hm, more like "how culture affects reprod.med. and how rep.med. in turn affects culture" or "how culture and reprod.med. are co-constructed", in a specific case.

i am studying cultures of reproductive medicine. so, a bit related to what you are doing in that it is social science but about medicine

it seems to me that perhaps a combination of qual/quant methods would do the trick. for example you could start with focus groups discussion. limited number of participants, but these actually read the whole boring stuff (might not be too bad since they are "experts"). you then use the results of the focus groups to devise a questionnaire (I think your original idea is not too bad!) which goes to a representative sample.

about science communication research: i suggest you check out the debate on the "GM Nation" project in England.

doc, concerning your question about fees/credits: we don't get any credits as PhD students, but we do pay fees. the amount of fees is independent of how much course work we do; it is either full or part time fees. full time is usually about 3000£/year (I think? Anybody have different experiences?) for home/EU students (1500£ if you are part time).
how much do you pay for credits? do you pay fees related to how many credits you are taking?

hm sourapple, that is a bit vague... normally i would say something quite bad had to happen for the funding to be discontinued (like you not passing your university's or department's minimal requirements for end of first year report).
but of course there might be political things going on and things you can't influence. i'd perhaps check out what happened in the past - has most everyone in that specific funding got the continued funds?
i guess overall i'd go for it!

oh sry, H got there first

umm, doc, i guess the system is quite different in the UK than in the US.
In the UK there is close to no coursework for PhD students. MA /MSc is taught, then as PhD student you're on your own (dissertation research). Typically takes about 4 years of that to get your PhD. Usually this time is intersected by a "end of first year report" and an "upgrade". before the upgrade you're technically classed as MPhil student, after upgrade you are retroactively reclassed as PhD student. Upgrade usually consists of about three chapters of your thesis. At least in the social sciences, that is.

i am also considering quitting my PhD if all my funding applications fail. i do think not getting any money makes it easier to quit and harder to hang on in there. problems you are having with your PhD don't get better by not having any money.

interesting question, rick.
i guess it depends on what you want to ask these people about the thing they are not familiar with. what do you want to know? do you want to know if it would be a good idea to introduce this? a good idea by what standard, on what counts? do you want to know if people would accept it? do you want to know if people think it (or parts of it) is good/bad?
in science communication research a method is used where groups of "lay" people are confronted with sometimes quite extensive material or scenarios and then are asked to talk about it. that might be something you are looking for?
a problem could be that you are constructing the thing you are researching. if you are interested in peoples' opinion on something and they don't have an opinion on this because they don't know it. so first you educate them about it and then you ask them for their opinion... see what I mean?
...just some random thoughts.

overall, it is likely you won't get "full" funding this way, but will have to build your funding from many different sources and supplement it with own earnings. good luck!

hi,
i presume you already checked what your university/department has to offer.
you won't be lucky with the research councils unless you have lived in Britain for the three years prior to starting your PhD.
if you are in london, you could check the university of london websites.
apart from that, you should probably be looking for funding opportunities from your home country (f.e. from the government).
you can also check out subject-specific funding opportunities, for example the wenner gren if you are doing anthropological fieldwork.
if you are a woman, check out the IFUW plus their national sections, they tend to prefer students who aren't in their first year.
if you have specific circumstances (for example you come from a marginal region, you are a minority of some kind, you are re-entering academia after quitting for having a child...) there might be charities around targetting just this.

I lived in Switzerland until I started my PhD in England. (Although I am a British citizen, that unfortunately means I get no funding)

i guess there are advantages and disadvantages to both (partner doing/not doing a PhD). i moved out of our shared flat to do my PhD, to a different country... sometimes it is hard! but i do very much enjoy the possibility of discussing work-related issues with him, even if it is on the phone, as he is also a PhD student. but then on the other hand, sometimes it would be good to get more of an outside perspective.

i am self-funding, though so far still full time (living of savings). at my uni, if you will be self-funding, you simply go through the online application process (which involves a fee) and then get accepted or not.

a supervisor is assigned to you, usually in the offer letter, and then you decide if you want to take up the offer or not.

to accept the offer you will have to fill a financial undertaking form, demonstrating how you intend to pay for your course.

i think the first place to look is in your home country. there might be support for studying abroad available, for example from government.

then you could look out for topic related things, f.e. wenner gren foundation if you are doing ethnographical work. or private organisations that fit your individual situation (like government funding for further education for women with children, or charities that are aimed for marginal people/minorities). IFUW if you are a woman.

or you can look for a job and go part-time.