Masters help for mears

[mears]

This is a question for those of you out there who have completed a masters course part time.

I have completed up to the point I need to do my 20,000 word dissertation. Unfortunately I took a break for a year and nearly opted out altogether. I just found I could not get focussed to progress my research proposal due to work and family commitments.

Anyway, I have picked it up again and need to have it completed by Sept 2007. Will probably need to beg for an extension from the programme panel.

The question is. How likely is it that I can achieve completing within the year?

I am planning to send a questionnaire to women seeking their views on their waterbirth experience. Still have to totally formulate research proposal and design questionnaire. I think that will be less time consuming than interviews. Is interview actually better?

I really am running around like a headless chicken trying to get a handle on all this. Meeting my tutor this afternoon but I thought your experiences might help.

Anyone?

Yes, we had a support and late-night moaning group which saved my sanity, (allegedly), along with the port!

I suppose it is wise to keep a glass of wine for after creating my literary masterpiece? My tongue is hanging out!

Well so much for my microdeadlines - still haven't written the research proposal. Just can't seem to get it started.

How about doing what I do: write all the headlines of your proposal so you can see what needs to be done, then start with the bit that grabs you most.

For me, that's usually the bit in the Background section about "why this research is important" - writing it, I get all enthusiastic and there's a whole chunk done before I know it.

Please slap me - I still haven't got off the ground.

I just cannot write the piggin' proposal!!

Why not?

any prompetrs about tonight?

You just gotta bite the bullet Mears.
Am in similar scenario but with dh away,two small children,a f/t job and an additional p/t job.
Tis a bloody nightmare but am wading through.
Intellectual snobbery helps.

Why not write us a post here explaining what you want to do, then people can ask intelligent questions (really, we can!) and that will kind of flesh it out, and then you'll have something in writing at least that you can cut and paste and massage into a proposal?

LOL califrau.

I am just not sure how I should actially structure the proposal itself.

I have a theory that of the women who deliver in the pool in our unit, a large number did not preplan it.

Most of the literature talks about the struggle women have to get a waterbirth. Our unit openly promotes the use of the pool.

I definitely want to do a postal questionnaire to find out how women who experienced a waterbirth came to birth in the pool.

Did they know about labour and birth in water before they came to hospital in labour or did they just try it on the suggestion of the midwife when they came in.

If I write to the women who have delivered in the past year that will be about 110.

I want to demontrate that the pool is not something that only women who are well read about water will use

There's what looks like a good overview here .

Okay I did my Masters in an unrelated subject 6 years ago, but here is how I would approach it!

For the research proposal I would re-jig the outline that you have just written.

Start off with the aim of the research - i.e. you want to demonstrate that water birth is often unplanned, and doesn't necessarily mean the woman is knowledgeable about it beforehand.

Talk about previous research, the perception that women always have to struggle to get a waterbirth (which is certainly my experience).

Then give a little bit of background about your unit, how you promote the use of the pool, what the official policy is.

Then outline how you are going to do the research, what the questionnaire will be, the size of the sample, if you will be following up with interviews. I think you probably also have to give timescales here don't you?

Then round off with a nice neat conclusion. Easy-peasy

Thanks you two. That is really helpful

Hi
I used to be a midwife - years ago before children. I now work in clinical research and am currently doing a masters degree. My main topic is Audit design and development. I wonder if you would be able to do a pilot study or "test run" on a small number of subjects? In my experience you sometimes throw up omissions or unexpected responses to your questionnaire that way, and you can go back and redraft before you send it out to all 110 people. Don't know if that is any use, but HTH. Good luck.

How are you going to quantify your results? If you have a good R&D department where you work, you might be able to get some help with database design.

You should check whether you need to get Ethics and R&D approval, if you haven't already done so.