that is amazing! so much motivation for my phd now purely so i too can dance my phd. you've got to be in it to win it!

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Golfpro - Do you have any reasons for minimum ages?

Missspacey - I agree that the majority of the time experience is beneficial but I think that sometimes those who haven't had that experience can bring a fresh pair of eyes to the research problems or a fresh perspective.

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Hello,

While no Masters covers your PhD topic in depth sometimes you can feel more confident about things with a little prior experience (not that I'm saying you need it!). I have a Masters but I still took some M level research methods modules which were at a lower level in order to see how my new uni taught them and also, to keep up to date. I didn't have to pay for any modules within my school. My school also had agreements with other departments. Also, no coursework as I was only "auditing". Was great.

Would you be able to do this in some relevant areas to give you some more confidence?

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I am!

I have a couple of diaries. One is just the usual - dates/times of meetings, with whom and where.

The second is the love of my life. An A4 day to page diary (about a tenner from WH Smiths). Each day of the week I write in exactly what I do and at what time. I go into details. For example "8.30 - emailed X to confirm that I had sent the forms for Y.". Then I go into reflexive mode "It's really frustrating that I could get my act together enough to send these forms back last week. Even though it's way before the deadline there was no reason to put this off. Am very glad that Z reminded me about them twice yesterday.". I use made up words if needed to convey my regular frustration at my self. Slang - fine. Swearing - fine. I just use the diary to keep track of what I'm actually doing. So then I would have things like "Z reminding me about those forms reminded me of a paper she wrote with X about A,B,C. These could be very important in my literature review." Then I know where my ideas come from as well as keeping some kind of track of my work.

I don't fill it in on Saturdays and Sundays unless it's one of the weekends I've worked. Saturdays are for fun and Sundays are for pjs.

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Hi,

I was 22 when I started mine so I did do an MSc first (if I remember correctly you didn't) but I look about 14/15.  No lie. It used to bother me when people commented on how young I looked.  Now, not so much. On the days when I'm meeting elites (people in positions of power) I dress formally etc to make me feel better.  Not suits but smart trousers and dresses etc. You could try this.

Don't let anyone make you feel that you're not ready for this.  Especially yourself! I am sick and tired of hearing people go on and on about how they really don't think people are mature enough in their very early twenties to be doing a PhD.  Just because it wasn't the right decision for them doesn't mean it's not the right decision for you. In fact both of my parents did their Further AND Higher education as mature students and I was old enough to remember them doing it.  I was strongly advised by them that if I wanted to do a PhD then now is the best time. Yes there are advantages to having spent years in "proper employment" but similarly, there are advantages to being a youngster.

Finally - you got into a PhD at 21.  That is an amazing accomplishment. You should be so very, very proud of yourself.

Congratulations.

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I just wanted to say, I'm really sorry about your viva. It's good that you are channelling the hurt in a productive way.

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oo, cakeman, i don't think you have a problem!!! i hope i didn't make you feel like you did. am merely providing an example to facilitate modelling (my psych talk is coming out now!!).

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My Dad is 53 and has just starting lecturing (in the last year or two). And he's certainly not a rarity.

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Hi Heifer,

I used tapes until a couple of months ago too but the noise was driving me crazy. Plus, my tape recorder recorded at a super human speed and no transcription machine could slow it down enough. Drove me crazy. I've now switched over to an Olympus DSS tape recorder. It's the most amazing thing in the world. I want to marry it. Anyway, I was worried about the transcription thing too but actually, a couple of people in my department have USB transcription pedals. They're pretty good, just have to make sure they work with whatever software you're using.

one example - http://www.altoedge.com/pedals/index.html

Worth asking around if anyone has one you could borrow.

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Hi Tsipat,

I haven't done it myself but almost all of the PhD students I know have done it. Seems very easy. Ours use an MP3 recorder which you plug into the telephone and just hit record. As easy as that. There are some disadvantages but lots of advantages too.

Do you have an Audio-visual department? Talk to them. If not, go through IT. They should be able to tell you how to set it all up.

Good luck.

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I didn't do a Pilot per se but I did a Needs Assessment. Got ethics in the first week of my second term and finishing at the moment (first term of my second year). I suppose that means it lasted a year.

It cost £150 for participant who were paid. Other costs included tapes, batteries, refreshments etc, didn't cost more than £50. I have a substantial (for social sciences) amount of money allocated to my research costs which paid for the payment of participants. I paid for the incidentals but that's mostly because I was too lazy to submit receipts to the Uni.

This stage makes up (cue made up statistic) 1/3 of my PhD thesis so I've taken it very seriously.

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At least it can't get worse then!!! Recruitment is the only time I've cried because of my PhD = LAME!

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I've recruited for mixed methods before.

I do a project on student health. I e-mailed all students who were on committees of SU groups, put flyers and posters in their GP surgery and SU, put flyers in the student newspapers etc etc etc. I got about 10 people via these means and it was a nightmare to arrange FGs with them so these participants were interviewed. They were not paid/reimbursed etc. I then recruited via the university temp agency (at my university the library, careers service etc etc etc recruit via this agency for FGs so there was no problems getting ethical approval). I did four FGs with groups of 3-10 people and paid each person £7.50 each for the hour.

I'm also currently running a questionnaire and this is via a mail shot to half of the students at the University and I'm offering £100 prize draw for book vouchers. Again, no problems getting ethical approval.

Recruitment, in my experience, is the hardest bit of the PhD (I may change my mind when it comes to hard core writing up time).

Many congratulations!!

I agree with everyone else. She cannot, legally, discriminate against you because of your pregnancy. So, make sure she doesn't.

Go in armed with information. Look up everything you need to find out before you go in. Look on government websites, talk to your graduate school/senior tutor (don't give your name! just call and say you would like to discuss something confidentially and anonymously. they should be fine with it). Have a (fairly) firm plan of time scales and what stage you will be at in the PhD and how and when you will finish it.

If you are pretty sure she'll react badly (which you are not going to allow her to do) then do it via e-mail so there is a paper trail. Alternatively, take in a dictaphone/recorder to tape the meeting when you tell her. Explain this away by saying that because it is such a big deal you want to be able to remember everything that was said in that meeting. Then if she does or says anything illegal you have proof.

Good luck and enjoy your pregnancy - you're going to have a baby!!!

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Personally, I wouldn't want to work with a supervisor who was paying for her own experiments. That's very worrying to me.