Hi everyone,

Im new to this! I have a Bsc only and I started the PhD track course last year (basically you do a viva around year2 to tranfer onto the PhD programme instead of PhD track).... OKKKK.. So, I am going ok so far but I am only submitting to ethics committees this week and I am doing this 1 1/2 years. I really feel disheartened because I feel sometimes my supervisor is of NO use to me. I dont feel very supported at all. My study is sooo complicted (well for me anyway because ive never done research before and feel so confused sometimes with methodology section)

Its a mixed methods pre-post test intervention study using methods: survery, questionaire, focus group, retrospectove audit pre-intervention. The intervention is an educational session. Post-test is a repest survey, retrospective audit. The sample is 150 participants and 300 for the documentation audit.

I just feel like im never going to get this done. I dont mind the work but feel im not being advsied properly..

I dont know. DOes anyone else have problems about not feeling supported? is this normal...
Thanks

Well, sounds like you're doing a rather big PhD there. You sound about where you need to be from what you have described, perhaps a bit behind with getting ethical approval though, but nothing to worry about.
Mixed methods, as you'll know, is quite a recent development and, if your supervisors are like mine, they won't be well up on it. So, yep, I can empathise. The feelings that you have about never getting it done in 3 years? Very common - see one of the threads below. So, your feelings are perfectly common place.
If you feel that you're no being advised properly, could you not discuss your feelings with your supervisory team? Alternatively, would it be possible to bring an additional member into your team of supervisory team who may be able to give you the extra support you need?
To re-iterate, everything and are experiencing is normal.
Here, have a mice pie (mince) and a Merry Christmas

Hi Nevevix
It's hard to know sometimes whether there's actually a problem, or whether the whole task is just daunting when looked at as a single entity. Have you tried doing a gantt chart or similar project plan for the whole study, so you can get a feel for how realistic the timelines and workloads are? I used to dismiss a lot of that stuff as management nonsense, but a graphical representation can make the process clear (sometimes painfully so in my case!). It might also help you get everything signed off mentally, I know one of my problems was that I was constantly trying to keep mental tabs on EVERY aspect of my study - trying to hold it all in my head at once felt undertsandably impossible. If you can sign things off until you actually need to deal with them it might make it feel less fraught.

I submitted to ethics for one part of my study about the same time as you, it's certainly not as early as you'd like, but it may be quite achievable depending on how the rest of the processes pan out. In my case ethics was very complex, recruitment a nightmare and the lab tests hit major problems..... in another scenario 18 remaining months might be ample time for a project. Is there an external member of staff who could give you some impartial advice on this? I know in my uni we have third party monitors who can be really helpful for this sort of thing. I also rely a lot on an experienced post doc in my lab who is free from the agendas my supervisors might carry, might you have anyone like that?

My other major source of support (both practical and moral) is other phd students, are you somewhere where you can interact with a peer group like this? I find that I can easily feel lost amid the phd if I don't get a regular "me-too" check with other phds.

It could be that your sup wants to put you in at the deep end - so you get used to working independently. I think if I hadn't done my masters and jumped straight from undergrad I would have struggled with methodology etc. so it might be worth sitting in on a few MSc research methods modules from another course. I think supervision ranges, but I have supervisor meetings about once every 6 months and email if I come into problems. I am a very independent worker though. I know my supervisor gets really stressed when she has to supervise MSc projects because the students need so much help. Maybe you can ask your sup for some references for good books which will hint to him/her that you are struggling a bit.