Quote From wowzers:
Pjlu gives good advice. If it means finishing go with your sups advice as what you will be using after your PhD are the skills gained through research and you can then apply them to new projects. It's not ideal in that you won't be gaining the deeper knowledge of the subject you wanted to study but as Pjlu says, you can do that after the PhD. :-) There is a school of thought that says you should love your subject to get through a PhD but in reality lots of people come to loathe their own projects and in employment you will more than likely work on projects that don't always float your boat. Good luck.

Quote From Pjlu:
Hi Griffith,

Your supervisor is more or less correct from my understanding. You will probably publish an article (or more) from your PhD but the PhD is the first step really for younger researchers-and to some extent perhaps even the older ones, or mid career professional Phder's as well. The thing is your topic becomes so narrow by the time you finish, that you have to broaden out from it again.

I am currently in the the middle years of the PhD- probably equivalent to just coming up to the 3rd year of a 4 year degree (3+1 type PhD). I'm doing one in an area I chose 2 years ago that suited my current job, after finishing a Master's thesis in a topic area that suited the job I held previously. I now have 2 years worth of work left to go (or the part-time equivalent for me would be 3 years or so to go), in this 2nd area that has some links with the first areas of study but not that many.

And in a month's time, I start a new role in an area that has some connections with this current topic but is different yet again. My current topic is useful and connected (to some extent) to the new job I will be starting but but the time I have finished the study, I know that my area of professional interest will have expanded, changed and shifted yet again to adapt to the area of my field I will soon be working in.

Once I wanted to do the PhD as part of a long held dream that had been interrupted in earlier years. Now I want to finish it as a process, so that i can use the knowledge, skills and improved critical thinking in my career, especially to help me with publishing and presenting as an accomplished professional in the education/social sciences fields.

Finally you have to do what is right and works for you, but don't discount what your supervisor says either. If you can manage to finish roughly on time, you will then have the freedom to move on and explore a range of areas in your field-and you can still conduct studies and projects in your area of original passion if you wish. Hope this makes sense and best of luck.