thanks for the replies!

I'm not sure about co-authoring either to be honest...

what about electronic vs postal surveys? has anyone tried both or either?

I hear varied opinions on which is better, keeping in mind I can't give 500 questionnaires door to door........but can make phone calls etc.

It's very common for phds in business to do surveys , it's looking for behaviours characteristics of the firm itself, choices made, etc.
Nothing too secret, and it goes through an ethics approval.
What is critical is to get managers to bother filling it in, not to get their secrets.

That's the tricky part...

i'm not sure a firm's CEO would really be interested in winning a voucher....but thanks, i guess i need other incentives...(?)

hi!

I'm currently about to send some questionnaires to 500 firms....but I was wondering, whats the best way to get high response rates? I managed to get a sponsor letter from an external company to put as front page and plan to use survey monkey and chase up the firms. Some say though that letters are more effective...

any ides how I can maximise the response rates (and preferably in a short period of time)?

thanks! :-(

I bumped into him finally, and he says he got no emails .......these guys keep getting better and better... lol

In addition he is leaving again, but on a positive note my second sent me an email aknowledging my work with a new deadline.

At least I know what to do....sort of. :-)

very true. and many treat the Phd supervision as a luxury......depending on their free time, whilst they forget they are getting paid and there is a contract too.
Would they skip lectures if they were busy? no. so why do they treat supervisions that way......

Truth is I believe it is our fault for giving them this opportunity, seeing as virtually noone appeals or complains in fear of compromising their own work or relationships/connections (welcome to the market), and hence this status quo is maintained.

Hi, thanks for the comments, well it has now been almost 3 months.....and i can see he is in his office because I saw him once but then he vanished.........

I dont want to complain formally as it would be counterproductive for the relationship but I also need to finally start working.......and keeping in mind he is my new supervisor and we havent even met once I dont really have an idea of what he wants...

I can sit and wait, and i can camp outside his office but I'm tired........no idea what to do. my second just says wait.

I understand but he is my "new" supervisor and my 2nd told me to consult with him mainly.....the point is he has told me we should meet from june 12!

he knows my schedule from beggining of July as well.

Of course I could work from home via email, but it is our first meeting and critical to decide what he thinks and which direction I should take, otherwise I can just keep on with what I think is right and what my previous supervisor thought......and waste valuable time.

He is supposed to assess me for upgrade in sept/october, that is also why I was expecting more proactiveness here......but on the other hand all this calm on their side can also be seen as a sign that things might be going ok.

I've recently changed supervisor only to find that my new one has vanished....

I submitted work to him on june 15 and his last email (saying let's meet) was 2-3 days before! Since then I emailed him 3-4 times as we haven't even met and he's my new supervisor! I had to search the campus and bumped into him only to get a shocked face saying "I still havent read the work" after 3 weeks....

next week I am leaving to go home as I have informed him and my second, and am preoccupied as we wasted 2 months and I need to know his views and which direction to take since we never met!

I dont want to email him again, and my 2nd supervisor (who is the head of the phd program) seems relaxed and says he's probably on holiday......point is noone knows anything, and he is no even in his office as the building has been evacuated for a month due to works....

I dont want to go home without meeting him, it's ridiculous.

he's a nice guy and usually replies but from the office.....any ideas?

Hi! can anyone tell me how exactly does one find conferences to apply to? both graduate conferences and not.....is there any website? most of the academies in my field make you pay to join them and needless to say supervisors are not much help.

I'm in International Business if it helps...

thanks! :)

Hi, Im in my 2nd year of phd studies and i work on internationalisation of small firms (ie. motivators). I was wondering within the field of international business can anyone help me find particular significant issues on SMEs and internationalisation (ie. questions?). I would like to share ideas with people in the same field as I find it hard just by reading alone.
The keyword I use would be: SME, international business, internationalisation, international mode of market entry, international marketing.

Thanks!

Hi, I recently and finally changed supervisor due to problems with my previous one. I havent met the new one officially (although I know him) and was thinkin are there any specific questions or demands I should ask from him regarding our relationship?

I am in my 18th month and do not want to end up with a bad supervision again. What do you think is ok to ask and what is too much in order to establish a pace and clear relation?

thanks!

thanks! i have already seen the head of phd and in fact he was part of this panel....he said i should present and we will see. I did, and now he said it was ok so just give the written part and we can assess it, but he doesnt know my supervisor is still so negative.

He said i should look for another one but he said it's my job.....

I suspect he realises that if he doesnt upgrade me he cant get rid of me so he will, that is why he keeps telling me what to change as if we have a common goal, regardless of the fact that he says its a mess...

am i being too optimistic?

Hi, as some might know from my writing on this forum, I have a supervision which is not ideal, yet yesterday I presented at the annual upgrade workshop and (unexpectedly for me) my work was received with success and minor amendments from the panel (including the head of Phd).

Yet, going back to my supervisor's office he told me he doesnt see anything in my work and is tired of going in circles, called me lazy and admitted he might be biased and perhaps someone else can see something in it.....

NOW, I need to submit the written part of the upgrade end of june, and he is supposed to support it.....he knows if he wants me to leave he has to upgrade me or we'll just keep postpoining but i'm scared he might influence the head of phd.

how would you approach this? All i can do is follow his advice and improve the paper.........but i dont have high hopes fom him unless he himself gets influenced.

same applies for my 2nd, she destroyed another guy's presentation on the same day.......

Hi, I am planning to ask about this issue and was told you are allowed 1 change of supervisor in your phd....is that true?

Is there any chance your supervisor might boycott the change?

I'm wondering how to go about this diplomatically....and who to contact first, the head, the supervisor?