Just remember that Sport Psychology is not an accredited course by the BPS - so if you want to become a chartered psychologist at any time in your career it may be better to do an accredited masters.

can anyone help me find this??

King, N., Thomas, K. & Bell, D. (2003) An out-of-hours protocol for community palliative care: practitioners’ perspectives. International Journal of Palliative Nursing 9 (7): 277-282.

Thanks Jinkim - it can be very stressful to read how much work other people are doing and how stressed they are cos it highlights how lazy I am :$ . I wish I did feel a bit overwhelmed, but always have the feeling 'I'll do it tomorrow' and then go and watch tv - not good! But feel a bit better having read your post!

It all depends on the area you want to study. Does your undergrad provide you with enough technical, in depth knowledge about the area to go in to a PhD. Many universities will require a masters, if they commonly have research aspects to them i.e. a dissertation. This can demonstrate that you have what it takes to do PhD research. By the time you have finished your masters, or even started your PhD any undergrad dissertation will seem like a days work. - think about GCSEs and how easy you would find them now. That is the equivalent to what an undergrad dissertation looks like to potential supervisors IMO

Hi Annie. Thanks for the post - I'm actually not using homosexuality, but another demographic characteristic that I didn't really want to disclose, as it would immediately identify me!

Well, I am using semi-strcutred interviews, and am using template analysis, which can be used from a positivist or a constructavist approach which is very annoying. For my second chpater I am also re-analysing the same interviews with a different sort of methodology which is definitely positivist. I suppose I should bite the bullet and ask my supervisor but would rather work it out myself as I am in my third year now and really should have done all this already!

Thanks for the reply!

I think the rest of the thesis is positivist so would fit better if it was! The only reason I thought maybe there was a bit of constructivism in there is because I am assuming that someone else (i.e. someone from a homosexual background) will interpret the data differently - and therefore I am 'constructing' the social meaning - so confused!

I have an image in my mind of two angry examiners shouting at me in my Viva over this, so want to make sure I am solid ground with it!

I think it depends how you write. I use endnote as I go, using google scholar to find references as I need them, as I long discovered that trying to read and then write is hopeless for me!

there are research note fields you can add to - I find that ordering my references in to categories helps, ones for each area of research.

I am so confused what approach I have used (positivist/constructavist, anything else!?)

My study has basically been interviewing people and then looking for themes - it is exploratory so I am not confirming themes, but finding them for the very first time.

I think I am using a positivist approach BUT the interviews are with homosexuals, so i want to say that i am trying to be reflexive and use a gay second coder - so I am not putting my own interpretation on things. So surely its constructavist!??

So confused - can anyone help me (without too many books!)

My uni has annual competitions for each school - but its worth knowing the politics behind it. I know for example that this year, there was no chance it was going to go to a psych proposal, just becuase of the people that are in the psych department and the number of PhDs there are already.

my supervisor keeps on telling me off for reading too much. She says enough is enough - get on with it, there is only so much you can read about! - So I say go for it. I wish my project was on a smaller topic really - it is quite specific but has lots and lots of different things that could affect it and I keep thinking - what if they bring it up in the viva!? - anyway, my advice would be to go through what you have done and any holes will soon become apparent.

hmm - then become an MP it is, I quite fancy a moat to upkeep and perhaps a few duck houses.....

I'm sure as long as I called the child tabetha or toby then they would give me money!?

had awful morning. Spent all day so far doing lots of work, just not on my PHD and the cleaner has spent 2 hours (it seems) hoovering under my chair. Now I have to spend the afternoon doing work on another project, which again is not my Phd. oh well - roll on a working weekend.

my supervisor is constantly stressing at me to get publications done - even if I never got the PhD, its the publications that count. AND she said there is no point in publications in low impact journals - she argues they have to be big hard hitting journals, the best in your field and then you have a chance. I am in my third year and very scared at this point - oh well, there's always getting pregnant and living off the state - THAT WAS A JOKE

Write a list of things to do and give yourself deadlines to get them done. Block facebook with parental settings!