Thanks guys, I'm not in England but I have contacted similar orgs to Mind in my area which has led me to the ten people I have so far. I'm also proposing a snowball sampling method in the hope that those ten will lead me to some more people. My sups will only let me access people through voluntary orgs and similar because of ethics so I cant go down the GP route. These qualitative interviews are the basis of my whole thesis. I feel sick at the thought of going back to my sups, I feel I am always under the threat of being demoted to MSc.

I am conducting a qualitative study and need some advice about the no of participants. I am using only semi-structured interviews & I have tried everywhere I can think of to get particpants and I have only got one organisation on board who will give me access to ten people. The problem is that my research is focused on a mental health issue so I cannot ask the general pop. It's such a small number though. My supervisor is going to go crazy and I really don't know what to do. I did hear of another person at my uni who did a qual study with 8 participants a few years ago but my sup has made it clear that 'nowadays' a PhD requires around 30. I dont suppose anyone on here can help really but got no-one else to go to. I'm approachiong the end of 2nd yr, have no data & still waiting on ethical approval, should I just quit?

Forgot to mention: As well as the 3 page outline I have also included a copy of a proposed Information Sheet for potential participants. This is quite detailed and is also 3 pages.

I'm in 2nd yr (health & social sciences PhD) and need to draw up a research proposal / outline to an organisation that I would like to include in my sample population. Has anyone got any tips / advice? I've got a cover letter and then 3 pages split into different sections (i.e - aims, background, method, ethical issues, analysis, potential outcomes). Is that what I am supposed to include? Can't ask sup as she will just use the fact that I dont know to have another rant at me. Also is 3 pages too short? Seems like it but I dont know what else to include. Thanks for any thoughts! :)

People can be really down on you over this. Yesterday my sister told me that I was a waste of space, boring & dont live in the 'real world where people work'.... Oh and also that she would rather lie down in the road and stick pins in her eyes than do a research degree. So that was really encouraging & I feel very down today :( Wouldn't it be nice is everyone could just respect the value of every job, including those in universities? Us PhD's cant be so far removed from reality. Without research nothing would progress for everyone - including those who often give us these nasty or even half jokey comments.

I am the youngest in my faculty and I really feel it. Everyone else is a good bit older because some of them did several MSc's and others worked for a while before. I came without a MSc and feel like a child. On my first day I was faced with some resentful comments & questions about how did I think it was fair that I got into a PhD with no MSc and that when I finish I'll be younger than them when they started. As such I am slightly excluded. I feel that some of the other students and also my sups don't take me seriously because of my age. I'm 23 but it doesnt help that I look about 18. So I'd wonder about other people's reactions to anyone significanty younger not only when they are a postdoc but also during the PhD.

A little bit of both I guess. Technically she's an adult. Everybody's different so I guess it doesnt matter what people think about age as long as you are mature enough and emotionally developed enough to cope with the pressures of a PhD. I'd feel sorry for anyone younger than 18 becasue it takes up so much time and you probably would miss out on growing up. Your friends just wouldn't have a clue what you were doing or why you were doing it so you might miss out on some much needed support at a time in your life when you rely so much on peer opinion, social inclusion etc. If a younger teen or child was practically tied to a desk / lab all the time surrounded by much older people it could have a long term impact on social development. On one I'd think it's amazing but on the other I'd wonder about how it would affect someone younger than 18.

In a way that you haven't got the specifics of your research sorted yet doesnt matter because it shows that you are commited and thorough. I stated in the presentation at my transfer viva that the reason I had no data yet was because I had changed ideas a few times etc. I covered some of the main options that I had looked at and then said why I had not chosen them (other research etc). I also put it to them that the reason I had changed ideas was that I did not want to be stuck doing something that I may get fed up with or frustrated with and wanted to find an area within my subject that I knew I could be passionate about and therefore produce a better piece of research. The panel made a comment that I had shown I understood the PhD process and had shown insight. So maybe you could mention the process you have taken to find the focus of the research. As long as you can show you are committed the panel will understand. Dont give up yet.

a few months ago I was feeling just like you. I had my transfer coming up and my sup had just told me there was no way I would get through cos the research had not progressed enough. So I felt like I should jump before I was pushed. However I decided to go with it and give it my best shot. That way if I had failed I would always know that I made every effort. I had no results or data to present so I focused my presentation on what I had done (lit review, networking, training etc) and then a brief plan of what I was going to do. It didnt matter if it wasnt entirely detailed /accurate because the beauty of a PhD is that it changes as you go along, I acknowledged this and the panel agreed. I then went on to focus on why the research in my area is so important and what it can contribute. It actually went really well & I got very good feedback.

I lived in halls last year. I opted for the 'post grad' rooms. They were slightly bigger than the others & were £70 per wk. I couldn't wait to get out of there though. It was like being in boarding school. There were time curfews on coming in at night and leaving in the morning, not to mention restrictions on when you could use your car. What annoyed me most was that my friends were able to find rooms in houses / flats nearby for £30-40 per week. Sometimes I think uni's know that new people will go into halls and they take advantage in every way possible! Hope your experience is better! :)

Just to let you know that I passed my conirmation viva & I'm heading onto second year. About a month ago I was on the verge of quitting and it was comments on here that led me to take the chance and do the viva. So a big thank you to everyone who offered me support and encouragement. There isn't really anyone in my dept that I can talk to so your advice has been very much appreciated.

Thank you! :)

Hi I have my transfer viva in a few days and I was just wondering if anyone can offer any advice about the questions I might get at the end of my presentation. Would I be likely to be asked questions about other research in the field? Are there any common questions that seem to come up?
Thanks.

Unfortunately I have felt bullied by my supervior. I didn't even realise until I told another phd student about some of the incidents and she was able to see the situation from an outsiders perspective.
I think that when you start a phd you don't know what to expect and so when your sup goes too far, you don't know whether that is the norm for other students or not. I would suggest talking confidentialy to someone else. An outsiders perspective is priceless. As far as incidents with no witnesses go, this is a huge issue for me. My 1st sup has been very personal with me but when my second supervisor is there she's not as hostile. I suggest keeping a note of all these situations in as much detail as possible. You can take this to your head of dept or whoever is the most appropriate person who can change your supervisor (if that is what you want).

I want to quit because I have my transfer viva from MPhil to PhD in 3 weeks and I do not even have a research proposal anymore. My sup completely rubbished my last 3 ideas and now I'm back to square one. If I were to come up with something new now I would have only 3 weeks to do it in. About 3 weeks to do about 6 months work. I just don't see anyway out of it. I think it might be better for my future if I 'jump before I am pushed'.

Hi I'm coming to the end of first year social sciences PhD. I'm just wondering if anyone knows what will happen if I quit at this stage. What happens with the funding for this year - do I have to pay it back?

Thanks