tbh delta, I was where you are about 3 months ago, and since then I've been told to apply for a job by someone (at a different uni) - that person works in that uni, so I'm hoping it comes off and I for once will benefit from the 'who you know' thing. Also my sup has just come to me with a 12 month job offer (as long as funding can be secured - ha!) so its looking up. things will turn a corner :-)

:-( poor Sneaks (sprout)

ok, well, you can have some of the interest :p

Sounds like you, like me, need a holiday :-) when will those euromillions be mine???

I have it - will send across now

tbh, I was encouraged to do publications and its meant a lot of wasted time - I spent a good year getting publication papers together which are now sat on supervisor's desk waiting for editing for the 500th time. It has helped me structure arguments for the chapters, but I wish I'd just left them until after I'd fininshed OR done a PhD by publication and solely focused on them.

I think if you want to any kind of research in the future you should publish them though - if only to get you experience in how to change your style for different journals and how to write for publication which is arguably different to thesis writing.

ah no, hang on, not sure if that was clear. I have a methods chapter, but then I think I'm going to have a kind of 'reflections' section in my discussion detailing why I think the methods I did use were appropriate given the findings and appraoches I took. - because its a mixed methods study and my last study was a kind of 'oh and because of xyz I decided to look at A' so I can't really say beforehand that that's why I chose it, if that makes sense? probably doesnt/

if you want to see my methods chapter, pm me - I'd like some more feedback on it and its the only chapter I really feel happy with at the mo.

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FOr my methods chapter I've gone for an argument that's about the fact my population I'm testing is really small, so going with mixed methods and a pragmatic approach is more suitable. I've led into this by critiquing traditional approaches to the study and why taking a more overall approach that's more flexible, is better. Although I'm just about to send it to someone to read, so hopefully they can say whether its too defensive, I hadn't thought about that really.

Oh and I'm just planning to put in a section on the methods in the discussion chapter - as I've just found a load more reasons why its good to use a mixed methods approach (up)

urgh, I've finally done that horrible section. I was aiming for lunch - woops! but I've done 1300 words so far. Not too bad. I'm hoping I have all the stuff for the rest of the intro and method somewher in a folder, but knowing my luck I probably thought about doing it, rather than actually doing it!

well, I was unemployed, and the offer of funding was great. In my field, where you can be an academic or a practioner in the 'real world' the academic community holds a lot of sway and there are tight networks - if you're in on that then finding a job in the practioner field is easier, as you know the right people. So at the time it was the best offer I had in terms of developing a network of people I could work with (although I did actually turn down a better paid practitioner job to do it). BUT, overall I love research, I've never thought 'I want to be an academic' until recently though. I didn't think I could cut it tbh, but now I can see why I was drawn to it.

I also love working at home ;-)

hey Eska, feels like you've not been around for a while.

I've been distracted - my tummy is telling me to eat something, just can't work out what.

Right, 9.00 on the dot :-)

Today's goal is to get the intro done - its a massive task and I haven't even written most of the sections! So to make it easier going to split it up.

First task is to write a section I've been putting off. Its horrible, but has to be done. I have tea. I'm going to use my tomatoes, so hopefully will have it done by 11am.

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My dissertation students do this every year - try to make it look more complicated than it needs to be because they think it will get them good marks. It won't. At my uni, you get marks for a good whole piece of work, well written and addresses a gap in the literature.

Your hypotheses should guide your stats. If you're doing anything extra than you shouldn't be, or at least you would have to back and hypothesise something different and therefore change your entire lit review.

That said, if you are using regression you could look at whether confidence was a mediator.

Oh just to clarify, it isn't my PhD that means I don't blow dry/straighten every day - its my laziness gene, I had it before the PhD too ;-) Part of the reason I have long hair is that the length weights it down and its more manageable. I think if I had shorter hair I'd have to spend far more time faffing with it.

But I thought it was bad to wash your hair everyday? I wash mine every other day, but my mum said I should leave it every 3 days, but I've never been able to stand that.