By 'mood swings' you probably mean bipolar mood swings. The phenomenon does exist in some clinically normal population too, though with much less intensity. It impacts the performance by alternating the productivity in a wave form - to and fro about its mean position, that is, from minimal productivity to normal and then to maximum, and then back to normal, and minimal. The overall output of the student might remain at par with others because low performance times would be compensated with the high performance ones but the student himself might feel uncomfortable with this lack of consistency and control.

If I was in the mood, I would let you know! ;-)

In my experience of many years spent ABD, the excitement of working on your own research slowly devolves into something akin to chewing on the same piece of gum every day--the flavor is lost, you have no desire left to chew it, and yet you keep putting it in your mouth. Not surprisingly, during this period little gets done, and you may fall into depression, or at least active procrastination and avoidance. What causes all this trouble? Perhaps the system itself, perhaps circumstances, perhaps advisors and committees. . . but day to day mood swings are small in comparison to the larger issue that constantly looms over your life.

Maybe you were looking for something academic and objective, so I apologize for a personal anecdote!

Hi Muhammad. Not familiar with research in the area but if I had to guess on what to look for...mood swings often fall within the context of discussions and research on psychiatric disorder, mental illness, etc. not as a phenomenon separate from that context. In any case I do know of a researcher who primarily focuses on bipolar disorder. Her research might be worth taking a look at for some general insights. Some of the pdfs. are available for download:

http://www.gruberpeplab.com/publications.php

I can tell you from experience. We have some periods when the mood is good or high and these are the periods of maximum productivity.

And then there are periods when the mood is low and a dullness sets in. it can be nutritional factors, environmental, relationship issues, or sometimes inexplicable. It is best to accept these and let time pass and wait till the mood is better.

Staying focused on writing my dissertation involved exercise; specifically swimming. I was able to put together different ideas while lap swimming. Because of a neck injury, I wear a snorkel and goggles. That helped me as I watched the Lane marker pass slowly under me.

I think a good start to getting some data around this question would be to contact the counseling offices of Universities with large graduate programs. I know that they are busy! While individual information is of course confidential, you may be able to access statistics regarding numbers, fields and level of study. Perhaps even diagnostic categories.

Your spectrum of interests appear very wide.

I wonder if a disciplined narrowing your range of interests and energy investments daily or hourly , to the immediate needs of your dissertation and making small daily incremental approximations of energy investment to a subset of dissertation completion goals may help you to complete your dissertation ?

Also ask for Grace.

What do you mean by mood swings? By the time the MS and PhD dissertation comes about, people usually know if a mental illness (mood disorder) is present or not and hopefully are treated for it appropriately. You might want to define mood swings i.e. times of lacking motivation, periods of anxiety, periods of sadness adn the effects on being able to complete a dissertation or research study.

better focus on the factors that hinders the completion of a dissertation.

Of course it is very influential.

This issue of subjectivity focused by Núñez Jover (2011), in subjects who practice science emphasizes that it is about the "epistemology with a knowing subject. Thesis that opposes to epistemology without a proper subject of Logical Empiricism and Popper whose purpose is to support the idea of objectivity through the exclusion of subjective factors. "

However, the subjective factor accompanies, inevitably, human existence and, contradictorily in scientific practice it is customary in interpersonal relationships that establish the researchers.

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Chapter Quality of life and education in the knowledge society

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By 'mood swings' you probably mean bipolar mood swings. The phenomenon does exist in some clinically normal population too, though with much less intensity. It impacts the performance by alternating the productivity in a wave form - to and fro about its mean position, that is, from minimal productivity to normal and then to maximum, and then back to normal, and minimal. The overall output of the student might remain at par with others because low performance times would be compensated with the high performance ones but the student himself might feel uncomfortable with this lack of consistency and control.

Abdul, I really like the idea of conceptualizing mood in a wave-form! More research needs online (real time) regulation data!