Hello, and welcome:-)

You could start with the British Library - register (free), search and you can download etheses free - it's up to you to do the searching;-)
http://ethos.bl.uk/Home.do

maybe said supervisor is lurker on this forum ;-)

The decision ultimately is yours. Your supervisor undoubtedly thinks you have the ability; you have to decide if you actually want to do a PhD.

Thanks for that info Bewildered, good to know

Delta's suddenly aged about 50 years, Sneaks has her mortar board on but I don't feel ready for that yet. A first year student called me Dr. Ady this morning and stuttered over his words through nerves as he asked me a question - I found it most unnerving!!

Submitting publication without institutional afflication anybody?? I'm only part time where I am at and will most likely be finito come the summer - can I submit something for publication without being part of a uni or institution?

Delta, how old you're suddenly looking ;-)

I have related question: can you submit for publication if you're not officially affliated to a university or institution? Can you 'cold' submit??

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try www.conferencealerts.com - I get regular updates about what's on in my area. tbh though it's usually through word of mouth or internal email etc that you really find one that's relevant to you. You can also try joining a mailing list for your particular subfield or a society of your overall topic.

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Hi Noctu

I used GT and also did semi-structured interviews and [non-participant] observations!

I didn't interpret things quite the same as you - while yes, it is an iterative process etc etc, if you were to transcribe and analyse each interview before proceeding to the next, you would never be finished, imo. I took it to mean that transcription and analysis happened concurrent to interviews and observations taking place. My understanding of the literature is that while of course you shouldn't use GT in an 'a la carte' manner it is supposed to be sufficiently flexible and iterative so as to be 'iterative' and flexible!! Transcription can be pretty sole destroying and if I didn't have the 'carrot' of a real live interview to look forward to every now and again I would have gone stone-mad! Other forms of analyis require that all methods are conducted before analysis can start, so in that way GT is different.

Re: a purist GT approach - what you are describing is the Glaser way of doing things, ie to hold off reading the literature so that you go into the field with a 'tabula rasa [blank slate]. I argued against this and chose the Strauss-Corbin version whereby I felt they were more realistic and accepted that rarely is anybody a blank slate and inevitably you bring prior knowledge into the field.

There are some good readings on GT (recommended to me mainly by Olivia of this forum). Most, if not all are freely available but come back to me if you can't find them:

Roy Suddaby - What grounded theory is not
Karen Wilson Scott - Relating Categories in Grounded Theory Analysis : Using a Conditional Relationship Guide and Reflective Coding Matrix
Corbin and Strauss - Grounded theory research: Procedures, canons, and evaluative criteria [I can email you this one if you need it]

also if you're not aware of, have a look at glaser's website - www.groundedtheory.com

Edit: I was asked quite a lot about GT in the viva but more in relation to my core category rather than the process per se. The examiners seemed to accept that I had done it correctly and didn't query why I followed Corbin and Strauss and not Glaser and Strauss (1967) seminal text that Olivia mentions. I must have explained that much sufficiently at least :$ I enjoyed the GT discussion bit of the viva the most!

I know the feeling and have same quandry!

I am safely through the other side of my viva and although I was a complete bundle of nerves on that day, nothing, and I mean nothing for me compared to the stress I felt in the weeks before submission. I honestly feel I lost the plot somewhat - my hubby probably would say I lost it a lot!

Best of luck with your new submission, new job and viva - in that order I think! it. I think if I were in your shoes, as soon as you have a viva date, let your new employers know. I would keep mum for the moment unless they specifically ask. Also, once you submit I would tell them as I imagine they will then know -roughly- when your viva will be.

nothing compares to pre-submission stress so based on my experience, things will get better(up)

Yay, huge congratulations Dr Sneaks, am very pleased for you:-)

em, think I'm one of the people you are trying to nab, as in don't play these games much - I did terribly. Glad it's anonymous!!
Good luck with it

Hi Trapped

this website might be worth checking out - it gives good overview of lots of qualitative modes of analysis. Some very useful video links as well.
http://onlineqda.hud.ac.uk/

I didn't have a mock viva and don't think it would have helped, or made a difference really. I did talk things over with my supervisor a couple of times (as LarryDavid suggests). I also emailed my supervisor a few times in the days leading up to it. That was enough - for me, anyway!

Issues of structure did come up in the viva but not in relation to my findings, about something else:$ In the end I have to put things back to the way they were!

Supv thought findings chapters themselves should be roughly the same length but overall my chapters did differ in terms of length and I don't think it mattered. I know lots of people say chapters should be of even-ish length but if this isn't the way it naturally falls, I don't think you should force it.

Writing my findings took me ages as in ages and ages finding a way and then the actual writing happened quite fast!!

:-) ah yes indeed, this was a point of discussion as I was drafting my thesis! Initially I also felt that one of my themes, although relevant, was not as substantial as the others and I suggested having two findings chapters and sub-divide each into two separate sections - four 'sections' in all rather than four chapters. I thought this way I could give the one with slightly less content just the amount of space it needed, without padding it out to match the others. This suggestion didn't go down well!! Eventually, the four of them (as chapters) came to roughly 6000 words each so as a package they came to ~24,000. As I say, absoltuely nothing was said about my findings in the viva. Some of the analysis however...

I spent ages trying to decide 'how' to present my findings. I read 'Presenting qualitative data' by Ronald Chenail and found it very helpful and it has some good additional references as well. It's available for free download from The Qualitative Report.