took 5 weeks long service leave to write up the final chapters. Hope this helps. (Btw- it has been helpful knowing that I do have the full 8 years if I want it, because over the years when data collection didn't always go to plan and I wanted to chuck it in, knowing that there was plenty of time if I really needed it provided me with a safety net-psychologically speaking. Ultimately though, I haven't needed to use the full amount of time...).

"The process of designing a theoretical framework is develop- mental and experiential. I would argue that the personal journey is a life-changing event for many researchers, and one that should not be feared. The journey toward theoretical ‘know how’ and ‘know what’ is worthy of careful planning and preparation."

That bit above is a quote from the article you posted. I've quoted it because in the journey of my thesis (known personally to me as WBT or "wretched bloody thesis"), I have changed my theoretical framework from what I wanted, or thought I should be doing, to actually working out what I was doing. I wanted to do a qualitative phenomenological study that used a purely hermeneutical phenomenological approach. It ended up as me doing a very standard Educational empirical mixed methods study using a social constructionist/constructivist epistemology. But, what I did discover was that as a practitioner, I, like many teachers, tended to be eclectic and pragmatic in my practice, using whatever seemed best practice at the time. In my thesis, I discovered that actually the lack of cohesive learning theories and a theoretical base meant that many of the teachers practices, (including my own) were hindering not harming the specific phenomenon, because one or two of the practices would encourage fixed beliefs in students rather than facilitating a growth mindset.

So to try to be a little more concise, I am explaining all of this, including some of the messiness in my discussion chapter, but linking it to my intepretive constructivist paradigm and justifying this messiness and the end 'revelation' albeit it ever so humble, by my open ended subscription to constructivism and interpretism as an over riding conceptual framework. This is my interpretation, based on an interpretation of the evidence, data and findings and I have made it as transparent as possible using methodologies that would be considered 'text book' methods such as latent thematic analysis, etc. I don't know whether this helps you or hinders you, I am sorry if it confuses-it is such a difficult part of the thesis, but it really helped me also understand the difference between a PhD and Masters thesis (which I completed just before starting this doctorate) where the understanding of theoretical underpinnings was not any where near as rigorous. My thesis is also a practitioners thesis, hoping to link theory to practice-but basically about professional practice.

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Hi Tinkerbell, you have been given some great advice. My points are simply that you may have been set up with this supervisor for a positive reason (other than the chemistry aspect you mentioned). You may well have been viewed as a fairly 'safe bet' as a phd student. Not so much viewed by the department and head as a guinea pig or 'test case' but instead perceived as a strong research student/candidate who would work well with the supervisor and be likely to work productively throughout the doctorate, finish well and generally be an asset to the department.

With regard to this second student- well ultimately your PhD is your own race-you have a different topic and are a different person, you will produce a unique thesis and will have a different experience-even if you both go through it together. Your supervisor will want both of you to do well. After all he is part of the process and the outcome reflects on his skills as a supervisor and counts towards his credibility as an experienced academic.


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Just a couple of thoughts 'el nino' ( btw I really like your persona name :) ).

I think lots of us coast through the first year and feel like we are just wasting time. I also think that for some of us, that's what we have to do in the first year, while we are finding our way about. It's funny but my way of working on my PhD (a part time PhD-I work full time) has been what I call the 'drip' and 'block' method. Large periods of time nothing much happens and I work away in drips or tiny increments then I get a block of time and in a few weeks do a lot. I've made progress but it isn't a nice even sort of progress-it is what seems like nothing for ages and then all of a sudden a big leap. But saying this, you do have to sometimes force yourself, even though it feels painfully boring to do so. I'm actually ahead of schedule at the moment, and not too many months away from submission, but for many years, I just didn't think I had made progress at all and quietly despaired (not that others would have known this-I tend to put up a good front).

As for the emotional blackmail...try not to let it dictate your behaviour or induce guilt feelings. Your boyfriend and parents seem to really have your best interests at heart-which is great. I'm a mother of three adult children and I can't imagine carping to my kids that their partners didn't spend enough time with me. I'm pretty grateful for any time at all that their partners want to spend time with me-they are young and obviously have different interests at the moment, so any nice time spent together at all is a bonus. The friends are just being a little self-centred. If they were in your shoes, they would get it, but unfortunately many people really don't understand what it is like for someone else without actual experience. Just set your boundaries, spend a little bit of time with people when you can and don't feel you have to explain when you don't unless you want to-and then only explain it once and then change the subject. Best of luck for 2016 :).

Wishing you all the best Caro at this exciting (even if a bit nerve wracking)time! :)

hi there, I think Rina's comments are spot on. So sorry to read of your recent loss-grief is something hard to quantify or regulate in terms of the profound impact on one's life and, in my observations (I'm not a counsellor or therapist though) it is unique and individual for everyone-even if there are common patterns to it.

With regard to the PhD and end of thesis though, it seems to drive most of those I know a bit batty. I am on the end of mine and my stress levels are really spiking. I didn't think they would be this bad because I have taken several weeks leave from my day job to finish an entire draft, so other than the draft, i don't have as many stressors as usual. Doesn't seem to matter-this process is just something that takes your brain somewhere else. As well as spiking stress, I've noticed a huge increase in the amount of general anxiety over very little accompanied by negative thought patterns.

Given you are in a similar sort of point, a deadline that is set a few months earlier than mine, and you are adjusting to the loss of your brother and the enormous accumulated impact of this on your life, no wonder you are feeling less motivated. Best wishes for a good finish-please don't give up, you can always take a little longer though if you need but don't give up.

. PS: I find that I ignore my lack of motivation and just set manageable daily targets and bang them out even as I hate every minute of it. It might work for you, and the other thing is, sometimes maybe you need to give yourself permission to feel sad about the loss of your brother and accept it is harder to work as productively at those times.

Hugh, this is a great question-it is so hard to work this one out at times isn't it? I can give you an example from what I have done for my mixed methods study-it may help but it is only one perspective or example.

I have three studies and I have placed an abbreviated summary of the methods in each results chapter-one result chapter for each set of data.

In my methods goes a full account of the three different methods for each set of data, plus my over arching epistemology-eg: using interpretive/constructivist methodologies and whole study underpinned by social constructionist epistemology and how the study a mixed methods study could fit within this particular theoretical paradigm. All of this needed explaining and elaborating on before I even got to my individual data set methods. It is basically a justification of my overall approach.

Also included in methodology chapter were descriptions of the site, any variation of methods occurring while I used the constructivist approach and participants (sample sizes) . Methodology chapter had lots of sections including a section on each different method for each data set which went through the methods I used to process the different data. All the way through I have tried to make sure everything lines up theoretically and makes sense. Thus, the methods section in each results chapter for the data set just has a short summary and focuses mainly on the actual results and discussion summaries with interpretations and with a reminder that a full account can be read in Chap 3. Chapter 7 (after data sets Ch 4.5 & 6) has a much more analytical discussion that links all results interpretations together, evaluates them through answering the study's research questions.

I am hoping that this approach is okay, but supervisors don't seem to have made comments to the contrary ('yet' I say advisedly).

Butterfly, do you think he might actually 'like' you and be finding excuses (albeit in a not particularly positive way) to make further contact? Or 1 is he like this with ALL young female PhDs-and is basically trying to 'hit' on the girls Or 2 Is he like this with every Phd student and perhaps resents them a bit or perhaps he is just a difficult sort of person?

Either way, he sounds like his social skills and emotional awareness are a bit limited. I think you probably do need to set some boundaries here.

Two suggestions for two simple boundaries are:

1 (Limit the chat and interaction) If he hangs around 'to chat' after your classes, really strictly limit this-just say using very basic polite and non committal chat, "hi, yeah no problems today, thanks for putting it all away...see you later, bye" walk out the door.And give really polite but brief responses to his replies to the above.

2 Discuss with your supervisor or relevant person, the need for this person to email you before he enters your office to outline why he needs to and what his purpose is. The technicians in my workplace always email or phone before coming in to do something-it is basically a courtesy and to confirm that this is okay with us-we can organise to be present or to leave or to negotiate another time if we need to. However, technicians need access to people's offices sometimes to run their various checks, updates, what have yous and it can be a tough gig, so sometimes we need to cut them some slack here and there and be appropriately grateful for the support they do provide.

Finally if he sends nasty emails complaining about why you didn't run a class, show this to your supervisor if it makes you uncomfortable. Sometimes not replying to these sorts of things and ignoring them is the best solution though I have found. Using the principle of not giving any oxygen to a potential spot fire. Helps it die out very quickly.

Best regards and good luck!

That's a really tough situation. Of course you need to work to support yourself. I am sorry that I misunderstood this. Do you think just a very short break might help-like a weekend away from both work and phd or some sort of reward you can use to look forward to every time you finish something. I would drop any illusions (if you had them that is-you may not have) of being a perfectionist about your work and just get things in draft, you can always go back and nitpick and fine tune later. You probably do need to push yourself through a bit, but I think you need to be a little more gentle on yourself in terms of understanding-it is a tough gig you are facing-good on you for doing what you are doing and getting through so far.

Hi Claira, I wasn't sure that I understood this in that I do get that you are receiving funding for a full time Phd, but you also mention working full time. I didn't think that was usually an option? (Part time work yes but full time not usually-unless you are talking about research work in the lab or tuition and teaching at the uni that come with your funding?). I know most universities I have studied at (4 different universities at present for 4 different qualifications) have quite strict rules about the amount of work you can actually do with a fully funded PhD. Please correct me if I have misunderstood this, though, I may have the wrong end of the stick.

It sounds possibly to me like you are overloaded and when we are mentally and physically overwhelmed with our workload, we usually have to pull back a little on some aspect of our life. My experience (in a life time of regular incursions into 'overload' modus operandi) is that I really lose interest in things, and in the past I lose interest especially in the PhD, which at times feels like a real burden. It is always the thing I most feel like leaving or feel is unnecessary or undeserved. (This is not true btw-it is just what I think at these times).

If it were me in this situation, I would take a small amount of time to just think about what I wanted and then work out how to cut back a few things so I wasn't feeling so overwhelmed and overloaded. Usually once things are in balance the motivation comes back. Best of luck-hope this is a little helpful but ignore it if not.

I am so sorry for your loss ksajohn and hope very much that you are taking all the steps you need to in the next few months. I imagine that working on the revisions and preparing for the next viva will be tough and admire your resolution and determination to continue. While being told you have another viva might seem difficult, perhaps your examiners (who had been told of your Mother's passing right before they gave you a verdict) felt that giving you another viva was only a fair thing to do in the circumstances, as grief and anxiety would have impacted on your performance. What a sad and difficult time for you and your family and such a sorrow to lose your mother.

Hi Lentax, I'm not going to add to the comments as much has been said and pretty much anything I might have added has been mentioned ( I also think you need a phd-and a hell of a lot more in the way of publications and postdoc research- for academia) but I would really like to congratulate you on creating such a topical and interesting thread. It has been a while (mind you I have been away for a while so may have missed some previous threads).

I also think you have handled yourself really well in the face of what could seem to be some really daunting responses, albeit all of them well meant, and that certainly would suggest that you are well capable of handling yourself in academia and phd land should you choose to go down the research pathway in the future.

Hi Tomlyle, maybe putting a more specific subject title might help you with getting more relevant tips. Something like "Help-not much data from lab results, time running out-need advice for final year planning?" It just might hook into all the people who are or have been in similar situations and there will be plenty. Some of them though might not read your post if they think it is about general phd stuff. Best of luck with this, data collection, whether experimental or using people can be a really difficult experience and don't give up...there will be a way through, there always is.