Hey,

Using the two methods I was able to really ask children about their thought processes around the decision-making tasks. The statistical data is restricted as it only tells you a general outcome to the task and not the specifics.

Yes, I felt the two methods worked well together to tell the 'bigger picture' of the research area.

Cheers,

PB

Hello Jola,

I used both quantitative and qualitative methods for my first experiment. This experiment was extremely useful to set the context for the rest of the PhD. I'm interested in how 3-8-year-old children distinguish between fantasy and reality. The standard task involves sorting real and make believe entities into categories. There is quite a lot of quantitative data in my field on HOW children sort, however there is no previous research that looks at WHY children make the decisions they do. This is why qualitative data was crucial. I used ANOVA with Tukey Kramer post hoc as well as Multiple Regression for my quantitative and Thematic analysis for my qualitative. I didn't face any challenges as such as I had a very strong rationale for using both.

Hope that helps,

PB

Done! All the best with it.

Ian - It is very interesting to hear about your PhD experience and the first published paper. I think at the moment (even though I am getting better!) I will accept what my supervisors say/ask, however I have already 'proven them wrong' so to speak, twice. The supervisor-supervisee relationship is one I'm coming to terms with. I always meet with both of my supervisors and often find it exhausting to please them both for the whole hour. They often do just let me get on with it though which is good as I don't feel like I'm not able to make decisions on my own.

My PhD structure has been set out from the beginning and I had to make a 5 year plan from the very beginning so I always have some direction. I know other students in my heat who still didn't have this in place by the end of the first year. I wouldn't have been able to do that without worrying frantically all the time.

My PhD consists of six experiments with four of them being modified and adjusted based on the previous one. The other two are working with different populations to allow the project to tell the whole story. I have seen this as extremely important to keep in mind and it works very well.

I think you have hit the nail on the head with me! If I were a full time student, I would be around 10 months in at this point. I need to take a step back and see what I have completed and where I am heading. I am very realistic about the amount of years it will take, however sometimes slip into fast forward mode which isn't helpful!

Excellent point about the grading system - I hadn't thought of it like that! I certainly do not miss the competitive streak in people who compare grades all the time.

Yes, I am confident that my supervisors will be able to guide me well towards a finalised document and we are of course aiming for minor corrections at worst. My second supervisor is absolutely fantastic in telling me what parts of my writing are good and which areas need attention. This has been a growing process of the first 16 months of my PhD.

As others have noted, I need to be in the here and now more. Focusing on the day to day structure is certainly less stressful and allows me to keep in the moment. I have always been rushing towards a goal, however feel I can afford to take it a little slower here and not rush to the end. I am happy where I am which is a big bonus.

Thank you so much for your reply! Since I originally posted this thread, my MSc work and first PhD experiment have been accepted as a paper presentation at an International conference. I have also been awarded an attendance bursary from the British Psychological Society. Both of these achievements have given me a reality check that I am on the right lines!

Smoobles - Glad I'm not alone! Oh I see, it does sound like your perfectionism affects you in a different way. I often find that I have a lot of anxiety around making something perfect as quickly as possible which means I continue to work (sometimes without a break) at a fast pace until it is. This does reduce my anxiety, however when I am finished, I get hit by anxiety again! I am working on controlling this at the moment.

I am the same! I often get 'good' or may be rarely I'll get a 'very good' but then wonder why the praise isn't more. I don't need praise to work however it does always give me a huge boost if it is there. Congrats on getting the paper published! I think I would have been the same as you were in that situation. I would have focused on the comments of the reviewers and perhaps allow that to take my focus away from the fact the paper was published!

Thank you. I have only been working a little over the last few weeks as I'm waiting for my work to come back from my supervisors but do feel better about taking it slow for a little while. I start testing next week for my second experiment so hoping that will allow me to feel more productive!

Ah, how excellent for you. I'm so happy to hear that you have lived the PhD experience and come out the other side with a good job. That is excellent advice. I really do need to be more selective with what I am being perfectionist over and seeing if it is really necessary. I will definitely take that forward from someone who has experienced what I am experiencing at the moment!

Your post has helped me a lot! I think just knowing that I'm not alone in feeling this way is a massive help so thank you so much for posting :-)

1. 3 years (FT); 5 years (PT)

2. 3.5-4 years (FT). Most PT finish in the 5 years.

3. FT is 4 years max and PT is 6 years max.

Bejasus, thank you for your post. It is always interesting to hear how perfectionism affects individuals in different ways. I always have to meet deadlines or I feel like a piece of work is no longer as good as it could have been due to being late.

I think the mindfulness and being in the here and now suggestions are very good. I think I certainly do feel better when I'm only thinking about the day ahead and not worrying about the next few days or weeks for example. Thank you for letting me know about the books or tapes I can look into, very helpful indeed. It sounds like they have really helped you and I'm hoping they will do the same for me!

Yes I can too! I'll have to watch the full movie at some point!

Hello,

I know at my University that FT funded PhD students are allowed to complete up to 18 hours a week paid work alongside the PhD. It might be worth checking the guidance offered by your University.

PB

In my first year I completed the following;

3500 word research proposal (plan of the PhD)
Ethics application for Experiment 1
7000 word literature review
Collected data for Experiment 1
Started data entry/analysis

I'm also part time, however my MSc dissertation was on a related topic so I guess I had a head start!

Unfortunately no, I'm not too far away though as I'm studying at Reading :-)

My pleasure! I'm really glad you have found this information useful.

Yes, I was in exactly the same position 4-5 years back when I knew what wanted to do (or at least thought I knew!) but not too sure on how to go about it. After some looking around and research, I'm sure you will be absolutely fine.

As far as I'm aware, yes, you can certainly apply for more than one course or scheme at any one University. I applied for the open competition at RHUL as well as applying with a potential supervisor through RHUL for another source of funding. It is certainly possible and as long as the schemes are similar in content, you will appear to have a set idea about how you wish to continue your career development.

Good luck and keep us updated!

Hello Natassia,

I have recently submitted my second ethics application of the PhD. My first was accepted (with only a very minor correction of one typo) in the first instance. From memory, mine were also around 4500-5000 words. The methodologies I use are very new and have only come about in the last three years in only a handful of studies. I think the key to writing this section on the ethics form is to be very clear and concise. I often ask someone in my family or my girlfriend to read over this section and see if they can understand what methodologies I'm planning to use. This is a great test to see if I have been able to write the tasks/measures I'm using in plain English. It will be a very similar situation for your reviewer who may not be familiar with the methodologies you are employing.

Hope this helps in some way?!