Hi

Thanks for all your advice some of you seem to understand the problem although there has been a lot of mis-understanding. I'm not complaining about the fact I need to do an ethics form. I've done one and it was send off and one of my supervisors helped me do it. I'm pointing out that I asked if I needed it four weeks ago and I have only just had an answer back leaving me no time to submit an ethics form and get it approved. I'm upset that this has now screwed up my study before it has even began even though I asked in plenty of time because it has just taken so long to a) get an answer and b) submit the form (I can't actually submit it, it has to be the supervisors that submit on my behalf). The biggest problem is that the study can't run at all if it gets held up as we only have enough funding to organise it once and we have already spent the money organising it for 10 days time. Even if I get ethics approval two months down the line I still wont be able to do it because we will have no funding for it. It will be scrapped, wont happen, change of focus, method ect...hope thats clear. That is the thing thats upsetting me - the fact that I just don't know what to do if I can't do the study and I can't talk to anyone about it to sort it out.

I went on here to vent my frustration more than anything as it seems to be a regular occurrence that I organise things and then get held up on the details because I need to talk to my supervisor/ need them to submit something for me ect. Of course I would rather it was this way than not being able to use the materials because I didn't get ethics approval....that is exactly why I asked but I thought I had given them enough time to respond.

I still don't know what to do and I still can't get hold of either supervisor however the fact that some of you have said that this is quite normal has made me feel a great deal better. I'm just going to have to wait until next month to solve it as like my supervisors I'm a lecturer at University and I too have limited time to sort this out. I'm sure we'll meet up eventually.

Creating materials requires me to use dancers to create a number of movements on film. The dancers do have to be in particular states of emotions which is why I need ethics approval.

I must point out to TreeofLife. I know it is my responsibility to find out these things, which is why I did and I'm not sure what I am excusing? I'm pointing out that even though I did find out it has taken so long to get an answer that when I got the answer it was too late to do anything about it. I have been reading up on Psychology and procedures (I did a whole different course alongside my first year on stats, lab research ect) and I go to additional classes for the MSc Psychology course so please don't lecture me on the fact I need to 'read more' on this different discipline. However I still believe that when it comes to something like ethics which I have learnt is such a big deal in Psychology someone at some point should have at least mentioned it. Especially if we only get one shot at the study.

The fact that I now can't even talk about it to either of my supervisors is the thing that's bothering me. However it is good to know that this is a common occurrence and I can imagine even more so with part time students who have other commitments outside their research like me. We are all busy people and that might be one of the problems.

Am I over reacting? I am in my second year of a part time Phd in Dance Psychology. My background is not in Psychology at all, I didn't even do a degree in the subject however I did do a number of courses including a degree in Dance. It has been pointed out to me on several occasions that the practice of dance is very different to Psychology to the extent that there are several policies and ways of writing (such as Ethics approval) that simply doesn't exist in dance. The same is true in dance, I work professionally in the area and find I am constantly telling my supervisors how to go about working with dancers, venues, dance organisations ect.

Two months ago I started to organise my first study. I knew I needed to get ethics approval for the study but didn't realise that I needed it for the creation of materials (as pointed out above this is not usual in dance). Four weeks ago I sent an email to my second supervisor asking if I needed to get ethics approval as I hadn't been able to talk to my first supervisor about it since my last meeting (two months ago) and just wanted to make sure everything was OK (I only thought of ethics because another phd student mentioned it). He came back with an answer last week saying yes you need ethics approval for creating the materials but not to panic. My first supervisor then jumped in saying that it was now too late to get ethics approval and that we should abandon the study. This means that we wont be able to do the study at all as we will lose funding and we then wont be able to afford it. I suggested that we should push for ethics approval anyway and meet tomorrow (the only day before we are due to make the materials where I am free) to practice the study and discuss what will happen if we can't go ahead. He agreed.

He has now canceled the practice and the meeting on me less than 24hrs before we are due to meet. I feel like he doesn't care about my study and is firmly convinced that it wont go ahead. He seems pre-occupied with other things and shows little interest in what I am doing now. If it wasn't for the other student mentioning ethics to me I wouldn't have even known that we needed ethics approval. Both supervisors seem to forget that I don't have the experience that other phd students have when organising research studies. I have asked to speak to my second supervisor but he is just as hard to get hold of. I'm feeling really miserable and don't know what to do.

Is this normal? Is it usually this hard to organise time with supervisors? I know I need to take ownership of my research but when I don't know the procedures it is really hard to do.

Any ideas?

I hope you can help as I don't know what to do and need some advice. I'm in the second year of a part time PhD and I already have regular thoughts of 'I think I'm in the wrong place''.

When I first applied for my PhD I was really interested in a Dance Psychology. There were only two places in the UK that appeared to offer PhDs in this area and the only dance psychology lab was at my current University led by an excellent and well respected psychologist which was great for me as it was only down the road from where I live and work. I'm self funded so I wasn't restricted to a University nor a research topic and spent ages preparing my proposal. I was delighted when I got accepted.

However, I have now come to a few conclusions and reality checks. It became apparent very early on that although the University has a Dance a Psychology Lab it isn't very well equipped for dance. There is no dance studio (you have to hire one at your own expense every time you need to do an experiment) and there appears to be no interest in the area of research elsewhere in the department. I constantly find myself explaining dance methods that I learnt at undergrad level and I get the impression that I was excepted as I work as a professional choreographer and the lab needed someone with my skills.

My supervisor went on sebatical this year and left me to it. We have had a few meetings but I feel that I haven't done anything this year apart from try and organise my first study which is now in danger of not happening due to technicalities and complications. This is bugging me as I have basically spent £2000 this year to do not a lot.

I turned down another offer at a top dance conservatoire to do this research and now I'm starting to regret it. I know I love the research I'm doing and I won't be able to do the research at the other institution but I know they will have the expertise and resources to support me.

What do I do?

I've just started a MSc Res (Part-time) starting in September. I have always wanted to do a Phd but initially felt that I may want to take some time out after my MSc in a couple of years time so made do with the decision to do just a MSc Res. I am thoroughly enjoying the course and am finding my research topic really interesting and am now even more convinced that I want to do a Phd in the same subject. Somebody recently mentioned that they couldn't see why I wasn't just doing a Phd now. In the long run I would be actually taking less time and less money just doing it now.

I know I've only just started and haven't really fully got into it but I feel like I have so much enthusiasm and motivation that I could do a Phd. Is it too early to talk to my sup? Should I just carry on? I'm worried that if I don't say something know, my research proposal will not be enough to convert it to a Phd further down the line.

I have started a MSc Res (part-time) from September in Dance Psychology. I have lots of experience and knowledge in dance but absolutely none in Psychology and my sup recognised that it would be up to him to guide me in tasks and reading in Psychology to help me. I was getting on well and really enjoying it. Every time I met with my Sup he would give me something to get on with until about 6 weeks ago when he went on holiday. I waited for him to come back and then asked him via e-mail to send me some papers to get on with (I'm doing most of my study long distance so don't go to the University unless I have a meeting or research to do). I didn't hear anything from him for a week so I sent him another e-mail. For two weeks I didn't hear anything so I sent him a text and got a reply saying he was really busy but he would send me some papers that night. He didn't but we met up a week later and I asked him to give some papers to read.

I have now started looking at the schedule my university has given me and have noticed that I am supposed to have registered by now (within the first three months of enrolment) and if I have not complied to this then I will be withdrawn. Now I'm really worried as I feel my sup hasn't realised this and although I should of noticed this earlier surely my sup should have mentioned something to me and at least suggested I start my progress report that I need to present during my Registration Assessment.

Will I be withdrawn even though I feel my sup should take some of the blame. I've just sent another e-mail to my sup and will phone him tomorrow about this.