Jump the Ship?

One of the most dreaded things that could happen to a PhD student is when he found out that another person has already did the same kind of research he intends to do, or worse, nearly finish of doing that. If that is the case, the option of whether to 'jump the ship' has always comes to mind.

I just found out yesterday that there is a paper published as an ICMA discussion paper in 2005 that did exactly what I have in mind for my own PhD research. I got hold of it, print it, and read through it straight from the printer. And my head is getting lighter.

Turned out that the paper did what I initially intend to do, but just stop short on what I'm really want to do. So, although the paper did their own governance index, whereas I am already securing an established index, it does took steps that mirrors exactly how it should be done. I should be happy now because all the necessary works of referencing and methodology steps have been outlined for me (haha). The next step is to further the analysis and trying to offer alternative explanation (the paper's finding is a complete opposite of what I'm expecting, so it should be interesting to find out who is right, or nearly right).

And I'm going to apply for an ICAS grant. To cover the FTSE All Share companies data. Which is going to be unthinkable to most new PhD students, I think so.