just a little vent.. i'm working on my first core thesis part, which has a social-historical nature. Am trying to translate the core information from a certain type of primary sourc from the last few decades into a series of diagrams, which I then hope to analyse for my first chapter. But now the sheer number of these diagrams and their complexity is really daunting on me. Thing is that translating the information into diagrams itself is a lot of work and I'm far from finished with it. I'm just horribly afraid that I could spend loads of time on something that won't actually bring the outcome I hope (perhaps because it's still simply too complex for a neat abstraction/analysis).

My supervisor isn't really much help, as he never really reads what I give him or engages much with what I'm trying to do..

I think I'll just plod on and hope for the best -- but is anyone else here worried about doing something that might turn out to be useless/a waste of time ?

You have my sympathies Apple, I've generated so much junk data and put so much into work that has come to nothing this year. I had a rather lovely plan for how to follow up all my initial work with a functional study and some really interesting techniques, now the whole thing has to be ditched :( Both thesis and I look rather pathetic just now.

Is there another academic you could talk to about this? Or maybe even a satistician if it's a data issue? Having such a disinterested supervisor really sucks and it isn't fair on you, do you have third party monitors or progress committees who might address this?

Thanks, teek, you have my sympathises too, sounds like a rather unpleasant situation you're in..! It's so hard to know beforehand whether or not some plan will work out, I guess part of it is simply the nature of research! Anyway, I hope you'll find some way out of your muddle..!

Postgraduate studies in the country where I do my phd aren't very structured at all, so there's no committees etc. I do have some people I sometimes talk to about my project though. I think my dilemma is in a way my own fault, because people have told me that this part is perhaps too much work for just one of three core parts, but I'm still too tempted still by its potential outcomes to simply ditch it. I am too stubborn to let go of it before having tried it out to the end, but at the same time can't shake off the fear that I might not be able to use it. Argh.