Thanks one more time for your interest!
I will ask my super again, I am just trying to avoid the "banging-on-the-desk" part in our discussion:-) , and being a little prepared.
When am I going to be an independent researcher? Right now I feel like a 5-year old crying for my mummy!

Thanks everybody for the replies! :-)

I am not in psychology, I am in a Science PhD. I ve read about SPSS in previous threads. Why is SPSS so popular? ( I am not a smartarse, honestly wondering). I found this list on wiki

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_statistical_packages

but I kind of feel like someone trying to learn Autocad without knowing how to draw.

Wish I could tell more about my research but it would give my anonymity away! It could help you to give me more accurate advices.

Well done, don't spend a penny!:-)

Hello wonderful people of this forum!

I am fairly new to the forum and I am very glad I found it! It feels good to know there are people out going through the same difficulties.
My background is totally irrelevant, and through the master I only managed to get a very basic idea about statistics. I feel that I 've learn to do some basic stuff in Excel but I have no deeper understanding.
My university offers some basic courses. I plan to attend them but I understand that it takes a lot of personal effort too. I 've never hidden my weakness from my supervisors. They suggested that I should get some training on that too.
I want to start doing some preliminary studying by myself. Problem is I don't know where to begin from. During my PhD I will need to analyse amazing quantities of data, both numerical and responses from questionnaires. Every time I go through papers and I read something complicated I didn't even know it existed, I feel totally ignorant and inadequate!
Can anyone suggest where I start from? Any software worth learning? I would appreciate any information on online training or whatever you found useful yourself.

Thanks in advance!

Try to keep good notes of anything relevant you read. Write half a page for each article and try to group them into categories. It will make things easier in the future, don't end up like me; " Where did I find this information?" and spend so much time sorting out references, forget half of what I have read etc.

Hi!
Personal statements are such a pain! I feel for you!
I wrote a very short one, it was hardly 200 words. In the first paragraph I wrote what I hope to gain out of it. You can say about your background (1st degree).
In the second paragraph I wrote a very short description of my master's dissertation (I did this and examined this). If you have any publications add them too.
Finally, I wrote what my PhD will be about and what I hope to come up with. Then a kind statement that I hope to be accepted. It looked like "why I want to get accepted in the kindergarden" personal statement, but it worked fine.
Good luck with the results!

Hi there,

If you want to find previous PhD thesis, you may request them from British Library ethos services.
If you are looking for peer-reviewed journals you may access them through online sources, depending on your discipline. For scientific, technical, and medical research I recommend science direct, springerlink etc. You need a password to log-in through your university. Hope this helps. 

I have huge experience in not flirting with you. Some signs to be seriously considered are (in order of appearance):
never remember a thing you tell them (keep asking the same questions), sit to the opposite corner of the room and cross their hands tight on their chest, put a book in front of their face when they talk to you, talk about the weather when they are alone with you and then run fast and far away, laugh nervously for no apparent reason when together. When you ask them out for coffee they have " this thing to do, overworked, other plans". :-(

I don't have much research experience but when I faced a simpler situation I wrote everything down and then started summarising. I doubt that it was the correct approach but after a long struggle of cutting down I decided what was important and worth keeping. I do the common mistake of getting too attached with what I write and have trouble letting things go. I wonder what more experienced students think.

If you apply now for a funded PhD you will probably start next year anyway. It doesn't look bad, a lot of students leave gap years for personal reasons: save some money, have children, travel etc. It can look good on the CV too, a lot of unis appreciate mature students with working experience.

I am very proud of my precious mistakes! Some of them are very unique, some others are really common. I learn from my mistakes, I remember each of them for ever. Never make the same mistake twice.
I make jokes about them and inform people who are just starting " Don't do that, it doesn't work". For example, when I was 5 I put my arm floats on my legs and almost drowned. (up) I ve done numerous mistakes in the construction site (each mistake costs a lot of money) and an awful lot of mistakes as a researcher.
I am glad I am not doctor or an air traffic controller: each mistake could mean lives. Therefore, complecated tasks are normally performed by a team.
Try to plan your experiments ahead in every detail and ask someone's more experienced opinion before conducting them.

I don't mean to make you paranoid but check that your money are safe in your account! Probably it is nothing important but I had a very bad experience in Europe with the ''not-working-card" trick a few years ago.

Most of us have been through this valley of desperation. I couldn't make any future plans which resulted to major insecurity and frustration. I copped with temporary jobs and tried to publish something.
Good luck to everyone.

If you want to procrastinate do it the correct way: with a melon juice in a beach somewhere in southern Europe. No reason to procrastinate in front of a computer. Only a week with two weekends, no big deal. Charter flights with hotel included are pretty cheap! 8-) Although, I would recommend free camping instead!

Hi! I could have written this post! I suffer from dyslexia too (well, actually I don't suffer, everyone else makes me suffer). I had a really hard time when I was a child, I struggled for years to learn how to read and write. I couldn't learn by heart and I always underperform in exams. My teachers in elementary schools thought I was an idiot or lazy and I had received all forms of abuse and humiliaton. As a result, I don't have any self-confidence.
Until now I have to put so much effort to fill a form, write structured reports, organise and numerous other things most people do easily. I normally work harder than other students to receive a lower mark. Still, I am very proud of myself that I managed to overcome these difficulties. The amount of effort I had put as a child to learn basic stuff is bigger than any effort I ever put later in life for demanding jobs or academic achievements. I fall short in specific areas but I am much better in creativity, complex thoughts, and critical thinking.
I am now enrolled in a founded PhD. I still dread red pens and beg my supervisors to use any other colour for feedback (but no! they enjoy my horrified facial gesture when they return a chapter covered in ink). I don't mind personal critism too, but on harsh feedback, the childhood feelings come back: I feel inadequate, insecure, useless. I feel I am a fraud and they will soon find out. I fight these feelings back, they don't help me improve, they slow my productivity down. So I always think that if I was so useless afterall, my sups wouldn't invest all this time and effort on me. This thought cheers me up and work harder not to let them down.
Everything is going to be fine. Just keep applying and let people who already know you that you are interested in a founded PhD.