another edit: just read on your diary thread. so sorry to hear that. but mostly, i can hardly believe it! i mean, seriously, helping you to get from a vague research interest to a well defined, relevant, and doable research question is one of the key jobs for any supervisor! or at least to guide you in that they judge, critizise, feedback on the questions you come up with before you embark on a long study of them. at least in my book it is. if they are getting at you about your QUESTION at this stage, they are seriously just admitting that they haven't been doing their job! aaargh that makes me so angry, just hearing it! i hope you are not letting it get you down - it is them that should be in trouble, not you!