Hi everyone, I'm new here and in desperate need of advice. I started my PhD years ago by distance and have until February 2017 to submit. I live and work overseas and have done the whole thing by distance with Skype seminars from my supervisors who have been great. The thing is I'm just not sure that I can realistically make my submission date. I have only written about 15k of the 80k required and that's just intro, part of methodology and part of lit review. I have all my data but it needs to be transcribed and analysed.

I work full time and am a single mother with two kids. I don't live near my family or have anyone close who can support and encourage me. On the plus side I have a live-in nanny and my supervisor is supportive and offers very useful guidance. However she has become very concerned (as I am) with my lack of progress and has told me that unless I write every weekend and holiday until the end of the year then completion will be impossible. I just had a mid-term break with a view to completing my lit review but I just couldn't get it done. Sometimes when life gets on the way I find it really hard to focus and keep writing even though the pressure of time is high. I am becoming stressed and anxious and wonder if maybe I just have to accept that this is out of my reach and move on. I've self-funded all the way so not having anything to show for what I've begged and borrowed plus all the hard work and effort would just be such a horrible thing to face but I guess that's life sometimes.

I'm so uncertain, so full of doubt and getting more confused and anxious by the day. I've taken LOAs already so the submission date can't be extended. My supervisor has now passed my lack of progress on to the department director and I need to discuss the matter with him.

Given what I've done and what I still need to do, is this possible?

Thanks.

Hi - I can't really answer your question but I am in a similar situation. I am working, and although I am not a single mother, my husband is away a lot and I have three kids. I am also based abroad and have a tutor very worried about my lack of progress! Only difference is I have to submit before the summer!! However I am now at a stage where I am beginning to see this as a possibility. Last year it seemed very unlikely.

It is really difficult to focus as a mum (and I know a lot of people do it but it is difficult for me). There is always something urgent to do! However, it would be a real shame to not at least give it a try. Is there anyone who could help you out for a bit, to get some writing under your belt? What area are you working in? One thing to bear in mind is transcription is enormously time consuming. Have you started doing it? Do you need to transcribe everything? A lot depends, imo on where you are at with your transcription/analysis as this sounds like it is the heart of your research.

Hi, thanks for your reply. My field is sociolinguistics and, although I pretty much know what I want to transcribe, I haven't actually transcribed a single word yet! In my ever-changing plan of work, I have given myself two months to transcribe and analyse each of the 3 case studies that I intend to do. But I haven't even started with this. I was hoping to move more quickly through the lit review and methodology chapters than I have been able to do.

There's not really anyone who can help, to be honest, which is just something I have to accept. My issue is this - say I decide to just dig deep and really sacrifice everything for the next 10 months - is there still a realistic chance of getting it done, or has the situation gone beyond that and is it just hopeless now?

If I were you I would look at your data and start transcribing. Then you will have a better idea of how long it will actually to take you to transcribe. Depending on the type of analysis that you want to do, the transcription times will change considerably.

I am also working in sociolinguistics and it is taking me much longer than I expected!

I am using FPDA - Feminist Poststructural Discourse Analysis - the transcription method isn't too detailed, but you are absolutely right about how time consuming it is.......

What are you doing?

I'm doing narrative analysis using positioning theory which is quite detailed.

Hi, would it be possible for you to pay someone to transcribe your fieldwork? And then you can then get on with the analysis. You do have a lot to do, but if you worked full time on it, I think it's do able. It would be a shame to give up when you are so close to the end. Best of luck :)

Hi thanks for the reply. I didn't even know that was an option. Is that allowed? Who might do that? How would I arrange it? What kind of fee are we talking about? ???