Well done, teegs and litphdgirl! Hope you are both enjoying a bit of a break now.

Hopefully the jobs market will pick up a bit in the new year, Zutterfly - it's always a bit weird and slow at this time of year.

I'm so sorry. I'm glad to hear that your employer and colleagues are at least responding to this in a sensible and professional way and are supporting you. I think it's vital at this time that you look after yourself and don't let this defeat you.

I would check whether your intended uni/supervisor has a pot of money for these things. Mine didn't (and I had wrongly assumed all PhDs would cover the costs of actually doing your research) - I found out I had to pay for transport to see participants, conference costs, professional membership, getting things printed and so on - it made things significantly more expensive. Ask up front about it!

Sent you a pm, Zutterfly :)

I'm going back into one of my old jobs on a zero hours basis this week. Better the devil you know and all that, plus it will motivate me to get out of there once again, I am sure :-)

I've contacted HMRC any time I've taken on bits of work, as the tax codes can get quite complicated when you're doing various bits of casual work, but you don't need to tell them specifically that you're getting a student stipend. Your funding body should process this without any need for a tax code, and your previous employer should notify HMRC that you no longer work there.

I am now in the 'good feedback, no job' club too! Had my first interview for a research post yesterday, and they gave me almost immediate positive feedback, but said they'd decided to employ someone whose previous research was more similar to theirs. I am trying to focus on the 'good feedback' aspect of the experience, but it's also a bit frustrating that they ultimately selected on the basis of information that was on the CV - feel like nothing I could say or do in the interview was going to make any difference!

Oh Anz, it sounds like your thesis is caught up in some ridiculous battle of the egos (that's the polite version of what I'm thinking, believe me). You have had to hold your nerve for so long with this one. I hope you will have good news soon and in the mean time, please take care of yourself and do some good stuff and as JStanley said, don't let yourself be defined by this experience.

I would also advise you to choose your external examiner very carefully (if you have the chance to have some input), to make sure it's someone who will be on board with small participant numbers.

Good news about the teaching, Zutterfly! I am also considering both academia and non-academia at the moment. I could go back into my previous line of work, but I do want to come out of this with something a bit more challenging and rewarding than I had before. I am looking at more senior posts than ones I had previously, but unsure whether I'll have a chance alongside people who have done management courses. It is hard to see how or where we'll fit in!

Good luck with submitting your thesis this week, teegs!

Honestly, I would only consider self-funding something if it was exactly what I wanted to be doing and there was no chance of getting funded for it. To be self-funding and not excited by your topic just sounds like a miserable experience. I don't think there's anything wrong at all with going and getting some different experiences and coming back to the idea of a PhD when you're ready and know what you want to research.

Where are you hoping to study? If it's the UK, I would recommend contacting the British Psychological Society, as postgrad research degrees here usually specify that you need to have done a degree which would make you eligible for BPS graduate membership. They should be able to advise you of the requirements to get on to a research degree.

I see what you mean - I have something similar in my study, as I have abbreviated names for my questionnaires. At the moment I am using both the abbreviation and the explanation of what it is, but I am aware that it might be a bit wordy and clumsy, so I'm going to have a read-through and decide if it's all necessary. I do include abbreviations in my text any time I've put in a figure or table containing the abbreviations, so that the explanatory text clearly ties in with the results I'm presenting, if that makes sense. I'm thinking there are some sections where the abbreviations won't be needed, eg the discussion section, where it'll be more of a general discussion of the results in relation to the research questions.

Might just have been some clumsy wording on your supervisor's part, GM - not very helpful! If they had any major concerns about your thesis, they wouldn't have given the go-ahead for submission.

Good luck and hope you get a decent rest tonight!