I've got a quote at the start of each chapter - feel a bit bad about it now!!

I work mainly at two university libraries in the Midlands, one an ex-poly and one a high-ranking Russell group university. Both have computers that are rarely cleaned and students eat over them regularly. The keyboards are filthly. I have never seen a cleaner in either of them.

I don't think it is Wales that has this problem - it is libraries generally that don't recognise that computers need frequent cleaning.

Thank you all.

I have tried exporting it as a jpeg and a tif but this doesn't seem to make a difference. A pdf looks far more blurred than the others.
Will try the stats advice service on Monday...

I would use excel but it means transferring the data back into excel from spss which would be complicated.

It must be easier just to use the export function on spss and paste it into my document and I can't believe the people who designed spss didn't think that we would need the graphs to be clear.

Hi everyone,

I am struggling with SPSS version 17. I am trying to get decent graphs from my output. I have used the 'edit in separate window' function to change the font, colour etc but when I try to paste the graph into my word document the resolution is poor and the graphs are slightly 'fuzzy,' if you know what I mean.
Anyone got any ideas?
I am sure I must be doing something wrong.

Well done Dunni!!! You must be so pleased, I envy you your state of mind....excellent work

Just checking in to say I'm plodding on with my quantitative analysis results chapter.
I have never written anything like this as I've never used SPSS before and it is mind-bogglingly boring. I just seem to be stating facts - the percentage of men doing this is x% and disabled people y% and then inserting a graph to show this. I was planning on commenting on the results in an interpretative chapter but this seems an odd way of doing this now.

Oh well, another 500 words to do.

If I were you I would think myself lucky that my supervisor took so much interest in my work.

I see mine about once or twice a term and when I give them work they very rarely make any comments. It sounds to me as if your supervisor is actually supervising you properly.

I would love that.

This must be really difficult Clarabelle, I'm so sorry for you but you sound as if you're working things out so good luck on that part.
I think doing academic work whilst going through these sort of problems is extremely difficult. It's far easier if you have a job that you go out to every day as you have found when you're doing your teaching - you can just get on with it and forget what's going on at home.
I don't think you'll be able to concentrate as normal so I'm with the other posters....try and do practical things like organising visits etc. Treat this as a reflective time when you need 'mental health duvet days' or even weeks and don't worry if you're not productive at the moment. There will be times when it goes really well to make up for slack times.
Take time for yourself and your PhD will benefit in the long run.

Hi everyone.

Had a few days off because spss was getting me down. But today I had another go at an analysis chapter and I managed to get my 500 words done!!!
First time in ages.

Let's hope I can do the same tomorrow and for the rest of the week. (up)

Ahhhhh!  Started my data analysis chapter today having battled with spss over the past couple of weeks. Didn't even manage to get my minimum 500 words done though. I kept finding mistakes in my data which I had to keep fixing and then running the analysis again....this will take months not weeks.
Sometimes I wonder why I started this.

Its certainly interesting reading the articles posted here.

I'm following a mixed method approach which involves a quantitative and qualitative study so that I can obtain both breadth and depth in my analysis......it's good to know that there is significant theoretical backing for this approach. I think I've been very lucky in coming up with my approach without any proper investigation into what might have been right, I just thought it was the way to go when I began without actually thinking about it in this way.

Joyce is right. You still have time because although you think you haven't achieved much you sound as if you've been thinking about the problem for quite a while and you just need to throw yourself into the work. If you go to see the building managers yourself you can achieve a lot quite quickly and your writing up shouldn't take that long.
I would let someone in authority know your difficulties with your supervisor and the problems you have. They might be able to get you an extension in time and they probably knew that the supervisor was having problems of their own.
Don't forget that not being able to finish a project is sometimes a result in itself - explaining the difficulties in obtaining the data etc. 

Pink_Numbers, it took me a term to do my lit review, but it is pretty good (if I say so myself!!).

I have about 7- 8 chapters and each one has taken about a term to complete. We have a system where we have to pass Doctorate modules 2 -3 times a year at my uni and for each of mine I have submitted a draft chapter to be assessed, so I have quite a few draft chapters ready. Unfortunately a lot of the stuff has now turned out to be not quite as relevant as I would like so they will have to be redrafted over the next few months but at least this system has MADE me write stuff as I go along.

The draft data analysis chapter will be my next one and that is programmed to be finished by April....some hope although I still have two months!!

Yes we do have a stats service that help a little although they don't really understand what I'm trying to look for in the stats. No one in our department has used SPSS in this way before so I'm on my own really and the text-books and tutorial on SPSS are all a little prescriptive if you know what I mean.
Got to confess that I sat this morning and watched an old black and white romantic French film that I remember from when I was young, had some fennel tea and ate some 100% chocolate (my favourite treats) because I needed a break. Feel really guilty now!!
Back to the grind now though.

My experience 27 years ago was that when I fell pregnant I was told to leave and it has taken me this long to take up a new subject and finally get to my third year again!! You won't have this problem now though (thank God for the Sex Discrimination Act).

It is hard having a baby and although I don't believe that a woman's brain suffers - as some people suggest - I think there will be plenty of other stuff to think about when you have a young one.  One of the problems with doing a PhD is trying to focus continually on a particular problem and if you have distractions this is very difficult. A baby is one big distraction.

You will probably get an extension of time if you need one but I doubt very much if you will get any financial help and you may lose your funding. PhD students have very little employment protection as they are not employees or workers under the legislation.