Hi all,

I started my PhD 4 months ago, and keep switching on a daily basis from feeling like I'm not doing enough, to feeling like I am on track and doing okay, to feeling like I'm going way too fast. Today is a 'going too fast' day!

Since October, I've been reviewing literature and have written about 2 of the 3 main areas of my research. I've also formulated research questions, decided on my research design (the same as my MA), produced interview schedules, and begun to think about accessing participants.

Is it too soon to be starting to interview participants? I have previous contacts from my MA and so want to contact them before they go stale, and also for various reasons I will lose contact with potential participants in March, so I could really do with interviewing participants before then. Will this be a problem? I feel like I've got a good grasp of the literature, and the 3rd area that I haven't researched much yet was heavily involved in my MA, so I don't feel like my interview schedules will change other than once I have begun to interview participants.

I guess I just feel like because everyone says to you that a PhD equals 'lit review first year, data collection second year, write up third year' I'm worried about starting to generate data so soon. Should I be concerned?

Thanks all!

I wouldn't be concerned. I was a part-time (6 year, very few hours a week) student, and had written my literature review (complete) within 3 months of starting, and immediately started researching after then, which is rather the equivalent of your interviewing.

But the best person to speak to about this is your supervisor. If you're ready to interview soon though it sounds as though that will be a good thing to do.

It's important not to burn yourself out. A PhD is a marathon not a sprint. But it sounds as though you are making good sustainable progress.

I do not personally agree with students taking a year for a literature review. I did this in my first go at a PhD (full-time, had to leave due to neurological illness developing). And I wasted a lot of time as a result, and didn't get nearly as far through it in the time as I wish I'd done. When I came back to have another go (part-time, totally opposite discipline) I just got on with things.