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I'm new, young and CONFUSED!

K

Hi everyone,

I'm new to this site and currently studying for my undergraduate degree in Psychology (Final year) at the University of Gloucestershire. I'm currently writing my dissertation on masculinities and sexualities from a social constructionist perspective and I plan on continuing my research interests in the areas of gender and sexuality in the future.

I'm interested in beginning a PhD for entry in the autumn of 2009, giving myself plenty of time to prepare a proposal, obtain funding and find a supervisor etc.

Still the amount of information to take in at this point is enormous, and I wanted to ask everyone for their thoughts on a 'to do' list of sorts. Anyone have any advice on the steps an undergraduate fresh from their first degree might take?

Thanks all
Dan

B

Having seen how tricky qualitative methods like discourse analysis can be, the best thing I can suggest is make sure you have a clued up supervisor who knows the pitfalls and tricks to carry out the study properly.

If you want funding you will almost certainley have to do a masters before you go on to do a PhD. Finding funding for the masters can be extremely difficult. I suggest you research ESRC 1+3 studentships which provide funding for the 1 year of the masters and the 3 years of the PhD. Alternatively you could self-fund a masters this year and then apply for PhDs after that.

K

Thanks for the replies. I've looked into 1+3 studentships from the ESRC and I think that will be the way I need to go, given my total and absolute lack of funds!

As for qualitative methods, I've enjoyed them at undergraduate level (though transcribing is a nightmare!) but I realise theres more to it than that. I'd be keen to look into ethnographic methodology also as that seems to fit within a broader social constructionist framework.

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