PhD Mum

It would appear that my son is a firm “bed-xiteer”. And I (like most parents I imagine) am a “bed-mainer”. For the last couple of nights, we have had over 2 hours of continually putting our monster back in his bed. During this time, like all bed-xiteers I imagine, he shouts loud saying he doesn’t want to bed-main, he isn’t tired, that I am scaremongering him with my threats of what will happen if he doesn’t stay. Honestly, these bed-xiteers. Do they not know why we want them to bed-main? I’ve tried to show him the benefits of bed-maining – financial stability (he can have pennies for his jar or sweets), improved relationships (both his parents will talk to him, he can see his friends), employment opportunities (he can paint in the morning if he wants to) As you may have seen on my Instagram account, he won. He bed-xited. But he was made to sit in the corner and think about his actions. He soon returned to his room after he saw all the false promises he had believed (i.e. b...

I realise that result sections are very different depending on your specialty and your personal style. But I thought I would give tips as to what I have found makes for a “good” results section in any research piece that I have read/written. I currently write about research within a medical context. The people who read my research are generally clinicians with little to no statistical knowledge or who do not frequently read statistical methods, but who have a lot of interest in the findings and potential implementation of the results.    Within psychology, I have experienced the tendency to “fish” around in the data to report the exciting and juicy significant findings, but this is often at the detriment to the overall quality of the research. This is probably the single most important point . Always refer back to your research aim(s) . This may sound like an obvious thing to do. But often, when your neck deep in figures and tables, you can get side tracked and fo...

(within health/psychology) I wish someone had told me this when I first started my PhD. The key to a successful research piece: simplicity. The most basic and most often forgotten point of a study, at any level, is to have a very clear and succinct question(s) in mind that you want to answer. It sounds so straight forward and obvious doesn’t it. But it is amazing how, on a 3 to 5 year journey, you can lose sight of what your research aim is.  "If you can't describe a topic in simple terms, you don't understand it ." (Einstein)  Remember, within your study, you are not going to solve the world's problems.  I started wanting to improve end of life care for all; which in hindsight was very noble of me but completely impractical! In pragmatic terms, you have a time frame within which you need to do the study and present the results - save complexity for the reasons why you should definitely get a post doctorate post. This simplicity then pays off in dif...

I recently had a job interview for a research post. I got it (which is great news!) but I also got the feedback that I really need to " learn how to sell myself ".  It really got me thinking about the interview process and how it just isn't designed for people like me. I want to be (/I am *must keep repeating to self* ) a researcher. I am good at academic writing (believe it or not from this website 😂). However, there is something innate, call it an internal flaw, that I am just not designed to talk about how amazing I am. Whenever it comes to inevitable "why should you get this job" question, I just freeze. I have attended training days that tell me the sort of things I should  say but somehow between my brain and my mouth, it just doesn't compute. I am sure this is a common diagnosis for many people other than me. But you see, I think my qualities do make for a strong candidate/member of a team: I don't force my view, I take in others opinions...

It seems so surreal to be able to write about my viva - in which I had to defend my research. It means I have actually done a PhD (!), and survived the process! (I have no idea how long it will take before this sinks in). I had previously read the experience of others and doubted if I would ever make it to this point. I'm sure this is a common feeling to all PhDers - especially those with a toddler hanging off you - at so many points along the journey. Whilst it's all fresh in my mind, I thought I would write about my viva, so that if you are prepping for yours, you can read this and hopefully feel a bit more "ready"!  Pre-viva prep I had about 8 weeks between submitting the thesis and my viva. I didn't look at my thesis until 3 weeks before. This gave me a much needed break and time to think about other stuff. From t-minus 3 weeks, I read through each chapter and made notes - I made a summary of each one, looked for new research, thought about potential ...

Before I go on, please know that this is a lighthearted piece . There are many women who struggle daily with mental health conditions every day and there are great services available to offer support (God bless the NHS). Please do not take any offence to what I write, and please if you think you might, stop reading. After completing my undergraduate degree, I took a few years off from academia. I then returned to complete my MSc. During this course, I had to complete a piece of original research. I decided to study schizotypal traits in religious people (as you do). Which simply means that even in a undiagnosed population (your average Joe), there are traits or behaviours that could be considered a psychiatric illness. I was lucky enough to be supervised by Professor Richard Bentall during my MSc. His book, Madness Explained , is a very good read. Similarly to the book by Jon Ronson on Psychopaths , they make you question the psychological testing method and how exactly someone i...