REFUSE!!!! They must know they are taking the micky! I have been cheating on my partner :$ been chatting up some other potential research avenues elsewhere ;-)

as long as its not james nesbitt!

maybe if I changed my name to Who and passed my viva???

who will be the next doctor who?

I have the same problem, I have two work places, my office at uni, where like you I can get admin work done but not much more and my industrial partner's office which is so quiet I can't concentrate on anything apart from wanting to have a cup of tea. I have just learnt to save practical work and admin for the days I am in the offices and my theoretical reading/writing for home, where I like to sprawl in my 'day pyjamas' with multiple cups of tea and where I can jump about on my trampette when I get bored and watch an episode of 'eli stone' when I get mind blocks and have my cats for company (sound like crazy cat person now but they keep my lap warm when writing). Also I can log on to here without prying eyes knowing I'm not doing work.

I didn't think of that, but I had a look and no, they don't offer anything, and tbh, even if they did I would be wary, as it can take months to get anything done here!

I need to find a company who will transcribe interviews for me. However, my research is in a government department and on a very 'hot topic' - I therefore need complete confidentiality as if any information got out it would be a disaster and probably front page news. My supervisor has given me the go ahead to get them transcribed as I have so many.

Any recommendations??

If you end up doing TA I recommend using Nvivo.

hmm, Yes I would have to agree - my friend only really gets stuff added or changed places, never re-written as such, perhaps the use of slightly better language, as she is dyslexic and often uses the same phrases throughout.

I know someone who has this done for her PhD - not me personally, I wish! But I actually think its great, cos the person learns loads about writing style etc a lot quicker than having loads of revisions sent through. The main way this has been done is that she was doing a paper for publication that was changed by supervisor, which she herself then adapted for thesis.

Here is a really good resource on a type of thematic analysis:

http://www.hud.ac.uk/hhs/research/template_analysis/

The best book to get on this is Cassell and Symon - it actually tells you how to do them, rather than just what they are.

http://www.amazon.com/Essential-Qualitative-Methods-Organizational-Research/dp/0761948872/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1225210418&sr=1-1

You can look at large sections of this book on amazon and google books if you don't want to buy it!

I would imagine after the first 5 weeks, the course would pick up and start getting more detailed. Have you thought about asking for coursework early? so you can get started on it.

I would also volunteer to help out on research projects for your lecturers. A few people did this when I did my masters and got some really good experience and work contacts out of it and have now gone on to be much higher paid than me!

Remember that other people on your masters may not have had that module at their university. The course needs to get them up to speed on the basics as well. A masters degree requires much more in depth and broader reading - maybe you should be doing a lot more than this as you will be expected to find things out for yourself as well and the fact that you got a 2:1 suggests you may need to develop your critical evaluation skills.

If you have exams in the new year, I would wait until then. I teach a masters degree and hear a lot of people in the first few weeks like you, then they take the eye off the ball and tend to do worse in the exams. Make sure you are reading fully around these 'boring' lectures - you should be reading more than in your undergrad. Give it until after your 1st piece of coursework/exam is handed in, you may be shocked by the standard required.