Reflection
Throughout this research task, I ensured that I engaged with individuals and represented other as an ethical researcher. I did this particular with focus groups and interviews, establish a bond of trust with my fellow peers and the individuals I was interviewing. By creating an unsuspicious atmosphere, I was able to encourage the individuals to speak in-depth and express their own opinions and beliefs. This inspired conversation to stem off one another within the interview, which in turn allowed me to collect extensive information and data. I recorded the interviews to ensure I had the information somewhere safe, and somewhere where I could easily revisit to certify I had the correct information. By revisiting the interviews I warranted that the findings were ethical, and honest and that I did not accidentally skew the findings because I could not remember what the individuals said.
From this research task, I learnt a vast range of concepts and techniques that assisted in strengthening my research findings. For example, I was able to discover that by only utalising surveys as a form of gathering information I was limited to only receiving very basic data. This led to me deciphering what other methods would be useful in gathering more extensive and personal findings, which drove me to curating interviews. Despite the interviews being more sufficient information, they were also more time consuming which I did not consider when planning my research techniques. Although surveys are not as personal and only collect basic data, they were very easy for individuals to complete. If I had the opportunity to redo this assignment, or future assignments that were similar, I would focus more time management on interviewing individuals to ensure I could gather extensive information. I would also focus on my in-depth surveys that required participants to write more responses in addition to “yes or no” options. This would allow the survey to be more personal and be beneficial for me to receive more information.
To begin my research, I firstly explored principles of good research that was explored throughout our weekly lectures and further discussed by my tutor Stephanie within assigned class tutorials. Out of the 13 concepts examined throughout the semester, I focused primarily on these 5 concepts throughout my research task:
- Curiosity
- Respect
- Flexibility
- Professionalism
To begin the research assessment task, “Curiosity” was a key concept I had to explore when considering what my assessment task was going to focus on. This led me to exploring social media and its impact on individuals, as this was something I had always been extremely curious about. The next concept I wanted to explore in depth was “Respect” as this is something overlooked often within research. As mentioned throughout the lecture and writing on Moodle “Given the strong formal focus in research practice on ethics and consent, the importance of practicing respect in research design is easy to overlook” (Week 6, Moodle, 2017). This is prevalent within curating and distributing surveys. “Flexibility” is referred to as the “key to sustaining good project management over the life of a project” (Week 8, Moodle, 2017). This was relevant throughout my assessment task, when I was faced with the issue of not receiving in depth or personalised information and data. To over come this problem, I was flexibly and curated interviews with fellow peers so gain this information I was seeking. The last concept I utalised throughout this research task was “professionalism”, as I ensured that I consistently withheld a status of professionalism when I was conducting interviews, surveys and conversing with fellow peers and my tutor. This was a concept I felt was important to acquire as it will be useful within future university endeavors, and also future work endeavors.
I utalised articles relevant to the ethical nature of research practice, I explored Susan A. Tilleys article “Conducting Respectful Research: A Critique of Practice”article to further gain an insight into ethical research. Throughout the article Tilley explores honesty and being ethical stating “the possibility of conducting respectful research within a prison context while acknowledging that the issues raised here are important to researchers at other educational sites also”(Tilley, 1998). This article helped me understand how research can be conducted professionally and ethically.
I consider this assessment task to be successful as I obtained extensive information from both surveys and interviews. I employed key concepts that were discussed throughout lectures including; curiosity, respect, flexibility, and professionalism, to ensure my research task was completed to the best of its ability. If I had the chance to redo this assessment task, or a future research task, I would focus more on interviews and also time management.
References:
- Tilley, Susan A. “Conducting Respectful Research: A Critique Of Practice”. Canadian Journal of Education / Revue canadienne de l’éducation3 (1998): 316. Web.
- Lectures, BCM212 Research Practice in Media & Communication, University of Wollongong 2017
By Lyndsie Preece
lyndspreece 