Hmm - yes and the prize giving is a bit odd - this can affect your research because it changes peoples motivation for taking part. I had a friend who offered an entry into a prize draw for his survey. He ended up with 90% of his data being falsely entered just to get an entry into the competition e.g. they went through the whole survey saying Strongly disagree, strongly disagree....... So he had very little data at the end of it.

I just use survey monkey - doesn't that do all the things you are suggesting? Maybe apart from getting guaranteed responses. But I personally perfer to manage my account myself on there to ensure that my data is kept confidential.

Just to say, Young Persons railcard DOES work on peak trains as long as the cost is above a certain amount

http://www.16-25railcard.co.uk/what-is-a-16-25-railcard/minimum-fares

I printed this out cos the staff at the train stations aren't properly trained in their own rules and ALWAYS refuse me until I show them this, I have also had to step in when trying to charge other people ridiculous amounts of money when their railcard is in fact valid.

People will still want to chat about what you do, especially if it is in a relevant field. Remember people love to talk about themselves so start off by asking where they work, why are they here etc. Maybe you will get some job opps out of it!

Find out who is going to be there and find out things about them, i.e. areas of expertise so you have something to talk about.

Get your 'elevator pitch' ready i.e. what is your PhD about in 30 seconds

You will have something in common - which will be the things discussed on the day so talk to people about that.

Make sure you have your mobile on you so you can make 'an urgent call' if you find yourself standing by yourself.

I am sure that there will be people like you there who are dying to talk to someone, even if its about the football/eastenders. Good Luck!

I hear a lot of awful tales in my interviews and have had people break down in the room with me - which I hate cos I have never been a very touchy feely person and tend to tense up and sit awkwardly to wait until they have stopped crying. Best thing to do with people seeking practical help is to have a list of helplines/support groups for them and encourage them to go to these people e.g. help the aged, age concern, even meals on wheels!

Most importantly remember that these people have probably agreed to take part because they like a whinge - I know this may be troublesome for your research, but the sample is probably skewed, as mine is towards people who want to moan a bit, there is nothing you can do about this. But just remember that you are probably hearing the rubbish side of things. I know a lot of elderly people who are loving it so don't be brought down.

Maybe it is also bringing you down because you feel a little helpless about their situation, maybe providing them with the helplines/support groups will make you feel you are helping to address their situation. Maybe your research can be fed back to the council or other relative parties, to raise awareness as well.

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Sorry double post!

I don't really know, being in second year. Maybe errors such as typing 'form' rather than 'from', as they don't come up in spelling checks.

Most importantly remember to hand it in, then have a nice relaxing day! Congratulations for getting so far!

It may sound silly but have you explained to him your reasoning behing your research? My supervisor does know about the area, but not in that much detail. He needed me to present him an 'argument' i.e. relevant literature and hypotheses for him to be able to understand what I was thinking and then say if that was appropriate for a PhD. I wouldn't assume your supervisor knows everything about your research area and may not be getting involved becasuse you haven't actually told him about it! - I realised this a year into my PhD, that although I knew a lot about it I hadn't actually communicated my thoughts to my supervisor! Anyway good luck with it, maybe you need to sit down and tell him how you feel.

I read about an 'award winning' exercise for school kids - but would work in this format I guess. It was to look at the Wikipedia article on a certain subject, then go and do the research to correct it/find evidence why it is already correct. might be something to try and may get them involved a bit. Good luck!

Make sure eat healthy - you will be spending a lot of time sitting at a desk, so get used to snacking on carrotts and stuff, NOT maltesers - my downfall! Which is why I am now on a diet and looking at this :-x reminds me of jammy dodgers!

Google scholar! - I love it :-x You can import the refs into endnote and have it linked to any university you have access to so for me I can find 90% of my reading material from here.

You may work at home a lot, so try and put one day at least aside each week to not turn on your computer, check emails etc. Don't let your PhD invade your house - have a separate work area. Otherwise you will end up on Sunday morning watching hollyoaks and trying to proof read your last piece of work, or realising mid 1st year that at some point someone must have surgically grafted a laptop to you because you always have it on you! - make sure you have a break!

Sorry - in the middle of a piece of work for major deadline and also having loads of other non-PhD stuff to deal with which is great for the cash flow but awful for getting stuff done

must also not continue to check forum! :p

Try and adopt a quasi supervisor. That is - not your supervisor but someone who is doing a PhD or just finished in your department that you can talk to on a more informal basis about worries, concerns, work info etc.