Hi Anon, I really want to say very strongly that if you have been accepted and have now been awarded the stipend, funding, etc-then you are most certainly capable of achieving a PhD. We would all know of truly brilliant people who have completed PhD's but many of us are what you would call just ordinarily intelligent, certainly not genius's or even brilliant-we are just bright, committed and (if we are not already) we learn on route to be organised and disciplined and persistent. And basically that is how people get PhD's. And by learning to follow all of the processes that make them disciplined and methodical researchers and writers.

I'm sorry that disclosing to your superviser has left you a little more anxious rather than less so but there would be many people here who have a variety of difficulties and barriers and this does not stop them from completing and passing unless they have decided (usually for really good reasons) that the PhD is not for them-either not for them at this point in time, or not for them because they have found that really they value and wish to do other things and not the PhD.

Things like methodologies and theory can be really hard. And slippery to grasp initially but that doesn't stop people from ploughing on and getting to understand them. It is a bit like exercise-it can be really hard when you first start something like running or some other sport but with lots of practice and learning you get much better over time. The same with the PhD-you do get better at understanding these things. But none of us want to look as if we don't belong, so we put on a mask of confidence to get us through.

I sat through one of my early supervisor/student meetings and just blanked at points-I thought I knew what was going on with my topic but it was really general and when she started honing in on specific things and wanting them unpacked to a lot of detail, I just wasn't there yet. But a couple of months later, I am more there than I was. And she isn't there either Ive realised, but she knew what questions and information needed to be there and was checking that I was looking at this. Then I don't always take the best notes at meetings so I have to go away and immediately write up a summary in the cafeteria so I remember all of the important stuff before it goes into a vague fog! We probably all have stories and anxieties but that is part of the test of the PhD as well. Please don't think that you can't cut it! Of course you can but it is hard work and does take persistence and lots of effort.

I know that I have read many posts by students on this forum who have learning barriers such as dyslexia, or other health issues that really can make things difficult at times for them, and many of them have completed their PhD with flying colours. You can too!(robin)

I found that the publishers want to know your affilliation and the range of authors and that the customary expectation was supervisor and university that you attended while doing the research gets credit. Even if you wrote it yourself at home, etc. Nominal input doesn't mean the same for students (even doctoral candidates) as it does for publishers, academics and universities.

So if you were invited to write something for a book say ( a chapter in an edited book) based on an area of your expertise as a professional or academic-then you are the sole author -if you were the only one writing it and your university affilliation as primary research institute (usually mentioned in the author blurbs) is mentioned and gets any research points (Awarded by Aust. government-not sure if Brits. do it though).
If you submit an academic article in a good journal, then supervisor gets some credit as a secondary author and your university or educational institute should also be mentioned. It is not so much based on the writing or even the initiation of ideas and research but the concept of knowledge-which is a construction or something created from a shared enterprise rather than something you gave birth to by yourself-sort of like the 'Virgin Mary'.

You know she might understand the partner-living away from uni thing better than she does your current wish to work away even though you live close by.

I know this should not make a difference, and I think your mother has given really good advice btw, BUT given that you feel a bit trepidacious about mentioning this, it might be that she suggests you spend some time in the office mainly for the networking potential. She just may have a set of beliefs around this, so she keeps pushing away quietly because she thinks it is in your best interest.

However, that set of beliefs might change drastically when you NEED to be away in order to maintain and develop your primary relationship with your partner (future spouse perhaps). She might then think, 'hmm, pity about her having to be away, but having a relationship is really important and she seems to have coped well working away from the office so far-well I guess its okay'. Not that this should make a difference-it is your life and your PhD but sometimes people don't always respond in the way we think, and having this possibility might give you a little more courage. Other than that, I would follow the steps your mother and other posters have outlined. Be really nice but state it as a 'fate accompli' and seek her advice in how to manage supervision from a distance. Good luck Miss Psyched.

Hi BME, welcome to the forum! Hoping the degree is not too terminal though...
Cheers

Pjlu:-)

Hi Wernie, I'm just going to quote this bit from Van Manen-not because it necessarily is the best thing out or the only way to look at it but because it was helpful to me when I was looking at trying to indicate what my specfic approach would be in formalised research plan:

"Generally we can take three approaches toward uncovering or isolating themeatic aspects of a phenonemon in some text (transcript):

1 the wholistic or sententious approach;
2 the selective or highlighting approach;
3 the detailed or line by line approach.

In the wholistic reading approach we attend to the text as a whole and ask, What sententious phrase may capture the fundamental meaning or main significance of the text as a whole? We then try to express that meaning by formulating such a phrase.

In the selective reading approach we listen to or read a text several times and ask, What statement(s) or phrase(s) seem particularly essential ro revealing about the phenomenon or experience being described? These statements we then circle, underline or highlight.

In the detailed reading approach we look at every single sentence or sentence cluster and ask, What does this sentence or sentence cluster reveal about the phenomenon or experience being described.

In my Masters thesis, I took the second approach and then categorised these essential bits into emergent themes. Once I had done this with one or two different transcripts, I found that that I had six basic themes that emerged from all of the data. I then went back over my transcripts and took all of the emergent theme data out and sort of relooked at how those themes reflected the literature and also the main research questions and categories (sort of triangulated it). Though I think I will be more detailed and precise with my PhD data-will have more and the study is obviously involving quite a bit more-Masters thesis was only 25000 words-whereas this will have to be at least 80,000. So a more indepth study for sure. So I am going to be more rigorous and try to really follow a very specific approach through the experiential phenomenonological method-which also uses general inductive methods.

There are a lot of books but it is really hard to get your head around these methods at times isn't it? Hope this is somewhat helpful.

Hi Olga and Phdee,

Well after three hectic days of tooing and froing, I have my research plan complete and the beginning methodology complete-now two glasses of wine later in celebration and listening to music combo of Amy Winehouse, Michael Jackson's Thriller and "I will walk 500 miles" giving away my age here-am going to try to remain coherent and hope my spelling and grammar skills remain with me...

Okay-Grounded theory is out for me but I will use (as you are Phdee) some of the methodologies. I am using experiential phenomenology instead after Van Manen-looking at hermaneutical phenomenological analysis of emergent themes-so will use general inductive methods but stop short of some of the GT methods as I think that I will want to look at the literature before and after and I think that I'm going to find that attribution of meaning (by participants- and discussion of beliefs as well) is going to be important to my topic. I think intuitively I'm doing the right thing but hope that my supervisor who was getting excited by the grounded theory aspect is okay with this. But am just going to send her and the Grad research office the complete plan and hope it reads exotically enough that everyone is happy.

God knows, I'm going to have to learn to say phenonemological as well as spell it! Hope all is well Olga with your methods plans and your argument sounds really cogent PhDee so much luck and positive vibes to you as well. Now I'm having a one day break, doing some washing and cleaning and then after that it is onto the ethics application before work starts up again.;-)

Hi Rjb, I think it is going to be hard to give specific advice as many of us have no idea what is involved in a robotics phd, but it sounds really really smart and incredibly hard-so I would stop thinking that you can't cut it with other postgraduates.

But similarly to Lindalou's advice, I found that your comment on not being able to use your laser for five months due to OH & S quite concerning. How are you going to make progress if you can't actually do whatever it is you are doing with it-experimental data I am assuming? No wonder you are depressed-I would think that a lot of your feelings right now are just down to this 'block' and relative inactivity and lack of progress-not so much due to other things at all. Is there someone you can really get assertive with so that this block around your laser instrument is cleared or removed?

Sometimes, you just have to get really tough with people to get results- when you are a calm person who doesn't make a fuss, a lot of people just don't work hard enough to help solve your problems. They just nod and smile and say the right things and hope you will go away so that their day is a bit easier-really- it is sad but very true alas. So sometimes you just have to go in there and almost force people to act.

Sorry that I can't offer more help-but I know nothing about robotics or how you might write your thesis and while most of us know about the awful tides and currents of riding out the PhD process-right now your ship is snagged on a reef and you just HAVE to get your support people (Uni technicians, supervisor and the wretched OH & S people) to push it off! Then you can just go through the normal 'omg why am I doing this' phases that we all experience. Truly, I think that you are not just going through this bit-you have a real problem that can be solved but you must get whoever is responsible to help you solve it. Good luck-hope it goes well:-)

In the school and system I work within, (Aust-Catholic system) we all have to have training for Asthma-use of ventilators and sprays and something called an asthma management plan, whether PE teachers or not, and PE is compulsory until 16. In my line of work, I have to support all of the different disciplines, as a curriculum coordinator (supporting the teaching and learning of all subjects-not a department head of one subject alone) and I do think exercise and physical movement is really important for students. I do remember thinking of it as a 'drudge' when I was at school, even though being a relatively active teenager at the time.

It is a bit like learning some of the more boring aspects of English language or Mathematics-you don't really appreciate it as a teenager, but later on you can see the real benefits of having to learn or practice the skills as an adult.

This is an update on the Grounded Theory topic. I have just received (from my uni's library) a copy of the SAGE Handbook of Grounded Theory (Eds. Bryant and Charmaz) publication date 2007. I had to wait for it for weeks on order. It is a really thorough book but a chapter I am reading currently by Hood called 'Defining Traits of Grounded Theory' has made me a little cautious about whether what I thought I would be doing is actually true grounded theory or something else-basically an inductive interpretive model, very similar but some core differences.

I love my PhD supervisor but I am not sure that she actually understands how rigorous real grounded theory is. It was her suggestion that I use it as methodology and when I have discussed things like how a literature review is conducted in a grounded theory-which is a bit different to a general case study methodology or inductive model, I'm not sure whether she got the differences because she was encouraging me to just go ahead in the usual way. But it could be that I am just having 'cold feet'. I am going to have to put some boundaries on my collection of data and time-lines and authentic grounded theory would not impose these forms of boundaries (at least that is what I understand from present readings) plus my sample will be purposeful but also based on some a priori criteria-and I don't think grounded theory uses the a priori criteria.

Anyway, this handbook is really good-can't send it on or bits of it as it is a hard copy and I had to wait weeks for my own library to get it to me but it is worth a look. Good luck all...if I am in a better more positive methodological space in a couple of days, I'll post my findings...

Fantastic! Congratulations and thanks to for posting your final story. It is incredibly helpful to hear about how people surmount some of the hurdles.
Hope you do something awesome to celebrate.(up)

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Monty, just to give you another perspective on critical negative colleagues-just don't give credence to their negativity. Doesn't mean you have to ignore them, be rude or anything else- just leave their perceptions with them. I found that I used to give a lot of emotional 'air space' to people's very negative perceptions about what I was doing (part-time study-full time work, etc, etc). It caused me to second guess myself and my plans quite a bit and also to try to shape some of my plans around their perceptions. I tended to unconsciously seek their approval I think.

But what i found was that when you completed something and achieved a result or goal, many of the negative people started deciding they wanted to follow similar pathways-especially when they see you come through a challenging and, at times, difficult experience. But they actually see you come through this experience intact and with more options at the other end, plus a higher self esteem and a more positive mind set all round. So you really do just have to 'just do it' as the saying goes. Damations's advice about realistic time-frames, etc is excellent as well.

The other thing is that taking leave rather than going part-time, especially if you get paid during that leave, is a very good option. You mentioned this in your reply below and it is well worth considering. I have about four months or so of full time leave earmarked for the end of 2014 or start of 2015 (long time off-but I am in first year of part time PhD) and that is when I think I will need a large amount of uninterrupted writing time. So I am regarding this and use of my teacher holidays as a way of really catchiing up on the smaller amounts of work done during regular working weeks.
Good luck with it all-and don't let the negativity get to you-especially at this late stage.(up)

Ady, thanks for supplying the extra articles. And Olga, I have done my research proposal as part of my initial application but am now having to finalise my formal research plan, which needs to be in by June 8th, so like you, I am trying to condense my methodology into something succinct and hopefully intelligent sounding! Good luck(up)

The book by Charmaz (2006) Constructing Grounded Theory mentioned by Bluespace is pretty good. I'm currently using it as a mouse pad for my wireless mouse while reading with laptop propped on lap and watching Eurovision song contest semi finals on TV. But seriously, I'm finding it a bit more useful for my purposes than straight Glaser and Strauss or Strauss and Corbin. Charmaz is turning up in many of the studies and articles, Ive been checking out for methodology-they are mainly nursing articles (bit of a sideways step for me in Education) but they sound good for health care services though.:-)

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I changed my topic about three months or so into the PhD and am a Education PhD using social science methodologies. Like PhDJane, I had actually presented a fairly detailed formal proposal for my original topic, which had been an extension of my Master's thesis. Anyway, I found that I was struggling with doing any more reading for it but kept reading about other connected areas. Finally, I admitted to myself and family that I really didn't think that I could spend another 5 years (part-time) with this topic-which I had already spent 3 years on-the thought depressed me. (I work fulltime so my graduate study is all part-time-might clarify the timeframes I am presenting. The four months before change was really around 6 months part-time).

I played around with related topics and wrote down what I thought might be a new topic and then braved fronting up to my supervisor with my new ideas. She read my new proposal (which was pretty sketchy compared to the old one) and instantly knew what my topic was. Apparently it was embedded in my writing but I couldn't see it. So in around an hour we had fleshed out the new topic, proposed methodology and rough research questions. I really love my new topic and am now becoming equally enthusiastic about the methodology (which is also different from my last study).

The other thing that I changed was, I started doing a professional doctorate in Education, believing that this would be best for me and would fit in more fully with my professional career. But after being accepted, I gave a paper at a conference and realised again, that I wanted to do a PhD rather than a doctorate and so I changed that as well. I had to put a new application in to my university's Graduate Dean of Research and jump through a few more hoops to show that I had the qualifications to do so (Ed Doctorate entrance qualifiers are not quite as rigorous as PhD but rely more on professional experience in combination with aptitude) but that was accepted also. Now all I have to do is put through an official 'name change' as my original title for PhD is still on my records and I need to update this to allow for the new title. But that is just a formality really, should not be an issue.

I HAD to change my topic as I really found that my old one was not going to carry me through the next few years. There was enough in it to do so, masses of content and a fairly big gap (as far as gaps in research go) but I had changed, my life's direction and new job had gone in a slightly different pathway, and I just needed my study to reflect my new direction and interests more. Which it does-but I still find that all the work that I did is useful as part of the background to my new study (but only as part of the background and a minor part at that).

I know you are further into your PhD than I was when I changed, but if you are having serious doubts, talking to someone (supervisor or other mentor with expertise) would probably really help clarify what the issues are for you and, if you do change or adjust your research, what the best methods to do this might be. Good luck with it. It can be quite agonising as the topic and the PhD actually become part of your identity or self image-in a very real way. And to admit that you might need to change it can bring in issues of identity and self, as well. It isn't just as simple as changing it from the perspective of 'before the change'. However once you do change it then you find that you adjust quite quickly to the new topic and new area of expertise you are hoping to explore.

Congratulations Dr Smoobles-well done! Your time line is also really impressive. Good luck with your job and future plans.(gift)