I agree with Busybee, it's certainly helping to discuss how everyone's getting on... I'll be checking back in on this thread! I'm also going to set myself a lot smaller goals and try to work through them, and will hopefully feel less daunted! I'll report back in the new few days once I've had a think about my goals... Let me know how you get on - and hopefully in a few months there will be light at the end of the tunnel :)

@ Batfink, I see what you mean about not comparing! it's good to hear someone in a similiar position though :) I like the idea of setting a deadline before funding runs out like you have!

@ng24 I know exactly how you feel about writing. One book that may help is 'Writing your dissertation in 15 minutes a day' - it's an excellent little read and changed the way I see writing. It made me get into the practice of writing anything, however rubbish or messy, and working on it from there on, instead on being a perfectionist and writing everything perfectly the first time. From what I've seen, ery few people are lucky enough to be able to do that :)
She recommends just giving yourself a short burst of time to write anything and everything you know on a particular topic and not to worry whether it sounds silly, or about spelling or grammar. Then, you might be motivated at how much you know or at least you might see the way you want to structure your argument. And most importantly, you've made a start! You then have something to work on and improve, rather than staring at a blank screen. Then go back, do spelling, grammar, references, add stuff in... it's something to start you from :) Also, well done you for focusing on publications! I have none so far and I'm sure you'll be so thankful you put the work in when you're published

8-)

======= Date Modified 04 Jan 2012 16:39:24 =======
======= Date Modified 04 Jan 2012 16:39:01 =======
Hi all. I've just entered the third year of my Psychology PhD in October 2011, and I can't believe I only have 10 months until it's *supposed* to be finished. Where does time go?! Some days, I feel sad that PhD-bubble will come to an end, more recently I've began to want to get it done and dusted. Sometimes this feels totally managable and others it feels incrediably DAUNTING! :$
I just wondered if anyone is due to finish this October (fingers crossed, of course!) and whereabouts you are with everything? I have a small study to conduct... and a lot of writing up to do. I've written up drafts of three studies (over 10,000 words each) and have one chapter *rough* draft... I'm unsure how realistic this is but determined to think positive and try to maintain my sanity/enjoyment of everything PhD-related!

Okay, thanks :)

Hi guys. I was hoping someone could help me out with something I'm stuck on. I'm a Psychology PhD student, and am writing up some quantitative results. I'm running many MANOVAS, and am unsure whether to include a table of means and standard deviations, a bar chart, or both when reporting significant differences?

Thanks ever so much, Sneaks!

Thanks for such a quick reply Sneaks. So you mean more than 6 in each cell (i.e group?), so according to those references I should be okay?

Also, sorry to be dim here, but what do you mean by bootstrap?

Thanks for your help!

Quick questions for any stats gods:

I'm trying to determine if my sample size for a MANOVA is acceptable. I've read in several textbooks that the you need to 'have more cases in each cell than you have DVs'. However, I'm a bit stuck about what this means!

I have done multiple MANOVAs, and some have as many as 6 DVs. Now, does that mean I have to have more participants each each cell than DVs (i.e. more than 6 in each group?) OR does it mean that as I have 6 DVs and 3 IVs (6 x 3) I need 18 cases (i.e participants in each group?)

I'm a bit concerned as I have 20 in one group, 30 in another but just 11 or 12 in another group.

Any help would be much appreciated as I'm getting a bit stressed out :-)

Hi all. I have three supervisors and am writing up my PhD with around a year left. For those that have experience of this, I was just wondering who looks at your drafts? I'm concerned it'll only be my first supervisor and don't find his feedback to be very useful! Is it okay to send my second and third sup some chatper drafts as well?

This post is really useful. I'm going through a tough time with the PhD at the moment, and trying desperately to not breakdowm over mistakes I've made. Afterall - 'never a mistake, always a lesson' ....

Thank you, Skig :-)

And OH DEAR, upon seeing my messages on this thread again I am sliiiightly embaressed by all the typos! Whoops - Monday brain!

It'll be worth it in the end because you know you won't have cut any corners, and your analysis will be rich and in-depth. You CAN do it! Just break it down into more manageable tasks and try not to burn out doing it. I took lots of little breaks so I didn't feel too exhausted by it all - quali is certainly a lenthy process :-s Good luck!

Hiya there! I totally sympathise with you - I only had 16 interviews to transcribe and it is an exhausting process! I wouold first decide how detailed your transcription will be (which will depend on the type of analysis you are planning on doing). For instance, I used thematic analysis to analse my data so I didn't need to write up fillers, small pauses, etc. That certainly helped speed up the pricess. However, I would probably try to write all your responses out (even if they don't say much) because you don't know whether something is relevant until you're analysing the data - and you might miss something that would be very important.

Also, I used Voicewalker to transcribe my data and found it to be very useful. Make sure everything is ready so that you can transcribe as smoothly as possible. I would try to break it down rather than thinking about the full thirty transcriptions (so aim for so many a week - so it's more achievable and you don't feel overwhelmed), I know it feels like you have a massive mountain to climb, but you will probably get faster as you go. And remember, by transcribing everything, you are really getting a feel for the data which will help it greatly when you can analyse.

Finally, if it feels totally unbearablem, it is possible to have transcribers do it for you (maybe do half and half, so you still get a feel for the data) or there is a transcription program that is rather pricely but does the process for you. I could find out the name of the program if it's helps.

Hang in there, it feels horrendous but you will get there. :-)

Congratulations! Although I must say, I knew you'd do well! (up)