I was on a reserve list for one uni and it was so bugging me not knowing when I'd know or how many of us there were etc. I called the uni and asked, and they told me I was first on their reserve list so if one of those who had an offer declined it I would be offered it. If it is driving you mad, ring and ask. They may tell you. Otherwise, it is a waiting game. Best to have a Plan B in place rather than counting on it in any way.

Hello there
has anyone used online software to hold a meeting (e.g., when attendees are across different sites)? I have had meetings two-way using Skype, but I want to be able to involve more people. Then there's Google hangouts - which I think can involve more people and possibly even video views of each person. And then there's Webinars... I am about to research what these even are! Anyone done anything like this before and have advice about what works well for meetings with multiple attendees online?
Thanks!

Hi Pjlu, thanks for your reply. We are on the same page in terms of the kinds of questions we are talking about. The overarching aim of my thesis has now changed, so I need to really think about what it is about now, and then come up with some new research questions that are in line with that aim/major research question (or vice versa - questions first, overarching theme later, as you did). It feels a bit like being at the beginning again - except at least I have one study under my belt - which will relate to the new ones I come up with.

Thanks for your encouragement. When you went through this process was it with your supervisors' close/distal guidance or were you more or less alone?

Thanks for taking the time to write both.

Yes pm133 - definitely the awareness about the deadline is affecting my ability - especially as I have already gone past the date I had set for myself.

Chickpea - that is exactly what I am hoping to do - delve further into the issues I've started to uncover.

Hopefully in a few days/weeks I will update this thread and say I have a proposal in place.

I like the sound of that! A nice way to do it.

Thanks. Did you just get an extra one or actually get rid of the old one? :D

Hello again those with experience... If your PhD is changing a bit and isn't really what you had first planned it to be about, is it normal and expected to request a change in supervisory team, or could this be perceived as "bad"?

Hi Experienced PhDers

For about a month now I've felt stuck. Basically, I am in a position where I really need to redevelop my proposal. I am well into my 2nd year. My first study (of an anticipated 3 studies) is done, and the results of it though interesting mean that the original plan for the next few studies can no longer be carried out.

My supervisors are expecting 1) an updated proposal and 2) detailed plans of the next study. There are time constraints (my research is with children in schools and I need to get ethics submitted so I can recruit and get in the schools and collect data before the Summer holidays). The idea was to develop the proposal... come up with some new ideas.

The problem is - I've spent over a month what feels like "messing around" and accomplishing nothing (in reality I've read a fair bit, been working really hard at trying to do this, and come up with a few research questions that seem interesting/rubbish [depending on my perspective that day] - but still have no a broader plan for the rest of the PhD).

If anyone can offer me some words of encouragement and/or advice I would really appreciate it.

Tudor

I'd say approach it sensitively, as you have done in this thread.

Mine wrote me a reference for a different university application, as I explained the situation and asked if she would be OK with that.

I can imagine some would have issues/get funny.

Have had barely any feedback. Wonder if they read it at times!

I don't fully understand the issue. Why do you think your supervisor is acting this way? It is in the supervisor's interest that the student is successful. Just trying to understand better. If the situation isn't going anywhere then maybe changing supervisors will be the solution. But first there may be other things you can try - such as meeting your advisor (do you have one?), diplomatically explaining your perception of the situation, and getting their take on it and advice. They may then speak directly to your supervisor if needed.

Thanks - this sounds good.

Hi all
I want to submit a paper for publication in a journal. I have previously shared the research at a conference and was wondering how closely I can base the paper abstract on the conference abstract without it being considered plagiarism (or maybe I need to completely re-write it and try not to use any of the same sentences).
Any ideas?

For crying out loud!

Yes, manipulating but not necessarily directly. Some examples are monitoring your data as you are still collecting it (e.g., testing to see if there is a significant result yet), entering covariates so that you get a significant result, only reporting comparisons that yielded statistical results (which means in reality you may have performed many tests on the same data, which didn't yield significant results, increasing your chances of Type I error/false positives). That's as I understand it anyway. We had some a meeting about it, as apparently it is common practice but now there are papers on the damage it can do (e.g., hard to replicate findings, bogus findings) and... well, I think it still happens but people are quiet about it. At the end of the day, it can be the difference between getting published or not... or maybe having a more impressive thesis.

I think if the plan is to conduct exploratory analyses at the onset it is different than those who claim to have set out to test one thing, but secretly tested 10 different things.