Hey

I just wanted to reiterate what Emmaki said really - I know at least two other people that this has happened to. On person was in her 2nd year and met someone at a conference who was doing the same thing in her final year and someone else who was put into contact by his supervisor with someone who was doing the same thing as them just to share ideas etc.

Like Emmaki said really it can never be exactly the same - can you change your variables, method, sample etc? Have you used different measures? The institution that I am at runs free courses for PhD students and many of them I have been on have reiterated that although you are supposed to be making a 'unique contribution to your field' - a substantial part is proving that you are a competent researcher etc.

At 17 months you are a long way in....but not too long to re-evaluate perhaps what it is about your project that is different to this other persons. Also you may find it useful to get in contact with the other person and have a chat/share some ideas?

Hey MissGeography,

I think I understand your problem - I had a similar one not so long ago with psychometric data. You've managed to get all the participants dob but now need to use this to calculate each person's age?

If so this is the site I used to figure it out: http://support.spss.com/student/Troubleshooting/stuResSearchDetail.asp?ID=17889

Basically you use the compute function to compute the current date COMPUTE TODAY=XDATE.DATE($TIME). then use the current date to compute the age COMPUTE AGE=(CTIME.DAYS(TODAY-BDATE))/365.25. then you need to use another formula to change the format of the age to what you want (i.e. age years not to many decimal places etc).

Anyway the website explains exactly how to do it - even how to use the compute function. Let me know if you have any specific questions or get stuck.

Hope that helps :-)

Hi everyone, thank you so much for all your encouraging responses, I cannot tell you how much better it has made me feel (and I'm not crying anymore so there's a bonus).

I agree that sups are 'hands-off' in some respects and the way I have justified it over the last few months was that it's going to make me a better researcher in the end, less dependent. However I always fall into the traps of comparison to others - I'm in a department with several other PhD students (of which without their support I wouldn't still be here) but I can't help at looking at the support and supervision they get and feel anguish and frustration that I don't receive what they get from their supervisors. Plus one of these students started the same time as me and that makes it tough - when she sees her sup on a regular basis and I never see mine.
Plus I'm frustrated because I can't help think that my sup has been like this because she has known since she took me on that she was going to be leaving and that she wouldn't be around during the substantial part of my PhD.

Why I was so upset is because in the two times I had seen her previous I had an idea - she then changed it, so I changed it back to what she wanted, spent the last 2 months working on it and produced a 20,000 word document based on it - only for her to tell me it was all wrong and that she wants it to be more like my original idea that she previously dismissed. I just can't help thinking that if she had 'properly' supervised me that I would have been guided over the past few months and not left questioning where I failed and what I have done wrong.

But hearing that I am not alone and that it seems to be normal has really helped. I am going to try and stick it out for a least a while with my new supervisor. She has already scheduled fortnightly meetings for the next 3 months so it's going to be better I hope. But when we were organising the meetings she said that she wanted to do it to keep tabs on me so I don't make this mistake again. I'm unsure whether I should explain how I am feeling to her and ask for some more help.

Thanks so much everyone who has taken the time to reply to me - I really appreciate it :-)

Hi, I'm in need of some advice.

I'm on the verge of quitting my PhD. I started about 6 months ago and I'm at a point where I feel I can't go on anymore. I decided to do a PhD because I love research - really really love research, from designing to analysing and this love came from doing my UG and Masters dissertations (and my fab sup), plus a small RA post I held a couple of years ago. On this basis I felt the PhD would be perfect - a chance to spend three years doing my own research and although I was a scared about what I was embarking on I decided to apply and was shocked when I was accepted.

However since starting my PhD I have felt the worst I have ever felt for many reasons. I decided to do my PhD at the same institution that I did my previous degrees but on a completely different research area in a different department which I knew nothing about. I knew it would be a challenge but I thought the research area would be really interesting. However I have come to doubt this decison since I started.

From the moment I started my PhD I have felt unsupported by my DoS. My first meeting with them last a few mins and I have only seen her a few times over the past 6 months, each for no longer than an hour. She has shown no interest in my PhD and doesn't seem to care about it or me. She 2nd supervises other PhD students in the department and from what they tell me they get along fine with her and she's a good supervisor which has led me to continually question over the past 6 months what's wrong with me. I just feel like I can't talk to her about anything and if I email her she never replies. Part of me knows she's busy but part of me wonders whether the problem is just me and whether she really wanted to take me on as a student at all.

So over the past six months I have felt all alone and to be honest I have chosen to hide and get on with things by myself. Due to this being a new research area it was really hard to know where to start and despite doing lots of reading I still feel like I know nothing - which is reinforced when I have actually seen by my DoS who fires loads of questions at me which I don't know. To top it off she's leaving for a year or so and I have just had my last meeting with her which went really bad. She tore apart everything I had done, questioned my rationale and my knowledge and whether my proposed plan really is enough for a PhD at all. My stand in DoS was also present and I felt like a fool - an imposter. It finished with me needing to submit a new plan by next week and my DoS stating that her and my stand it where going to discuss what they were going to do with me.

I just feel like I've failed and wasted my last 6 months. I feel I don't know anything and go to pieces when anyone starts asking me questions about my knowledge. I just can't see how I can go on and feel my only option is quitting. However I don't want to let my family down and I'm worried that I can't pay back my funding - I'm in such a mess