Facebook? Pah! You lot are so behind the times. Everyone who's anyone uses Friendface nowadays: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6rNgCnY1lPg

Thank you, Chrisrolinski - much appreciated.(up)

I'm wondering if anyone has can get a copy of this paper for me. It's on Sage Journals, but it appears that my uni does not subscribe to it:

Bailey, P. H. (1996). "Assuring Quality in Narrative Analysis." Western Journal of Nursing Research 18(2): 186-194.

Muchas gracias :-)

Tut, tut, don't be so sexist: http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/article-13094283-study-shows-men-also-suffer-from-pms.do

Thanks A116. I was thinking along those lines. It seems like everyone has their own criteria anyway, but Lincoln and Guba's have stood the test of time. I'll stick with them and argue my case, acknowledging that there will be limitations.

I'm having a tiny bit of a problem trying to do a narrative lit review. I'm trying to synthesise a lot of qualitative studies together to try and understand a phenomena but they use different methodologies - grounded theory, descriptive phenomenology and so on. The problem is trying to be critical of them - there's quite a few ways of critically appraising qualitative research. Do you think it would be okay to use one set of evaluation standards for qualitative research, such as that of Lincoln and Guba (1985)? I know that this may have limitations, but at the same time I think I need to have reference standards.
:-)

We do have a bit of a problem when it comes to PR, I agree. I honestly think that no-one can understand what a PhD is like unless they've done one for themselves. And as for this 'you're no a proper doctor' crap - yeah, whatever. I'm an academic who happens to have a degree (will have anyway) that is higher up the tree of qualifications than the double-barrel Bachelors and sometimes MD (watered down PhD with a clinical emphasis) that a medical practitioner has.
When I declare my crappy hilltop town an independent state and become it's Prime Minister (sorry, I've been working really hard lately and am becoming delusional), I'm going to start a public education campaign and make sure that everyone knows that there are different types of doctors: medical, professional and academic. Dissenting or unruly members of my state will be sent to my prison - a PhD school - and be forced to do one.

Hi Joyce, I've got the Encyclopaedia of Social Pscyhology and it has a section in it in Role Theory with a list of references for further reading. I can e-mail the book to you if you like? Just PM me. Thanks.:-)

Hiya, Bilbo. I have set my own goals with them. Sorry, if my previous post had indicated that I hadn't. I've got four chapters to write and I really, really hope I can get everything done for Christmas. My next goal is to get a chapter written for in approximately 2 weeks time. After that I'm just going to have to go at it guns a-blazin' and hope I can get the others done in good time. Say 3 weeks for each of the chapters, or something?

No progress for four days. I really need to get things back on track.:-(

Why even advertise such services to PhD students anyway? Being expensive, time consuming, morally dubious and dangerous in nature, makes us the least likely customers.

I'm poorly today, so I'm going to have to go easy. Goal: Read 15 journal articles, thematically organise the findings and then write a narrative review. Not really a 1 day goal, but I'll see how far I can get.

Very well done, Dr Chrisrolinski! We all told you that you had nothing to worry about. Hope you continue to occasionally frequent this site, dispense pearls of wisdom and tell your PhD war stories to the little-uns who have either yet to start theirs or are not as far in. :-)(up)