Hi Sneaks, sorry for the delay in response and sorry for the misunderstanding. You've still used a mix of qualitative and quantitative methods, but I'm not sure how to classify your design. Looking at study 1 and study 3, I wonder whether the purpose of using mixed methods is for complementarity of triangulation. You used quantitative methods, the questionnaires, to test/strengthen your findings in study 1, which suggests triangulation. Taking on board your suggestions about someone reading your work, when you get to that stage, send me the methodology chapter (if you don't mind) just so I can read it in detail. It'll give me a much better idea of what you've done and how I would classify it. I've always thought that you were developing a questionnaire, so apologies for that mistake.
:-)

@LBaines - you could try the main one, which is Mixed Methods in Social and Behavioural Sciences. It's still early and I'm waiting for the caffeine to kick in and one by Creswell and Plano-Clark..also one by Jennifer Greene. Type mixed methods into Amazon and they should pop up.

@Sneaks...Looking at what you've said above again. I think you have a sequential exploratory mixed methods design of some type, fully mixed. You do have some integration, which is a tricky business for mixed methods (Bryman, 2006, 2007). For instance, your qualitative themes from the first phase have actually been used to generate quantitative items in your questionnaire. Integration can occur in your style of writing and the way you weave your qual and quan findings together, also in the discussion. There's many ways that integration can occur, and the difficulty of actually achieving integration can depend on your mixed methods design.

Maybe it's because my user name is long, I do not fully understand this internet forum business, but I have no post delete button. If I start a thread, I can delete my 'thread post' but not general posts I make on other other threads. Is there anything I can do about this?

Thank you.

Mission for today: go t'jobcentre, be made to feel like Tom Thumb, apply for some call centre jobs (though I really want the job I've recently applied for) and get on with the task of doing some reading for my viva. Oh, and check to see there's any news on the journal I submitted.

Generally, it's prestige for them, and it looks good on their own CV. If were to go on to become a superstar researcher, the better for them and their own reputation. The cynics amongst us might also say that, in some cases, it is perhaps to do some boring research for them.

What an awkward situation for you to be in. I hope I'm not playing devil's advocate, but if I were you I'd report them through the proper channels (as you have done) and hope that the university comes down on them like a tonne of bricks. Such blatant plagiarism in a 3rd year essay! Did she not think she would be caught? I hope she does walk following disciplinary procedures because she doesn't deserve the award of a degree. It may not look good for retention, but do universities really want to retain that calibre of students. I hope it doesn't reflect badly on you because this girl has taken it upon herself to cheat. Sorry to rant; it's the old man in me.

Hi Sneaks, don't worry at all about you research not fitting Creswell's and Plano-Clark's typology. You can develop your own mixed methods design or adapt one - there's that level of flexibility with mixed methods. Remember that Tashakkori and Teddlie have actually classified 40 different designs, so you can have a look at theirs. We can classify yours if we know a bit more about it, using priority, order and timing. Did each phase build on the other one? Did you use the qual and qual/quan phase to build the questionnaire in phase 3?

I wish I was a skilled politician. I could then talk myself out of all the tricky holes I'm going to dig for myself in the viva. 'I can see why you think I'm wrong, but if you see things from my perspective you'll see why I'm right...'

Timefortea, you're certainly not the only one! In my acknowledgements, I make no acknowledgements to my family because they weren't at all helpful. I worked from home with my thesis and wrote my PhD to the sounds of Loose Women (the programme!), S Club 7, M 'n' M (da rappa!), drunken rows and The Simpsons. The only people I thanked were my supervisors, various other researchers and the participants. It would have been nice to write 'thank you to my lovely, understanding family' but it didn't turn out like that. Ah well. So, you're not the only one.

What a horrible thread for me to read, whilst on pre-viva death row. Have some consideration people! :-)

In my opinion, I'd just keep going as you are. Everything is clearly going well, the feelings are mutual and the things you are worried about now will just resolve themselves naturally - likely sooner than later. The things going through your mind will also be going through his mind so, as you get to know each other even better and get closer, you'll cross all the bridges you're worried about now. Cold, logical analysis has its place, but with things like this you need to follow your heart and trust your instincts.

I'd like to add that I wish I was good at getting my research published in journals. These covers letters I'm writing are turning into begging letters...Dear Professor, I hear you like the colour blue. I like the colour blue too. Therefore, I think my article would make a suitable contribution to your journal.

Good point about fees going up with inflation, but I meant that if you start the PhD in 2011 then when the fees potentially double or triple in 2012 onwards, that should not apply to existing students. I could be wrong, but that's the case with the undergrads.

I'm not at Reading, but I don't think you'll come up against any hidden admin costs. If you start this year, fees should remain at the rate you started paying them throughout your course. That's the situation with undergrad courses. As for funding, I'm not an expert, but I would imagine that it is very difficult to acquire funding for the arts and humanities, particularly following recent cuts. You could look at the AHRC and see what that says, if you haven't already.

We've not really had a light hearted thread for a while, and an idea just struck me. I was flicking through an article a little while ago and marvelling at the complex statistics used. I thought to myself, 'I wish I was good at maths'. If I was good at maths, I think I could be a really good researcher and I'd probably get invited to dinner parties by all the editors of the major journals in an attempt to butter me up and persuade me to publish my work in their journals. Like David Beckham and his endorsement of razors, I'd be paid millions to publicise stats packages (headline: Walminski thinks R) and database management software (headline: Walminksi makes discoveries with Studybuilder). Alas, I'm crap at maths, merely a survivor, so I'm destined to struggle away forever. But what does everyone else wish they were good at? Urdu? The 100 metre hurdles? The art of seduction? International diplomacy, or making meatballs? It doesn't have to be academic, it can be anything.