haha! I can see that I left myself open to this :$ I had hoped that our attempts may actually lead to conception... And being female this would result in myself being mit child- so I would have to contend with writing up and morning sickness which I think would add an extra element of fun to the process. Ironically my research is on motherhood :-)

Am I the only mad PhD student contemplating this- male or female? I am a slightly older PhD student having worked between my Masters and my PhD. I got married at the start of my PhD and am now itching for a new phase of life. You'd think after PhD I'd like things easy for a while...

Is anyone else contemplating trying for a baby whilst finishing your write up?! Am I mad in doing so? I am well read up on the pros and cons but have decided that I can't wait any longer! (On the plus side, I'll get OK-ish maternity pay from my part-time job) I'm really hoping that a 9 month deadline will motivate me to finish in a way that nothing else could!

The book by Lewins and Silver is ok but I've not found it amazingly helpful. I'd recommend "Handling Qualitative Data" by Lun Richards. Also, there are lots of online tutorials that can help you. They are at the bottom of this page http://www.sagepub.co.uk/richards/ I'm using Nvivo 8 but have found all the 7 stuff useful too.

Best get back to my analyse now as sadly Nvivo doesn't do it automatically whilst you surf the net :-(

Awgh thanks guys!! You’ve been a great help- as I expected from this forum

I think that the money thing is obviously a major one that has upset me today. In the current climate having no money for your mortgage is scary stuff. Thankfully my partner should be able to bail me out- but I shouldn’t have to rely on that. You’re so right about there being little point complaining to the uni though as I think it is a down side to scholarships. My previous employment has been NHS and, all credit to them, they always paid you promptly!

Regarding the other problems, I was the PG rep and have had lots of liaison with the Department’s postgrad tutor but there is low staff morale at the moment (financial worries and all that) so they’re just not interested in helping us. I’ve also been working home a lot but my house is freezing and I’m a sociable creature and miss fact to face contact and chit-chat! The isolation from that is another of my “issues”

I know that part of this is a sure sign I’ve hit my mental wall and as I’m letting circumstantial things make me consider leaving. I know that they’re really just the tip of the iceberg though and that the other problems or concerns I have are much harder to diagnose or even acknowledge. The trouble is that academic institutions are so chaotic at the moment, and as others have pointed out reclaiming expenses, getting paid etc is an on going issue. In my field academia is really the only option after my PhD and I guess all this is making me contemplate if that is what I really want. I miss the hands on job I’ve come from! I’ve checked my balls in the air by applying for other jobs and it’ll either spur me on to complete the PhD as I’ll be more employable for stuff like that afterwards or it will lead me out of the chaotic academic domain (into another domain that will obviously have it’s own problems!!).

Thanks again- it was just nice to off load a little to people I don’t see day in day out.

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Wow- bit harsh there Jouri! I know I was having a moan but this forum is about support and should offer a platform for sharing and empathy. I don’t think I should just have to “put up with it”. I have worked for years before doing my PhD and know that had I received such diminishment as a staff member that HR would have helped me sort the problem- as a student there is no HR but that doesn’t mean you should just take a sh*t deal!!! You don’t have to be broken in order to get a PhD as that can result in bitter people who end up making future PhD students go through what they had to.

Also, giving up is NOT necessarily a sign of weakness, especially not if you’ve been bombarded out and not left because of the workload. I started a PhD to gain research experience and knowledge in my field- I may have achieved that to the extend that I need to without finishing- that does not make me weak.

My PhD study involves working with families whose newborns are critically ill so I’m well aware of what constitutes life kicking your arse. I am sorry to hear about your own operation though- be sure to take plenty of pain killers like codeine, ibuprofen and paracetamol back to back to spread the pain coverage and I’m sure you’ll get though just about in one peice.

Doing a PhD is hard work!!! What is annoying me at the moment is the constant put down and problems I’m facing for being “a student”as they are stressing me out more than the work itself… and even making me seriously consider quitting!!

Firstly, my department treats you very differently if you were a staff member (like an RA or lecturer) before you started your PhD- this means the difference between having your own desk or being in a shared cluster with limited storage and also a difference towards how you are treated by staff in the school (particularly admin staff who seem to hate the “pure” PhD students and try to make our life very difficult at times).

Secondly, I’ve had ongoing IT problems in the Postgrad cluster and have tried reporting them but the staff won’t come out for a student raised complaint and even resorted to calling me nasty names for asking (I have had to raise a grievance against them because of this).

Thirdly, the students services regularly don’t pay us ontime and can’t promise a regular date when we do get paid. I have JUST received an email saying my October scholarship payment won’t be available for another week- hardly enough time for me to notify the mortgage company, is it? They’d never dream of treating staff in such a way.

Sorry to moan but these problems on top of a few others are seriously making me consider jacking it all in. I’ve applied for a couple of jobs- they’re a bit of a long shot though as are the kind of thing I may apply for after the PhD (they're not in research though so a PhD isn't essential). So after 1.5years of hard graft I'm considering leaving- I can't help but think that if the School/ Uni were more supportive to mere "students" that I wouldn't be feeling quite this disheartened.

Thanks for "listening"- I feel better already for having had a good rant!

Left/Right: -6.00
Libertarian/Authritarian: -1.64

I don't really know what that means but it's roughly the same position as Ghandi so it can't be all that bad... I will ask my waana be Polotician husband later!

My supervisors are so laid back about holidays and let me take what I want "so long as I can stay on track with the study". I've already been to Tunisia for a week in March and am going on a 3 week trip to Australia this September. I've made conatcts with people in my field out in Sydney though so that I can keep my Supervisors happy by showing networking dedication! I'm doing social research rather than lab work which is a definite bonus in being able to take time off.