I am 1.5 years in my PhD journey now. Dealing with confusion and lack of motivation due to anxiety, 1st year was basically dedicated to conferences, passing my transfer, ethical clearance and writing an essay to confirm my PhD studies.
Finished my Literature Review draft this December as supervisor did not want me to proceed with anything unless I finish my LR and started working for the methodology since then.I have been teaching as well so I wasted a lot of time preparing material for that..no excuses but just saying.

PhD was advertised and the methodology was vague...non practical. Supervisor is amazing with ideas but could not work on the practicalities of the matters so data collection is severely delayed as I need to figure out things alone. Coming from a science field into social sciences I slowly discovered that there is a long procedure behind designing instruments (Factor analysis, internal validity) and I realised that I will not be ready for data collection this year as school lessons here finish at the end of March and 1 month is not enough. Along with that, access is not granted yet and I am negotiating.

My plan is to have a pilot in March, write 40000 out of 80000 until August, collect data first trimester starting in September, and do the analysis and the rest of the write up (results discussion conclusion) from January until September 2020 when I need to hand in.

I am worried because I am not following conventional timelines...I never have anyway during my masters but yeah I am concerned..

Is there hope? Can I still make it?

Thanks a lot to all of you ! Your advice is gold :)

I was looking for PhDs in social sciences and there are few to none studentships in that field. There is currently an opening for a project I really do like but the university is not that famous..it climbed the rankings really fast in the recent years and it is number 58 now. The supervisor is one of the top in his field, is well acknowledged and has contributed a lot to the research community.
Does the university reputation matter? Should I go for a high reputation uni and self-funding? Is there a right or wrong at the end of the day or a PhD is a PhD no matter where and what?

Thank you

Thanks a lot ! Kikothedog your advice is invaluable. appreciate it

I saw an advertised phd project and i really liked the idea. I already applied to that university but I want to apply to other institutions as well. Some of them require me to write my own proposal and I was wondering whether it would be okay or morally right to customise an already published project idea into something new..eg: do the same project in another country.

Hello. I was considering applying for a PhD in UK as a self-funded student since there are very few funded projects in social sciences. Also, even though I have work research experience, 2 Merit masters , excellent references, distinction on my research projects and a high school certificate above 95, I got a very low degree GPA due to personal issues that affected the exams which were worth 80%. Nevertheless, I have the qualities and I am confident that I can do it.

I have just read some articles that were a bit concerning.

Among other comments I read :

- limited conferences and research trips.
-without funding one finds it almost impossible to get an academic post
-someone self funding their PhD would not be looked favourably..

Is this true? I feel that there are many things that I am not yet aware of and I need objective answers from people who know what is going on..

Thank you very much.