Out of the Slough of Despond

As previously mentioned, I fell into a Slough of Despond (Alcott, 1869, p. 11) when undertaking my Master's thesis. Twice.

However, I think I will be luckier in my PhD process, because of three key things:

• Self-knowledge: I know more about what is likely to knock me off-track. 
• Strategies & Actions: Because I know more, I can put things in place to prevent those things being a problem. 

There are three of us doing our PhDs in our Business School, all starting in 2016. While our disciplines are quite different (sports leadership, future-proofing the accounting profession, SPSS analysis of financial instrument viability), we are looking to support each other through the process. Also, being at Kiwi Unis, we will all face a viva. Being able to help each other prepare for that will be fantastic. Go 'Kapa PhD'.

Currently, I have two supervisors, and hope to add a third from another Uni as a technical advisor. I hope that by having three supervisors from the outset I will be able to create some continuity of supervision for the five years I think this project will take. This is as a marked difference to my Master's thesis where I found it very, very hard to keep going when my supervisor changed in my last semester.

I have also created a Facebook page which I am banking material to, with the aim of sharing with Kapa PhD later on. Right now I am using the page with other NZers who are doing Inger Mewburn's edX MOOC: How to Survive Your PhD.

In doing my PhD, I wanted to ensure that I built a community of support to help me through the process. Facebook, a number of supervisors who are in from the start, and the Team PhD are my solutions to hopefully prevent a derail.

Oh, and I am DEFINITELY going to get seek funding to be able to PAY someone to transcribe my data!!


Sam

References:  

• Alcott, Louisa May (1869). Little Women: or Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy (Fourth Edition, 1915). USA: Orchard House
• Australian National University & Mewburn, Inger (2015). How to Survive Your PhD. Retrieved 26 September 2015 from https://www.edx.org/course/how-survive-phd-anux-rsit-01x
• Facebook (2015). Kiwi PhDers Community. Retrieved 26 September 2015 from https://www.facebook.com/kiwiphders?ref=hl