Hi everyone!

Hoping that everyone is enjoying the summer. I used to post a fair bit on here around a year ago. Ahhh the big plan. The idea was to finish my MRES (at a Russell Group institution) before embarking onto a PhD path.... It was all mapped out. Until the dreaded black dog came calling.

I should have expected it really. The isolation was too much. I decided to drop out of my PhD progression before I got my MRES result.

I got my MRES result last November (the end thankfully). A fail. Not just a minor fail, a great big cross through it. Beforehand I'd hoped that I had done enough to have something to show for the year but, upon reflection I hadn't at all (I'm reading this through thinking - WHAT DROSS!).

So from last November I had 12 months til re-submission. It felt like ages. Not as much now. There's 3 months left. For the past year I've been teaching like mad (I had a scholarship so had to replace it with income) and getting a teaching qual...

Has anyone been in this position. In short I've got some interesting data - I need to basically mould the literature review/methodology around it (not the traditional way of doing a dissertation - granted). Is it do-able in 3 months?

Any tips from anyone who's done this are appreciated.

BW

S x

All:

Hoping that everyone is well and is looking forward to Christmas. I used to post on this forum around six months ago and gained some valuable advice from fellow prospective doctoral students whilst I was undertaking the first stage of my 1 + 3 ESRC award (in an MRes). I made the decision to come out of the PhD programme (thus before starting the actual PhD) last September having submitted my MRes. In short, I'd suffered from a prolonged period of depression, that had been exasperated by the loneliness and isolation that can often result from undertaking a PhD. This was at a Russell Group institution so there was a lot of pressures in relation to strong research skills.

Taking some time out, I've been teaching on a sessional basis (on a fairly lucrative rate) at the local institution (a former polytechnic) where I did my MSc (obtaining a distinction in the process). As much as anything this has given me the opportunity to re-assess and align my goals to both my PhD topic and motivation behind doing it. In short, I am a teacher - thriving on engagement with students, and I prefer to teach older students. The PhD, as much as anything, was my passport (albeit not a guarantee) into my career. I sincerely don't see myself as a full time researcher (as would be required working full time at a Russell Group institution). Moreover, I enjoy research, though would see myself researching possibly .15 of a full time contract, with teaching and management commitments filling up my schedule. Maybe I'm mad to want to teach - who knows?

The institution I'm working at are keen for me to undertake a PhD there. The topic is transferable (in the sense that investigating the student experience is pertinent to both Russell Group and former poly institutions) and, if anything, I think it's more appropriate to a teaching focused institution. There are scholarship opportunities available, though a distinction in masters, a masters in research, and, importantly a research unit being set up within the school to investigate the SE certainly lend themselves well.

Before getting carried away with myself I suppose I'm asking for advice. Will I be placing myself in the same situation as before? A major plus point, is that the depression has been managed (through medication and such like) to the point that I'm actually enjoying the academic world again, though potentially this is because I don't have as much pressures as before.

Any advice, at all, is appreciated.

S x

Hi all:

Having decided that I can't comprehend the atmosphere at my institution, I'm considering transferring to another institution. I'm lucky, in the sense that I've got an ESRC quota award.... However, does anyone know how easy it is to transfer, specifically if the institution is within the same city?

S x

Does anyone know anything about it? It's the final step of analysis that I need to take for my MRes - investigating the relationships between specific variables (to see if any groups/relationships are formed).

I've looked in my 'SPSS Survival book' and various online forums/demonstrations but I can't find it anywhere... Any advice appreciated.

S x

Hi all:

Hoping that everyone's well. My head's about to explode I think! I'm currently doing an MRes (as part of my 1 + 3 ESRC award) and I need to obtain 65% to pass and progress to next year.

I'm panicking - just really panicking. I've done the necessary chapters (only the final conclusions and recommendations chapter to get done of which I've written and mapped most of it out). Over the past year being an MRes student I've been lumped in with all of the PhD'ers... A great thing in one sense - it's opened my mind and stretched me in terms of as and what's required for a PhD but it hasn't really helped my nerves out over the past few weeks.

How much different is an MRes to a PhD in terms of what's expected? There's a maximum of 25,000 words allowed in an MRes, meaning that I need to be fairly brutal when cutting words out. But (with my PhD head on) I'm realising areas of my work that though condensed to only a few paragraphs, could literally (and will be) expanded into a 12,000 literature review chapter in my PhD (my MRes feeds into the PhD, almost as the first step of the research).

I'm almost too wrapped up in the research that I'm not sure which way to turn now (or even how good it is). It's in the social sciences area, and people have told me that my writing's good and articulate but I'm not believing them as I'm comparing the level of detail I've got with PhD studies I've read (and PhD students I work alongside).

Has anyone got any advice in terms of finishing an MRes? I've got five days (from tomorrow). I'm not sure how robust my literature review is (my supervisors are having a check on my work at the current moment and I could really do with their feedback ASAP).

I'm just scared that my academic dreams and career are about to be flushed down the pan.

Sorry if this sounds a bit desperate....

S x

Hi all:

Hoping that everyone's well. My head's about to explode I think! I'm currently doing an MRes (as part of my 1 + 3 ESRC award) and I need to obtain 65% to pass and progress to next year.

I'm panicking - just really panicking. I've done the necessary chapters (only the final conclusions and recommendations chapter to get done of which I've written and mapped most of it out). Over the past year being an MRes student I've been lumped in with all of the PhD'ers... A great thing in one sense - it's opened my mind and stretched me in terms of as and what's required for a PhD but it hasn't really helped my nerves out over the past few weeks.

How much different is an MRes to a PhD in terms of what's expected? There's a maximum of 25,000 words allowed in an MRes, meaning that I need to be fairly brutal when cutting words out. But (with my PhD head on) I'm realising areas of my work that though condensed to only a few paragraphs, could literally (and will be) expanded into a 12,000 literature review chapter in my PhD (my MRes feeds into the PhD, almost as the first step of the research).

I'm almost too wrapped up in the research that I'm not sure which way to turn now (or even how good it is). It's in the social sciences area, and people have told me that my writing's good and articulate but I'm not believing them as I'm comparing the level of detail I've got with PhD studies I've read (and PhD students I work alongside).

Has anyone got any advice in terms of finishing an MRes? I've got five days (from tomorrow). I'm not sure how robust my literature review is (my supervisors are having a check on my work at the current moment and I could really do with their feedback ASAP).

I'm just scared that my academic dreams and career are about to be flushed down the pan.

Sorry if this sounds a bit desperate....

S x

Hi all:

Hoping that everyone's been keeping well.... It's been a good while since I've posted on here... Primarily because I've been going hell for leather to get my MRes finished (as part of my 1 + 3 ESRC award). It's getting there, despite a fairly disjointed year to say the least.

I'm hoping (fingers crossed) to transfer to PhD status within a couple of weeks - pretty scary stuff to be honest. Having said that I'm glad that I've done the MRes as it's really opened my eyes as towards what's required to get a PhD degree done.

I'm trying to plan my workload for next year - I've been pretty lucky and I've been offered a job at a local college whilst I finish my PGCE and a relatively close uni. This is going to supplement my income nicely though I am conscious of not letting things 'slip' in terms of the PhD work.

In short, what would people recommend (in terms of hours put in) on a weekly basis? I've got other commitments but my work ethic is pretty good. I know colleagues (doing a PhD who'll go in 5 days a week from 9 - 6 but they seem to spend half there time on Facebook). On the other end of the spectrum I've got a really good friend (who knows my work ethic and what I can produce) who says that I can 'get away' (cough) but doing 3 days a week full time, as long as I'm looking to read approximately 15 articles a week.

Any comments appreciated. I do have very easy access to my sample so I am hoping to finish within the three years.

Cheers,

S x

Hiya:

Basically, I'm using my nationalities as the basis, the crux of the study (if that makes sense?). I've asked questions such as:

Q8) Please determine to what extent the following statements to do with a holiday are important to you:

(a) I want a holiday with good weather 1 (No importance) 2 3 4 5 6 7 (Utmost importance)
(b) I want an affordable holiday 1 (No importance) 2 3 4 5 6 7 (Utmost importance)

Respondents have then given a response (from one to seven) for each variable. What I want to do is measure the extent to which say an American and a Canadian tourist places different values of the importance of the variables?

Any help appreciated...

Hi all:

Hoping that everyone's well. I could do with a wee bit of advice in relation to analysing my data. This is for an MRes so not as detailed as per a PhD but I'm a little lost with getting my read around the programme.

In short (hypothetical example here as a cover) I'm looking at the buyer behaviour of international tourists within the UK. I'm looking to analyse how tourists (of different nationalities) behave differently and what drives them to choose particular holidays, and what they expect to get out of the holidays. Now I've attached a label to the different nationalities (in total there's over 20 nationalities in the sample) and I want to measure how different nationalities behave/seek value from their experience. What particular techniques (e.g. regression analysis) can I employ which will provide me with details of the specific different nationalities... Hoping this makes some sort of sense. This masters is part of the bigger (PhD - qualitative based) picture and really worried about the SPSS side of things...

Any help appreciated.

S x

Nice... So not worth buying a book specially for it?

Hi all:

Hoping that everyone's keeping well. I just wondered if anyone could recommend a particular text book that looks at designing online surveys and questionnaires? More focusing upon what questions to ask and how to phrase them... Any help appreciated!

Hiya badhaircut -genuinely wasn't meaning to look down on an 'ex polytechnic'. I would value such an opportunity greatly - it's more the perception of the ex-polytechnics that are given by academics within my institutions (a Russell Group institution).

Incidentally, you've mentioned about 'leaving academia all together'.... If this did happen what are the options for someone who's done a PhD within a Business School, albeit with a small amount of 'real' industry experience - is it glum?

Evening all:

I've read with interest 'walminskipeas...' post 'is this all worth it'... It appears that most people who responded on that thread are coming towards the end of their PhD/have been doing it for a good time @ least.

On the other hand, I'm currently doing an MRes, prior to starting a PhD in September at a Russell Group institution. If I'm 100% honest I don't overly enjoy research - it's a means to an end. My main interest is in teaching (I currently teach within the FE sector) and in the pastoral side/administration even side of things as oppose to research... Is this wierd? Most people I speak to seem intent on publications and making their way up the publishing ladder. For me, I'm more interested in the other side of things. I've always wanted to teach since I was young, and over the years the age of students I've wanted to work with has risen all the way up to HE students.

A big reason I'm doing my PhD is to get the lectureship position - if it's there at the end of the day of course. Having a PhD will help getting a lecturers position but do I really need to be focused more on the research side of things? I realise having such an outlook will probably mean a lower paid position at a post-1992, former polytechnic uni but if it's what I enjoy from the job does it matter?

I also worry about my finances... I'll be almost 29 if I finish on time, with only £10k saved - hopefully no debt (other than student loan) by then, but no deposit for house/mortgage/car... Still living with parents now and really getting me down.

Sorry for another rant - just wonder if others feel/have felt this way at times.

S x

Thank you. Much appreciated...