My transfer viva is looming. I am already 14 months in. No pilot study. No data. A vague idea of what I want to do. And supervisor has just said progress is unsatisfactory. Quit before being pushed?

I jumped out of my first undergrad degree before I could be pushed - it was the biggest mistake of my life. I should have fought for the chance to finish. Now I am 30, gravity is taking a toll on my once-pert chest, I have never had a job and the rate I am going, will never get one...especially not when my breast hang out the bottom of my labcoat. Don't quit - you may regret it!

bazzab - just remembered. At my 12 month review meeting, I had no data either. I had tried all these experiments but none had worked. I had to give a short talk outlining what I had achieved and the whole talk was "tried X method, but no conclusive results were obtained...tried Y method, no conclusive results were...blah blah blah" - and in science, inconclusive results are the worse kind. It would have been comical if it hadn't been happening to me. Hang in there - no results is not the end of the world at this stage.

Hi Guys,

I appreciate your words of wisdom. Firstly, I agree that quiting is the easy option and I should fight for the PhD. However, the reason I do not have datum is not because certain experiments/methods have not worked.
To my mind there are two types of PhD. 1- Where the PhD question has already been developed and you carry out the laboratory work (In a very basic sense). 2- You are left to find your own avenue/niche.
My PhD is of the latter nature and I have found difficulty in takng the first step. For instance, I would like my first chapter of thesis too consist of the results of a series of questionnaires. The probelm I have is deciding on these etc. I am just taking too long. (supervisor thinks im 3 months over schedule (13 months into PhD).

Cheers guys

3 months behind after 13 months is not the end of the world. I was 8 months behind at 12 months when I was making the "nothing has worked" speech. All that work was scheduled to be finished in 3-4 months and it took me 18 months. Just give it a go - you have nothing to lose, do you?

Bazzab: I can sympathize to a degree; the area I'm studying is very fashionable (amongst phytochemists) and there are so many groups publishing on it, it can be hard to identify an angle that hasn't been approached. I'm trying to see it as a challenge; if I can think of something everyone else hasn't, that would be great. You do have to think quite laterally though; even going back, in my case, to medieval documents for ideas. Without knowing your subject area I don't know how much scope there is for you.

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.

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.

Thanks guys for all the comments,

Incase any of you are wondering, the viva is on friday morning. To be perfectly honest, Im slightly disheartened because my transfer report was submitted over 2 months ago and Im only now having the viva!!!
Anyway, less of my moaning. I am going to work all hours until friday and see how things go. At one stage I was ready to throw the towel in, but having read your comments- what have I got to lose.
One thing I do want to mention is that my topic is both fashionable but very controversial so in my opinion, any work will add to the debate which is obviously a bonus. However, my angle goes away from my area (Science- hearing more specifically) to a different area (education) which is where the difficulty lies.

Cheers guys

Really appreciate all your comments