Sally,

You really do need to talk to your supervisor. I have had very difficult conversations with mine in the past (e.g. having to tell my ex-supervisor that I hated the topic and wanted to change supervisors), and I put it off for so long. They will be much more understanding than you expect. The worse bit is putting it off and making yourself stressed about it, which is only going to make you feel worse.

If you are worried about how to say it, then perhaps send an email prior to meeting up, saying that you have been having personal problems which you would like to discuss. At least this way they will be prepared to talk to you about sensitive issues and will set aside more time than usual.

Good luck, and do not worry. I am sure that many people will go through a similar thing. :-)

Hi Mog,

Thanks for your response. It's good to know that you have been through a similar thing. I think my fear is that I will start collecting my data without actually knowing my hypothesis and what I am actually going to do with the data! Hopefully I will sort it out :-).

Hi Pixie

Thanks for your reply. It is good to know that someone else is feeling the same way! I think I do need to discuss this with my supervisor. I think the problem is that he thinks that I am doing fine, and whenever I want to meet with him he normally has someone else to see 20 mins later, so its not really enough time to have a deep conversation! I only really have 1 supervisor, and sometimes I feel a bit neglected! I have been thinking about trying to get someone else in the team but also don't want to hurt his feelings, as he really is a good supervisor overall.

How far are you into your PhD now? I agree that this is probably something that everyone goes through, it is just very frustrating! But at least I have now put my finger on what it is that has been holding me back for the past few weeks. I will try and discuss it with my supervisor this week :-).

I have been working on my PhD for 6 months now. The idea of my topic was proposed by my supervisor. It is an area that I am very interested in, sleep and depression, however as it is such a broad area I am really struggling to get my research questions down. Basically, I am doing a longitudinal study where I am measuring several types of sleep over several time-points, and also comparing 2 different groups.

As I am working with NHS patients I had to work quickly to get my application into ethics. However, now I have done that I find myself feeling overwhelmed with my research questions. I am not sure whether I should just focus on one main question / hypothesis, or whether I should be trying to focus on answering everything (which is obviously not possible!). I have had so much paperwork and NHS stuff to sort out in the past few months that my conversations with my supervisors tend to focus on practical elements, rather than my deep concerns over my research idea! I am struggling to get this across...


It would be interesting to hear if anyone else has experienced a similar situation, and any advice would be much appreciated! :-)