Feel like quitting your qualitative PhD? Read this before you decide

There is a particular kind of moment in a PhD that few people talk about openly.

You open your thesis file. You scroll. You read a paragraph that felt strong last week and suddenly it feels thin. You think, “I cannot keep doing this.”

For many qualitative researchers, that thought arrives during analysis, when the data feels overwhelming and interpretive decisions feel heavy. It can surface after difficult feedback, during funding uncertainty, or in the long stretch between milestones when nothing looks finished.

If you have had that thought, you are not unusual. You are not weak. You are not uniquely unsuited to doctoral work.

You are in a demanding intellectual process.

What the urge to quit often signals

The impulse to quit rarely appears because someone lacks ability. More often, it appears at points of cognitive expansion.

In qualitative research, this commonly happens when:

• Your understanding deepens faster than your writing can keep up.

• You begin to see the complexity of your topic more clearly.

• Your earlier confidence is replaced with a more nuanced, and therefore more uncertain, awareness.

This phase can feel like regression. In reality, it is often development.

There is also the simple fact that doctoral work is long. Motivation fluctuates. Energy dips. Personal life continues. The expectation that commitment should feel steady for several years is unrealistic.

Feeling like quitting does not automatically mean you should quit. It means something needs attention.

Comparison makes everything louder

One of the intensifiers at this stage is comparison.

You see others presenting confidently, publishing, submitting. You assume they are clearer, more certain, less conflicted. You do not see their stalled drafts, the chapters rewritten three times, the periods of doubt they do not post about.

Qualitative PhDs are particularly prone to invisible labour. Months of coding, thinking, refining theoretical positioning, none of which looks impressive from the outside.

When you compare your internal process to someone else’s curated output, the gap will always look larger than it is.

What to do before making a decision

If quitting feels close, the first step is not to make a dramatic choice. It is to slow the situation down.

Reduce the scale of what you are asking of yourself. Instead of thinking about the entire thesis, focus on the next small, concrete task. Revise one section. Clarify one argument. Write one analytic memo.

It is also worth widening the circle. PhD isolation amplifies self-doubt. Speaking honestly to someone who understands doctoral work often normalises what feels catastrophic. Hearing “I have been there too” can shift the narrative from personal failure to shared experience.

Finally, revisit the original intellectual pull of the project. Not in a sentimental way, but in a grounded one. What question are you genuinely trying to answer? What still feels unresolved or important? Even when motivation dips, intellectual curiosity often remains somewhere underneath.

Rest is not surrender

Exhaustion often disguises itself as incapacity.

If you are depleted, every problem appears structural and permanent. A short, intentional break can change the quality of your thinking. Not avoidance. Not disappearance. Deliberate rest.

Doctoral persistence is not about constant intensity. It is about sustainable engagement over time.

You are allowed to reconsider. But do it clearly.

There are situations where leaving a PhD is the right decision. Financial strain, health, misalignment of goals. Those are serious considerations.

But if the desire to quit is driven by temporary overwhelm, developmental uncertainty, or comparison distortion, it deserves a slower evaluation.

Do not make a permanent decision in a temporary low point.

If you need steadier support

If you recognise this phase and want structured support rather than solitary endurance, Degree Doctor Momentum exists precisely for these points in the doctorate. It is a space where PhD researchers can speak honestly about doubt, progress, and process with people who understand the terrain.

Sometimes what keeps someone in their PhD is not more discipline. It is less isolation.

Learn more here: Degree Doctor Momentum Community