Hey Olivia and Ady, just wanted to thank you for your book recommendation, it arrived couple of days ago, and I'm already finding it very useful in my writing! thank you :D

Sneaks, thanks for this advice, I never knew about the extra features! (up)

do they have an employee or payroll number?

Having said that, asking for such data is like saying "I've got a way of cross referencing your employee number with your name" thus giving the impression that it is not anonymous.

Is the supervisor reports already written (i.e. part of their normal business and written for everyone) or are you going to their supervisors saying "these are the people that took part in the survey, please write reports on them"?

yes absolutely!

if you get the job, wonderful! If you don't, well you will learn a lot from going to such a job interview - what they are really looking for (giving you future goals to achieve) and what sorts of questions they will ask. It will be a great practice if nothing else!

*phew* I've just finished the first draft of my methodology chapter. It took a bit more work than I anticipated, and it'll need more shaping (it's 9000 words to start with!!), but glad it's out the way and I can start writing another chapter.

Not sure what to write next... I have the choice of doing the first lit review (from scratch AGAIN), chainging a small chapter into something a bit broader, or add a section to a finished chapter... I think I may do the lit review, as that will then only leave on chapter (plus intro and conclusion) unwritten, which would be a great relief.

my day off yesterday was lovely, and I highly recommend it to anyone going through a the writing slump. I felt guilty to start off with for taking the day off, but I managed to be far more productive today.

Having said that, I am still looking forward to this writing toll finishing!

Morning :) How is everone?

Fm - that's great news that your paper got accepted :D when will you find out about the other two?

Pacience - you have my total sympathy, I had to abandone my chapter that had stats in (partially because it was stressing me out too much at the time, and partly because there is a question about whether it should be in there or not). SPSS is a good software if you know stats inside out, but for someone like me that has the weakest grip of stats, it's like a minefield!

Ady - thank you for such a supportive comment :) I am sure I've been guilty of making off-hand comments in the past at people, so I guess this is just karma! Sorry to hear that your week hasn't gone well, what are the problems you experiencing with your phd?

As for my writing, this week was difficult. Partly, it's because I'm so low on motivation right now. I am so so tired of constantly writing! Then stressful things happen one after the other and I found it really difficult to focus on writing when stressed (am I the only one?). I think I need a break so I am taking the day off today with hubby (he needs a day off too), and we're going out for the day :) Tomorrow is another day!

going back to the 'why do mixed method', I found this which might help you in constructing arguments for mixed methods:

http://www.socialresearchmethods.net/tutorial/Sydenstricker/bolsa.html#Research%20Design

(go down to 'why mixed methods')

I know what you mean, I have the same thing, two weeks ago, I had a little crisis when I thought my work was qual rather than quan all of a sudden... but then it turned out that I kind of missunderstood something along the line and went back to quan. I think the more I read, the more I get confused!

the book I already mentioned also has a good section on all the stances... It's better than most other sources, as I find writing on stances in most books impossible to understand.

I think it's difficult to try and figure it out though, since it's rather an abstract thing! I'm still trying to get the difference between positivism and postpositivism!!

have you had a look at this? there is a whole section on mixed methods...

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1412965578/ref=oss_product

Thank you Dunni, as ever, you are full of wise words (up)

I have destressed now, and can see that it wasn't so serious as I originally thought. It's just sometimes so hard to see that a small issue, is just that, small, in proportion to life! I think i've put so much time and effort into this thesis that it's like THE most important thing ever and that the world will collapse if I don't get this PhD. But it won't!!! It won't make a silightest difference if I complete or not, so anything that is only a minor stress over the thesis doesn't really matter.

thanks Ady, you are right, I DO need to chilax. I totally know that teeny weeny things are getting to me just because I'm stressed and overworked. These issues wouldn't even be issues in any other time.

and yes, there will be an end to this, both mine and yours! I'm appriciating more and more the value of this thread and the deadline is this summer thread. It's just nice to be able to say 'I'm having a good day today' or 'I'm having an awful day' to someone that understands what you are going through.

I will spend this evening crocheting... my current knitting project has run into some problem, so I'm putting it aside for a little while. Crochet, I can do with my eyes closed, and that's what I'll probably end up doing tonight.

my sole goal today is not to let stress get to me.

afternoon peeps :)

well I have a dilemma (yes, another one).

...actually, having written the rant out, I don't think I can write this on here because it'll be too identifying... darn it!! I just think every little issue feels like a MAJOR issue at the moment purely because so much has to get done through so much stress. I am sure tomorrow, I'll be wondering what all the fuss was about.

Dunni, I'm sure it's frustrating having to wait longer and longer, I can imagine at your stage, I'd be like "I JUST WANT TO SUBMIT THE DARN THING!!! :-s " I hope they get back to you soon.

Hi Slowmo, I am totally in the same place as you, as my submission date is the day before yours!

first of all, come and join us in the "deadline is this summer" thread - it's become a great, support certainly for me, as we all share our anxieties and worries. We also share our progress and you will see that all of us (with the exception of the super amazing Dunni) are still trying to scrape together a full draft!! Also, you will see in the thread that taking a break is crucial and has to be taken frequently!

Also, speak to people in your department that have gone through this recently themselves. They will all tell you that they too went through exactly the same problems as you did. It will make you a) feel that you're not the only one, that it's a normal thing to be having these problems, and b) see that there will be an end to this, and a brighter light at the end of the tunnel.

oh in the thread, we also talk about our work schedules and whether it's reasonable or not... which might help you with the anxiety of being able to finish on time :)