Thanks for the responses. I seem to have failed to make the situation clear.
I never expected to be allowed to go into the field without a research plan, and that's not my complaint at all. I'm not whining about being asked to provide one.
The data analysis was examining related data (as well as a lit review) before going to the field and collecting more data to analyse.
I've actually already spoken to the grad school and my funding body who were both sympathetic to the situation.

Hi everyone,

I'm interested in how other people might handle this situation. I would change supervisors if I could identify a good replacement and project, but at the moment that seems unlikely.
My supervisor told me recently that the reason the director of a field site won't answer my emails is because he is 'suspicious' of me, and not prepared to lift a finger to help me until I submit him a research plan in writing. She seemed to think this was fair on his part. Why haven't I submitted a plan in writing yet? Basically two reasons: my original project plan, approved by my funding body, stated the first year of my project would focus on data analysis. Field work was going to come after that, and although we were talking about some ideas there was no indication from her that the original time frame should change or I should be contacting this guy at a certain point. Then, she was actively discouraging me from going to this field site, highlighting problems etc and trying to get me to go to another one. It's clear, both from things that happened before and her latest comments, that she has encouraged him to be 'suspicious'. There is slightly more to it, but those are key.
This aside, quite a few times she has jumped to conclusions about me and what I've done that consist of her interpreting me in the worst possible way. They are too long to describe here. I pointed out a couple to her where she was clearly wrong. I tried to explain the field site situation from my perspective once but she wouldn't listen.
Despite what i've said, our relationship isn't all bad. Should I hang on in the hope things will get better? Should I change? My current thought is some kind of middle ground where we discuss all this stuff with grad school support, but I'm not sure that won't backfire.

Does anyone have any similar experiences of resolving such issues?
Thanks
Selkie

HI Tudor,

Thanks very much for the response. I'm trying to understand multiple regression at the moment. I think my model may be quite complex, and it may have several levels. Hopefully I'll get there in the end though!

Selkie

Hello everyone,

Does anyone use multilevel modelling, and could you give me an idea of how long it took you to learn it? I'm particularly interested to hear ideas on how long it might take to learn with very little stats background? Or how thoroughly you need to understand it to be able to use it. I'm using R.
There aren't any courses at my uni or that run in the timeframe I need, so I'm teaching myself at the moment with online materials and books, but my progress is slow.

Thanks very much for any responses!

I can understand your frustration. Are you sure that it's the grades that are the problem? (I know it's not always possible to get feedback on these things.) Does it indicate on your application that you had personal difficulties which made the difference between a 2:1 and a 2:2? If not it might be worth saying that on future applications.

Thanks very much for the sound advice - I will follow it! And yes, probably try a confidence and resilience course.

Hi everyone,

Feeling embarrassed and disheartened as I'm seven months into my PhD and behind already.

The original project plan I submitted had two stages: one year data analysis and then field work starting part way through the second year. So I've been focusing on the data analysis, getting the skills for that, and this is mainly what I've been discussing with my supervisor. The field work has not been without problems: two possible sites, both with pitfalls.

I started at an odd time (April) and didn't have any induction or the usual guidance on how to do a PhD. It's only now that I'm on the September course, and a bit horrified by some of the stuff I didn't know - e.g. exactly what is required for upgrade.

Anyway, I've probably made myself sound like a terrible student, but because all the field work prospects sounded pretty un-feasible, and I genuinely thought I was mainly focusing on the data now (thought it would be my upgrade) I haven't got very far in planning anything. Now upset, my supervisor probably thinks I'm rubbish. But also I wish she'd told me earlier if she had concerns (I've only realised this in the last few weeks). E.g. finally emailed someone about a field site who sounded puzzled not to have heard from me (I suspect he and my supervisor talked about this) but given that my supervisor practically told me I couldn't go there any more.. and now she's wondering why I didn't try and organise things before.. I wish she would consider whether her previous advice might have affected my actions. Perhaps I am just making excuses for myself. I know I'm supposed to be an independent researcher, but what I'm supposed to do has seemed very confusing (more than I can explain here).

Any advice, similar experiences, optimism appreciated.. Please not too much critique - I know a lot of this is my fault!