I am doing the analysis as I go along which means I have tweaked the interview questions as I have realised what I really want to find out along the way! My interviews are quite open anyway - I don't have a specific list of questions to ask but I let the interviewees decide what they would like to talk about (within reason - it is about life stories and they choose what is most important to them)

Thanks everyone!

Calling all Nvivo users! I need to get to grips with this software asap - could you please let me know how you managed it? Any online tutorials or books that you can recommend? Thanks!

Hi - I can get it. Send me a pm with your email address. :-)

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Well done! I work in TEFL although my PhD (when/if I get it) is in something completely different. :p

I am presenting at a conference in a few months' time and have secured some funding from my department - but it only just covers travel fees not the conference/accommodation. The conference organizers are offering a fee waiver to hard-up students - would you go for it? I feel a bit embarrassed as I am probably not as hard up as some students (am married and have a house but also have loads of kids to support :p ) and feel guilty as I am leaving them to go on a conference and also depriving them of the money! My PhD funding is finished though so I feel hard up. I suppose I am asking: how poor do you have to be to ask for a fee waiver and are there any other ways of finding funding?

I have a good relationship with my supervisor but I would say it is a professional relationship not a social one and this suits me fine. We do talk about our families for about 2 minutes before a supervision but then it is down to business! To be honest, I wouldn't want to socialise with him as I have precious little time to socialise with my own friends/family. (In my "other" life I am a university teacher and I don't socialise with my students either).

Thanks!

Has anyone put a QR code on a poster and what was it for/was it worth it? :-)

Yes, I have similar problems. I agree with getting rid of the internet. I turn off my wireless - it takes ages to get running again so I don't like turning it on and off but it gets the job done. I have set times that I have the internet on for looking for articles etc. I also sometimes work in libraries on paper - a bit slower than typing but again, I actually get more done that way.

Farah - I don't think there is a right way to do it - you just have to work out what is best for you. If anything, I am a lesson in how not to do things as I am now really behind in my plans....:-(

I have voice recognition software but it really doesn't help! It just about makes sense of my voice (but still needs lots of editing) and can't cope with different speakers. You could read it out yourself I suppose but I don't think it would save you much time. Plus, when it comes to analysis it really helps that you have done it yourself - so much of the interpretation can come down to how you have decided to transcribe and only you can really make those decisions. Of course, if you don't touch type, it will take you a lot longer - i strongly advise learning to touch type if you don't already.

I would gladly give stars but I can no longer see the "helpful user" button - sorry! Is it just me or has it disappeared?

I also use Express Scribe and a pedal. This has helped me speed up considerably.