I am at the beginning of my 3rd year and i am really struggling with my PhD. I have collected a lot of data, however i really struggle to interpret it and I really do not enjoy the subject much at all any more. I have a thesis plan but cannot imagine writing the thesis since i dislike the whole thing so much. I do not want to stay in research afterwards and do not want a related job in industry. Should i just save the pain and quit now??

Speak to your supervisors. You have done all the hard work and you seem to have lots of data. Having a PhD, regardless of the research topic will make you more employable. It will look bad on your CV if you dropped out of a PhD. Discuss this with your seniors and go for the PhD!

Otherwise you could put all the work together for a MPhil. Try and get something out of all the hard work you have done

At very least write up for an MPhil, but if you can stick it out the PhD will probably do you far more good.

Claire, push yourself and finish what you started. Now is not the time to quit, especially over motivation issues! Discuss your data with someone as it could help you interpret it.

I'm in the same boat. Can't stand the subject I'm doing, having problems motivating myself just to look at any data I've collected, nevermind analysing it. However, quitting is not the answer, finish what you have started and even if you don't want to stay in researh, a PhD will open many other doors.

thank you for your positive responses. I'm trying to get on with it.

Anom - what year of your PhD are you in?

Just over my third (and final - I hope)year.

I'm in the same situation, but my research went bad and I have to scraping the bottom of the barrel to show some results.
I realy would give up.

Good Luck
from Italy for your Phd
Claudio