Hi all
I'm a 35-year old who's just finished a psychology conversion course doing it alongside a full-time job. Been to see potential supervisor re: PhD - he's the same guy (nice bloke) who supervised conversion final project, giving it 68%. He said a team could be assembled on my PhD topic choice as a few people in the department have relevant interests. Then he would apply for funding and nominate me as the PhD student. We don't have ESRC status, so he'll approach other bodies and I don't know how likely he is to succeed at gaining funding, but he appears confident enough in my abilities.

But I only scraped a Distinction, with pals doing better than me, and as I only got 68% in my research project, I'm wondering whether it might be better to do a full-time MSc (also in my topic area) at another uni, despite my advancing years, just to hone my science a bit more before starting a PhD.

As I am so elderly lol it is unlikely I'll do an MSc first, so it's quite daunting being like a freshly hatched graduate and going straight to PhD without a Masters to get me further used to empiricism.

But also the classic debate about the best way to understand people (via their 'objective' behaviour or their subjective experience) is fascinating and so maybe one day there could be a rapprochement between quant and qual approaches.

Cheers everyone - I'm off to read a book on experimental design!

Hi and thanks for all your replies. I think my course surprised me by persuading me of the value of empiricism, if anything. As I had been very critical of it previously. And although I did well enough in research methods, I am aware of my own weakness in experimental design. But in deference to my new paradigm, I am willing to work on that weakness in order to make my work more robust. What usually inspires me in terms of initial ideas are traditionally philosophical concepts, but I do hope to explore them in an empirical way.

But I worry that the world actually wants proper scientists whom they can fund to do useful things, and that they will end up a lot more employable than me (I'd like to work in academia). I felt lucky reading this forum that my course was considered science for this reason. It seems a lot more risky to be in humanities and I salute those of you who are as it seems even harder to find a foothold in the world/academia.

I suspect I will end up discussing all this with my supervisor, who at least does know my work up until now. Interdisciplinary thinking is great, but will anyone pay you for it?!?

Hi Jayney
Am meeting with the supervisor of my final year project next week to discuss PhD. Then funding to think about!

Psychology is a hybrid area cos it evolved from philosophy. But now with neuroimaging techniques etc. we can investigate the mind in a scientific way. The interface between is fascinating. On the course I was quite good at the quant stuff, and although I came onto the course as a social constructionist, I leave it with a respect for biology!

Hi
I'm 35, and investigating PhDs having just finished a psychology conversion course in which I scraped a Distinction with a hilarious 69.6% (they had to round it up!). Although during the course I was really won over by science and the whole quest to find hard evidence, the fact remains that I most intuitively think in a philosophical manner. Thankfully there is some overlap between psychology and philosophy and it means that I'm pretty good at theory. But on the negative side I'm not great at experimental design. It's hard turning enormous freewheeling ideas into measurable variables!

So today I'm ruminating on whether I'm so undisciplined as to make a poor scientific thinker and this will count against me re: publications/jobs, or whether my philosophical tendencies make me a creative maverick who can bring something new to the psychological party!

How have you guys found ways to play to your strengths in choosing topics/methodologies? And have you had really hard grind where you have had to simply try and improve upon a skill that is fundamentally weak? You can't all be good all-rounders, dammit!

You sound very disciplined, Olivia. And you don't sound like the sort of person to ruminate too much on how difficult things are - you just get on with it. Do you keep to fairly normal working hours with the PhD? And do you find that you've kept variety in your non-research time? e.g. friends, hobbies and the like?

I expect cheese is moisturising too... from the inside out...

Olivia - I'm a mature undergrad lurking on this forum while doing my final project and contemplating a PhD. We recently communicated about being ENFP. I must say your messages are always amusing and your work regime inspirational!

Ogriv

I got a really good vegetable cookery book recently by Jane Grigson because I wanted to eat more veg. The recipes are so inventive and sophisticated that I'm deffo eating more of them and now I crave meat less.

Chris, I think it's really interesting how research can change you as a person and challenge your previously held beliefs. Way to go!

Ogriv

chrisrolinski, what is your topic?

My research? Well I'm still on the conversion course at the moment. It's looking at cooperativeness and socioeconomic status, but it's only undergraduate level really.

Beyond that, I'm quite interested in researching deferment of gratification, believe it or not! Quite appropriate for a PhD I would have thought, heh heh

As the topic has applications in health psychology eg addiction it should be possible to do things with a bunch of participants in a lab. I could do a bit of qualitative research within it e.g. interviews, but I prefer quant analysis really. But you can still have the people contact with quant I think, depending on what you do.

I've never really had an intellectually challenging day job, so it should make quite a nice change to be hideously overwhelmed!

Ogriv

Olivia - I've always come out as ENFP too. Though I understand some studies question the validity of the Myers-Briggs test, it describes me reasonably well. What is your research on? Presumably it allows you enough people contact?

Thanks for these messages - it sounds as if it's a question of playing to your strengths really, and also making the most of the social time you do have. And never again studying with a full-time job

These posts make me very happy! More, please!

Hi
I'm considering doing a PhD, in order to become a lecturer. Although I enjoy study and keep returning to it, even while working full-time, the isolation of PhDs is concerning.

Juggling full-time work with a psychology conversion course currently (and a PGDip in the past) has reduced the social life - I'm currently single too! I suspect that some teaching and conference-going on the side during the PhD would be a good outlet(I love explaining things), but I wonder if I'm temperamentally unsuited to the task, despite being academically capable.

I've asked the more outgoing of my current lecturers about this. One said he always made sure he finished at 5pm, another said he thinks extroverts are better at recruiting research participants, and another just said "can you sit at a desk and study all day?" (to which the answer is yes, if I have people to meet in the evening).

I love the people in my current department and would love to teach there... is that the wrong primary motivation?

Are you all very solitudinous people or not?

Ogriv

Hi
As I near the end of a psychology conversion course, I'm thinking of applying for a PhD in the summer, having done unchallenging jobs for many years.

Doing a PhD is a huge undertaking with (I hear) a high drop-out rate. So I'm trying to put in place elements which will make dropping out less likely - e.g. a super supervisor, a great topic, etc.

But how about motivation? My main motivation to do it is to enter academia in teaching. I am enjoying my current research, but being rather extroverted, I feel that teaching is really where it's at, and suspect that I would probably be a fab teacher and an average-ish researcher.

What are everyone else's motivations for wanting to do it? I've heard everything from "wanting to outsmart the ex-husband" to "making an important contribution in the field". How about others?