Hello 4 star celebs. Bah! Too many people have 4 stars now, so it really is a race to get 5 stars! I deserve 5 stars for the fact that I'm intermittently working whilst procrastinating...on a Saturday night as the world and his missus party, take recreational drugs and play the National Lottery. Just one more year though, one more year. And then, like the Material Girl Herself (Madonna) who still finds it acceptable to portray herself semi-naked like someone in a twisted Tenna Lady advert, I'll just re-invent myself, have a massive party and become a socialite.

Hi Buttercup, I have a book I can send you, the best one apparently, called Introduction to Statistical Mediation Analysis. It is very clear and simple - check it out on Amazon. I would be happy to e-mail it to you, if you PM me your e-mail address. Or I can upload it for you - whichever is better for you. There are also macros that will allow you to use SPSS to perform a longitudinal mediation analysis. You can get the macros from this site: http://www.psychwiki.com/wiki/Mediation

Hope this is of help.(up)

Sneaks, I was going to say that myself. Correct me if I am wrong, but you have used open-ended interviews with verbal probing to generate the data - did you purposively sample? Sorry, if that sounds a bit obvious. 40 interviews of 2 - 4 hours duration is an incredible amount of data, so you can't give up now.

Why not adopt template analysis to identify the themes for the 2 processes that you have identified and then corroborate your findings with the other studies to validate them and perhaps extend the findings?

You just have to find a methodology to fit your data (I know it's usually the other way around), change your research questions and, though it may be tough, you'll be okay. Template or thematic analysis is a good way of doing this because its not as rigid in demand as many of the other qualitative approaches. I was going to use it for my research. I've got some papers and would be happy to e-mail them to you.

I am doing my PhD because:

A) I really don't know.
B) I just am.
C) It's a job, and a job is a job is a job - hours are a bit long though.
D) To see where doing a PhD will lead.
E) I do want the title and I'll use it until the novelty wears off - like any new toy.
F) Cheaper car insurance with the title? Count me in!
G) Preferential treatment by hotels and restaurants, without having to be an inbred member of royalty? Sounds like another reason.
H) I get paid to do it.
I)I get to work when I want and how I want - though things still need to get done within a reasonable time frame.
J)I've only got 1 more year left, so there's no point quitting now.
K)If I quit, what do I then do? I've done lots of crap jobs, and I've had all I can take and I can takes no more.

Good God, I hate Macs and the people who rave about them. I'd rather join a religious cult than the Cult of Mac. Anyway, Chrisrolinski, try this site: http://www.nippyzip.com/

You can zip your files instantly online and then e-mail them back to yourself or anyone else, instantly.

[quote]Quote From missspacey:

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It's really hard to choose one favourite movie, but to be terribly unoriginal, it would probably be Withnail and I.

If you liked that film, I'd give Bad Boy Bubby a watch. It's a bit strange for the first 20 minutes but is very similar to the style of Withnail and I thereafter. I'd like to say I found Withnail and I funny too, and I did, until I met a real life Uncle Monty as a undergrad student, a former landlord. Oh the horror...

@Eska. Funny you should mention David Brent actually, because his second sentence on the introduction day for new recruits was a brag about how good the football looked on his 42" plasma screen TV.

I've followed your threads over the months Lostinoz - not because I'm a stalker or madman, but because this is the only forum I am active on on the whole of the internet, whilst I do my Phd. Anyway, I don't know whether it's because your PhD is much harder than mine or because your circumstances are much worse than mine (or anyone else's on this forum), it just seems like you are making your PhD a very negative experience. I've had my writing criticised, my work torn to shreds, done things wrong, generally felt like shit, largely work in lonely isolation, have an annoying sibling who's a 24 hour party person with a penchant for Sinaed O'Conner 24/7, have no money and have soooooooo much work to do and then probably redo several times. So I have every anxiety that you do.
But, do you know what? This is PhD right of passage stuff. I'm by far the not the most negative person on this forum, but what I can tell you with conviction is that it's going to get much worse and even more challenging for you if you proceed with the frame of mind that you have and the outlook that you have on your work. Seriously, you may as well just drop out, and not play the quit game with your supervisor. We all face challenges with our PhDs, but I wouldn't dream of using the quit word with my supervisor - they only want the best for you however it seems - your success is, afterall, their success.
If your writing gets slagged off, do what I do - evaluate the feedback, learn from it and improve. That's what we all have to do.
Not to patronise but you really need to ask yourself do you 'really' want the PhD? Can you really dig deep down and find the motivation that you need to do it (10% inspiration and 90 % perspiration and all that)? Can you identify and focus on what you do enjoy about doing it when times are tough? You're about half way through now and you have to push on and make progress.
You're in a supremely privileged position to be doing a PhD that has the potential to change your future if you want it to. A wise though pessimistic and cynical man (Badhaircut, 2009) put it best when he said it's commando training for the brain and a true test of character. You can do it because you wouldn't have been offered the PhD - so you have the capacity. But do you have the desire and the motivation? Do remember that we all go through lull periods. Take care.

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I once worked in a call centre and had a boss that hated me, he was such a b***h that he used to blank me and largely ignore me. Anyway, the reason why that was so all boiled down to when I first got the job and we had a team building exercise. By way of introducing ourselves we all had to name our favourite film and why. Everyone in there got involved with real gusto, with suggestions of Bad Boyz 2 ("cus it's got guns and chicks in it, innit?" so one said).
About half way through we were rewarded for our efforts by the manager stopping, getting his ghetto blaster (that's what it looked like) out and "playin' sum tunez!" I think it was something mixed by Dave Pierce.
When it got to my turn the general consensus was that Pretty Woman and Bad Boyz 2 were everyone's favourite, closely followed by New Jack City. Now, maybe because I'm weird, but I don't have a favourite film and so that's what I said. He just ignored my response, ignored me and moved on to the next person. So, I'd like to ask, for anyone who doesn't mind saying: What is your favourite film and why?:-)

All this talk of academia and prostitution has just brought back a funny memory: watching my geography teacher at secondary school be escorted from the school premises by the police for being a pimp. The thing was he didn't look like a pimp - thick glasses, shaggy beard, 70's haircut, chequered brown and white shirt and cords.

For those interested in the human consequences of the sex trade - he then lost his house, had to move back in with his mum (I think he was like 48) and spent most days in the public library on the computer. I wonder whether he was maintaining a blog?

I've just done some sums for my work and the numbers that come out are good ones, which I'm both very surprised and pleased at. So I think I'll have a beer and do a little dance whilst no-one is watching.

My God, I was looking forward to the possible Pacqiou - Mayweather fight hopefully next year. After witnessing the aggressiveness of this sparring, it's kind of taken the shine off it...