Just wanted to say I feel your pain! I tried to write about this in a recent post but don't think I worded it very well, but you've pretty much described how I'm feeling...Nice post on detachment too!

Thanks both for your responses. I've just got to the point where I've given up on trying to think about it, and am writing, albeit painfully slowly! I'm hoping it will take shape as it goes though. RLD, it's qual - but about half my thesis (50000) is on findings, so don't think I'll manage that ratio! Looking at approx. 10000 words for discussion. My deadline is pretty close now, so thinking it will have to do!

Hi all
Just looking for a bit of reassurance on my discussion chapter. I'm crawling along with it and I don't really know how to say what my findings are or what they mean - it just feels like a big confusing mess still! I thought by this stage I would be crystal clear as to the point of my thesis but it really doesn't feel like it. I also thought I'd be feeling relief at almost being over the last hurdle, but it's seeming a bit insurmountable at the moment. Just wondered if anyone else has been through similar and if you had any words of advice??

If this is in the UK, as far as I am aware, he should not be able to disclose a health condition on a reference - he might however be in his rights to state how much time you have taken off. Do you have anyone in your department who is responsible for discrimination issues who you could seek advice from? Or there should be a Disability Services department in the university you could ask? I'm not sure if diabetes would be classed as disability for discrimination purposes (the definition is here - https://www.gov.uk/definition-of-disability-under-equality-act-2010). But they might be able to offer you advice anyway - failing that student unions should have advice workers. For you second qu, I think usual reference practice is that individuals can respond directly to reference requests - I've never heard of references having to go through a HR dept.

I agree it is definitely harder in my area if you don't have a SW qual - I know a few people who I have done my PhD with who don't have SW quals and they are really struggling, as they don't 'fit' anywhere. I've been lucky to get a year's position as a lecturer - I think because SW is less established as an academic discipline, perhaps it's less competitive (I mean for those who do have a SW qual and a PhD). But what about research fellowships? The research unit attached to my dept advertises sometimes for research fellowships in 'social work' areas, but becuase they won't be teaching SW students a SW qual is not necessary. You're sounding pretty positive anyway, which is the most important thing :-)

I just wanted to respond to that last point about social work/health and social care. I am in the final year of a SW PhD and a qualified SW. From all the job adverts I have looked at, at lecturer level, universities expect you to be a qualified SW AND have a PhD - I haven't seen one so far that doesn't require a PhD.

I had to do this recently - so hard to condense all that detail down! I think you've got it spot on - the piece of advice I was given by my supervisor was not to overcomplicate or overcrowd - just keep to your headliner points and that will leave space enough for people to have plenty of questions for you. Good luck!

I've always been told academic cover letters should be slightly longer than the usual 1 page - mine was about 2 sides and I don't think I could have made it any shorter - but then the jobs I've gone for have only asked for cover letter and CV - I guess if there was a job application to fill in as well, it would probably be shorter.

I use F4 which is pretty cheap to download and good - allows you to slow the recording, spool back as much as you like etc. Also couldn't recommend enough getting a foot pedal - made it so much easier and faster - I got mine from ebay for about £15.

I've never heard of anyone having to pay tax on a studentship so don't think this would be the case. Maybe speak to your uni's finance dept to find out what's going on.

Hello! I've got a bit of a dilemma re. jobs, which I wondered if people could help with. I've been given the opportunity to apply for a postdoc post, but there's also the possibility of a lectureship coming up which I would be in a good position to go for (both are fixed term). In terms of career pathways, has anyone got thoughts on choosing between the two options?

Hi wowzers. I'm doing an ethnography (as in using an ethnographic methodological framework). I gave 8 months for my fieldwork (this is all I could squeeze in realistically) and I think that it was enough to get an in-depth familiarity with my topic. I would say though it depends on how focused you are - mine is a policy ethnography which means I am looking at how a particular policy is being implemented. To understand it better, the rich detail and context doing an ethnography provides was useful. Doing it just on a single policy meant that 8 months fieldwork time was ample as my focus was fairly narrow. However, I would say that 3 months would not have been enough, especially when you consider that ethnography relies on having enough time to build relationships with those in the field - although saying that I suppose you could look at rapid ethnography as a framework. I'm just about on time in terms of my analysis - hoping to finish around the 3 year mark. I would second above comment about Yanow's book - it is really helpful (and brief!) and focuses very much on participants understandings of policy which would fit in well with your focus on the student voice. Also you could have a look at Hammersley and Atkinson - Ethnography: Principles in Practice - I've found it incredibly helpful.

Hi mrshan - I'm not based in Manchester but wanted to reply because I know how awful feeling lonely can be. Just wanted to offer a bit of advice really - have you thought about looking up your university's PostGrad Association? They usually run social events etc that you could get involved in and meet other PGs. Also I would be surprised if your Dept didn't run things like seminars where PhD students get together to share work and socialise. If not, it might be something you could think of suggesting or helping to set up yourself, that way you're doing something active to meet other people and also looks quite good on the CV. Hope you find some like-minded people soon :-)

Fingers crossed I'm hoping to finish for then too - Just finished fieldwork so starting on analysis now and hoping to have that finished by March (I have so much data!). Have written about 20000 words so far and am aiming for 80000 - it's the writing that gets me - I've hardly done any during fieldwork and probably won't do much 'proper' chapter writing during analysis, so that's what I'm most worried about.

Hello

I'm about to start analysis and have masses of data (60 interviews, 40ish observations and document analysis plus fieldnotes). I've left it a bit late in planning how I'm going to go about it and wondered if anyone had tips in regards to software packages? I had been planning to do it using the review functions in word but my supervisor thought that for this amount of data using CAQDAS would be better. I'm trying to choose between Nvivo and Atlas Ti and wondered for those who have used them, are they generally easy to get to grips with? I've been looking for training courses but there doesn't seem to be much on that's affordable in the next couple of months. Thanks!