Sorry about the negative thread! Just needed a place to vent really...

I'm nearly halfway into my PhD with no real data and my supervisor is hounding me to get a batch of experiments for my first chapter done in a couple of months - this would be fine if it wasn't for him expecting amazing results. My pilot data looked relatively promising, however anything I've done since that point now doesn't look like positive data. I'm really stressing because there are a couple of people in the department that are hoping this data will be amazing as well and they're all hoping for a publication soon. For this reason, whenever I've tried to mention that the newest data looks very different, I've basically been told to 'go away and fix it' by my supervisor, without any suggestions for how to do so. What also isn't helping is the short timeframe for this all to be finished by - as it is I've mapped out what I need to do and it involves working evenings and weekends up to the deadline, which I don't mind doing by any means, but my concern is that when I present the new data that my supervisor will want it all redoing, which will mean I definitely won't make the deadline they've got.

In addition, I'm also very aware of reaching the halfway point of the PhD soon with very little reading and virtually no writing having been done because I was thrown into these experiments from day 1 of the project. I just feel very behind and massively let down by my department because this batch of experiments was never supposed to drag on this long, but due to experimental/technical issues, problems with the technicians in the department and my supervisor changing his mind all along the way, this has dragged on for much longer than it was supposed to.

I'm not really sure what I'm asking, just any friendly encouragement would be really nice!
Thanks.

Hang in there Tulip! Anyone got any words of support / advice?

Hiya Tulip

I am a Humanities student so I suppose we each have a different approach to our thesis . However, we are all interested in the outcome in the end : the completed thesis. Unlike you, I have all my material to be analysed right here at home, in fact everything is within my reach, but because of some problems (some of them personal ones), I do not have a smooth journey either.

From what you have mentioned, you seem very serious and driven in your research, but you did not expect to be hindered by other issues. I would suggest that you consult the uni's postgraduate students' advisor, as you do sound quite exasperated about the whole situation. I do hope that you can find a solution to this problem soon.

Hello Tulip,

I too am half way through my part-time computer science PhD and like you have little data to show for it. To complicate matters, it seems I may have to backtrack and do a whole bunch of other work to move forwards and get any data. It seems my original plan will not work.

Every time i speak with my supervisors, I sense disappointment in their voices. That said, even the rubbish data I do have is data - they are results that later on will support why I had to change course. I do find I am spending an awful lot of my limited time as a part-timer writing code and fixing bugs. I feel I am not doing anything 'academic' because I am focused on trying to fix my problem.

Like you, with little data to speak of, I have published little. However, there are many forms of PhD: some publish loads while other publish little. I try to remember that a PhD is a training and learning exercise and is far from perfect.

Ian