Having been pointed in the direction of this forum by fluffymonster, I've been visiting for the past couple of months and have found it to be very useful - phew, I'm no longer the only one feeling isolated, panicked, stressed, lost etc!
I just wanted to say hi to everyone here and I look forward to chatting with you (and most likely whinging a lot!). I'm in my second year of a full-time, fully funded PhD, in which (very broadly) I'm exploring young people's aspirations for education and employment in the North East of England. Very small-scale, in depth qualitative research, which is just the way I like it :) I worked in contract research before this, so the research skills themselves aren't the issue for me, rather the isolation of working for your doctorate - but it seems we're all in the same boat judging by the posts I've read.
So, that's me in brief - and I have lots of questions relating to my upcoming Mid-Point Progression, any advice will be gratefully received!