I'm not sure if it's classed as ethical in research if you can't go back to the original tapes but have you thought about rather than recroding then going back to transcribe, using the PC based speech to text transcriber from the outset so as you are interviewing the PC is already transcribing? You could then print off copies of the transcript straight away and depending on what research you are doing your interviewee could even give feedback on the transcript. Just a thought, a colleague used this type of software to tpye his dissertation as he was dyslexic so he just spoke what he wanted the pc to type.

Thanks pixie. Yes I'd rather not learn code on top of all the other PhD stuff to do! I'll have a look. ;-D

LaTeX seems to be the software most mentioned for writing up in? Is Word really that awful? My research is qualitative case study so doubtful there will be any chart based data presented so is it worth the hassle of learning LaTeX, especially as I'm not massively tech savy. If I do, where is the best download site/link for LaTeX? I've googled it but really don't want to download a rogue with viruses that will kill my laptop! Thanks in advance. :-D

OMG I have downloaded Mendeley, it's genius. God I wish I'd had this for my MA, endless days of typing and checking references! Plus the not so small forrest of journal articles I printed and annotated! Now downloading La TeX to see if I can get on weith that for writing. ;-p

Nataliephd has given you some good course information there. Birmingham is very good choice and they do have Mres in a few history courses as well as possible funding. You would do well to consider this uni for an application. :-)

Well done, sounds like a great experience Dr Button. ;-D

No I wasn't told the outcome until everything was signed off. It's a case of being patient I'm afraid.

whilst they may have decided on a candidate it often needs to be signed off by heads of dept. This is what held up mine.

Done. :-) good topic.

You probably can't because you want it so much, other than turning off your phone for a few days! Good luck and I hope you get told soon :-)

I am so glad the admin were able to help and you got what you needed to get by re the exam etc. xxxx

Check the PhD you want to do and speak to people in the department. If you need a masters choose your course equally as carefuly, I was nearly undone by doing a taught masters as even though it had research the dissertation year was not counted as resarch credits by the uni I wanted to do my PhD at. It turned out I would have done better having done an Mres rather than an MA (but this is not true for all PhD appliations).

Good luck ;-D

Did you apply for an advertised research project or propose your own? If it was an advertisement there will probably be similarities as the department may well keep advertising the project as they are building a research group around a theme. Even if you proposed your own supervisors usually pick projects within their interests so I suspect similarly themed projects are commonplace within a supervisory group.

You say the only difference is the 'model' well this can make all the difference! Their model may be better suited to the research then yours, offer a novel perpective, be more refined/nuanced etc, thus demonstrating the higher order thinking skill your supervisor talks of and indeed offer a different solution/perspective/treatment of data regardless of having similar research questions, meaning a completely different outcome compared to yours.

You can not complain they are follwing you if you then end up using the same study site because of difficulties with yours - pot calling kettle.

The crux of the isue is actually the relationshp with your supervisor, who certainly shouldn't be calling you stupid as that's bullying (or did you deduce this from inference?). You need to mend this either by managing your supervisor better (learn to play the game to at least have a pleasent relationship. I've had to do this in work for the last 10 years with a senior manager who was just awful to me so I feel your pain). Or go to your 2nd supervisor instead or change first sup. Just use them as a means to get this PhD done.

Speed up your work as you said it has slowed, because regarldess if they are doing too similar work it will matter naught as long as you finish and submit first ;-p infact on their heads be it if they are following your info because their claims to new knowledge might be made difficult if your thesis is submitted but a year earlier.

I hope that makes you feel more positive about things ;-D

Hazy Jane is right. Publication route is usually for staff, however, some unis let you do publication if you have previously studied with them (but not all). It is worth seeing if the uni that did your BSc or MSc would consider you. The Open University also have a PhD by publication route but I'm not sure on their process, it may well be the same as brick unis but worth a look. If there is commercial value in your findings/articles then they may be more willing to consider you. Good luck. :-D

Personal circumstances. Having very young children and house etc meant a move was off the cards. I'm lucky that the local uni is a uk top 10 but i would have loved the chance to apply to top usa or oxford. More Phd need to offer distance study via skype/moodle etc esp in a global market. The limitations on living within comutable distance for the large number of Phds is an outdated udea that restricts the chances of potential phds who are also parents and that's a great shame.