Did anyone come accross the term Interpretive Structural Modelling (ISM)?
Its a qualitative approach, and as far as I understood it assess the relationships between factors (whatever factors you might have).

Its strange that this approach was hyped around 70s than long period of nothingness to reocur recently in many publications.

Anyone?

Hi dear fellow forum readers. I have been visiting this forum for approx. 3 years every single day as this forum has given me so much motivation and information on how
to handle the long PhD road. Iam now in my 3rd year and have created my framework based on secondary and primary research. The result of a specific part of this framework is a calculated %. E.g. You receive 50% go along this path, you receive 75% go along another path and so forth...
I am having heavy difficulties in weighting my variables. Not even a week ago I did not even know where to start, however today I think I need to look into sensitivity analysis, monte carlo simulation and such things. Background of the Problem: I have 4 pillars each pillar has points assigned to. After the calculation You have 2 paths to follow. If your score is between 0-74% = Path1, 75%-100% = Path2. If the user enters Path1 he will have to work on buidling up the weak pillars. Path2 is the "successful" path, when you are on path2 you are likely to succeed. Now the requirement is that each Pillar has a minimum score which has to be reached. I simply want to prevent that 1 pillar has 0 points and the other 3 pillars have perfect scores. If someone can help me by telling me if iam utterly wrong or the right way I woul appreciate it! The thing is I think I do not even meet the mathematical requirements, as each of the 4 Pillars has a different scoring. E.g. Pillar 1 has 2 options either 0, or 100 points, Pillar 2 has options such as 0, 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, 90, 100. Simply put Pillar 1 says do you have X? than 0 points, do you have Y? than 100 points. And Pillar 2 says do you have 1 PM? than 10 points, do you have 4 PM? than 40 points and so on until max 10 PM = 100 Points.
Now as I have these 4 Pillars I tried giving each a weight of 0,25 in order to make it equal, however when I did some permuations on paper I found a permuation going against my requirement that none of the pillars should be too low.
I had for example 3 pillars over average and one pillar extremely low and my overall score still reached 78% (which is supposed to be good).
I am sorry for making it so messy but I realy cant think of an easier way to explain it...Hope this forum can help me out, either by giving me hints if iam thinking wrong or what to do, whatever just need some feedback. Thanks all!

DAAD definitely supports german citizens to pursue a PhD, also abroad. I guess DAAD-funding is less difficult to get.
Institutions like SdW, Konrad Adenauer, Cusanus and so on offer studentships but you should participate in activities, will be difficult when in UK. My Brother for instance has to participate once a month in activities.
If you can read german have a look at this link: http://www.e-fellows.net/show/detail.php/5789, very useful! You can look for scholarships in Europe.

Not directly the government. But have a look at DAAD and some religious e/political institutions. However, DAAD would be the best call, they sponsor students who wish to pursue a PhD but the money is not really satisfying. I would say you could barely pay the fee with it.
When it comes to PhD, German does not need to send their students out and therefore their is really less offer of funding. Bachelor/Master are other stories...Profs have a budget to take care of students they really "want" and others get the money from funding and/or companies.
Try DAAD if you haven't done it yet.http://www.postgraduateforum.com/images/panelButtons/postButton.gif

Agreed. I am doing a PhD, not in your field of expertise, and my former degree is a B.A (hons). As already said, it really just matters how to convince the prof + company (funding) that you are suitable for pursuing the PhD!

Agreed. I am doing a PhD, not in your field of expertise, and my former degree is a B.A (hons). As already said, it really just matters how to convince the prof + company (funding) that you are suitable for pursuing the PhD!

During my undergraduates I worked part time at our university Institute. They conducted twice a year a conference where HR Manager come together and talk about new developments. I was fortunate to have small chats with several HR guys/ladies. According to their experience, a picture adds a more personal feeling to the application as one without. You do not have to forget that in some big companies, there are psychologists working with the HR department together! They say they can judge the personality of a person by a picture.

However, true or not, the No.1 reason for having a pic in your application is to judge your maturity. Are mature enough to not send in a pic where you are in short pants on the beach? This sounds silly, but it happens quite frequently! There seem to be enough people who can not get it right and send a pic with silly motives. The applicant dressing in a suit but the background is Pink...and so on.
People get very creative when they think they have to distinct themself by posing in a strange way on the picture.

Be aware that you might be asked for one. But again Industry and acadamia are two seperate pair of shoes.

@Missspacey, Where the heck do you have that from? Or am I missing the irony from your post? ;)
Nowadays its not necessary to put in your marital status or religion etc., however a Picture is necessary. When you apply for a degree at university or a job. On the other side I can't realy tell if its necessary for jobs in academia.
Nevertheless what do you lose adding it? Its not Uk or America, where your application will not be considered if a pic is on it! You will not have any negative impact on it...well if its a pic with you proper dressed. So in this case I would consider to take the secure road and add it. Good luck!

Well considering that you wish to study at this particular University, in this particular field I would suggest to give it a 2nd try.
You did not mention giving wrong answers to the questions or just saying stupid things right? You were silent, well thats not a positive sign either
but you can work with this! Calling them or better having a chat about this day could give you a 2nd chance. You can simply state that you were nervouse but that the 3 months you spent on doing the research (could also state which aspect you liked most) showed you that you are born to do it (...might be a bit exaggerated ;))...blabla...

Do not give up on the first try, many people do so for a main reason: The shame of facing the situation/people again.
In case they say no go on and do look for other posibilities.
If I wouldn't be so stubborn I wouldn't have got some opportunities in my life...well and of course also some negative experience ;-)

wow if that's not enough motivation...nice post Satchi. I agree with what Satchi said.
Actually Chemistry is a subject you should take your time for. Rushing in something won't get you the results you wish.
Well saying that, I am not from this field but I have relatives and a friend which obtained a PhD in Chemistry. My friend took 5 years and that is total average in this subject in my Country. Just reading your last sentences reveals what you realy want. You like this Project. So you should keep on doing research in this field.

I'am lucky with my Sup, he supports me very well and tries to help out when I'am stucked (even though he is not familiar with my subject). Trust me I'am not used to this. Professors/Supervisors in the past never really had an interest in my studies, so I was forced to work alone and when I was stucked I had to get advice from outside my University, I was used to that.
If you do not mind working hard than you should not care about the Supervisor.
Changing Supervisors and so on is just stress I woul not personnely like to go through. Think about it would you really want to give up 1 year of struggle in a Project you like only because other factors are not right...jeez you even build up the lab! Motviation exists and you like the project, that should be enough, in my opinion.

Ps: As long as you do not suffer frrom social or mental problems.

I have two friends studying on PhD-level in Germany. Both are happy about their choice. Well it is how it is, if you study home in an environment you are used too, and you do not mind it than you are happy. Costs in Germany range from 150 - 800 Euro for half a year. So paying the fees should not cause any problems because there are plenty of part-time jobs.

In which field do you intend to do your PhD? Engineering, Chemistry, Physics are the top fields in Germany.
Starting with finding a supervisor who does not mind supervising you in English will be hard but achievable. You can start looking
at the private Universities, they usually cope with foreign students and have plenty ressources to make your research life easier.
For that you certainly have to pay (fees comparable with UK). Nothing is impossible, so give it a try, but dont tie yourself to the goal
of finishing your PhD in 3 years. As a foreigner you should take your time when going abroad to a none-english-speaking-country.

My Father did his Dr. many years ago. He had to start from the scratch! Doing his master AGAIN than going on to Dr. in Chemistry.
Things have changed, by how far? I do not know.
Good luck!

Well it depends. I grow up in Germany and I am currently doing my PhD research in UK. Even though I might hurt some British feelings (do not intend too...) it is by far harder to start a PhD in Germany. This fact (yes it is a fact) does not refer to the Quality of a PhD but rather has to do with an old antiquated education system which is still changing! Bear in mind that we just have a History of 10 years offering Bachelor and Master.
You coming from Malaysia might also have a Problem with immediately starting the PhD, because several Universities (the majority) simply do not know about the quality of an Malaysian Degree. It could be that you have to do another Master, or more likely you should visit some courses before starting (aprox. 1 year).
Another point is that the cost of Education is extremely cheap in Germany, this means you can not expect any kind of Service from your faculty. You have a 50/50 chance. You get a bad Prof. then you will have to do a lot of minor work and the progress of your PhD will be equal to 0, or you get a good one and everything goes well.
(I know by reading this forum that some may think it is similar to UK, but in UK the Supervisors have to support you in some way to do a progress, even if it is little. In Germany no one is checking the Prof, so from the experience of my friends I can undoubtedly say that I did the right choice pursuing my PhD in UK.

May I ask why not in the UK? As far as I know, many Universities here have requirements for Malaysian Students and it is even easier for students from Malaysia than from China.

Concluding I can guarantee you, that you will not finish in 3 years. 4 years is realistic. Please note that the average is above 5 years!