Thursday, October 9, 2008

blog post 5: Reflections on the research report

It is now 4 days before the submission of the research report. I have to say that it has been a truly enriching experience not only in terms of the academic knowledge that I've gained from this but also in learning more about interpersonal relationships within group members. when i first got to know about the scope of the research report, my first response was 'wow, are you serious, 2 people to complete a 20 page research report? you must be kidding me'. The immensity of it all was just too overwhelming. thankfully, Brad decided to allow 4 people to do the research report, thanks Brad :) we then divided the work of completing the different sections between the 4 of us. Things got off to a good start as everyone volunteered to do the different sections of the project report.

Prior to our first official meeting, everyone was supposed to have had completed the first draft of the their introduction parts. When we then had our first meeting, there were some group members that didn't complete their first drafts whereas i did. i was mildly upset at first. However upon knowledge of their upcoming tests and assignments, i understood their reasons. i realised that i would have done the same thing if i were in their shoes. Being a team player meant that i had to have the capacity to understand and accommodate and i believe that the reason for the excellent interpersonal relationships we have for each other was because we were good team players.

During the course of this project, I've also acquired knowledge on several issues with regards to doing research reports; how surveys were supposed to be carried out, the brain storming of ideas behind the rationale of each question and how to go about about analyzing the results obtained. What stood out for me though was the tediousness involved in ensuring that every detail such as the style of references listed and the formality of language used had to be closely followed to standards.

The strategies that i would employ in the upcoming oral presentation would be to make sure that the points that I have on my slides are as concise as possible. This is to avoid any possible confusion and ambiguity when i make my presentation. Props would also be used to emphasize the stand of my research report. There were some misunderstandings due to ineffective communication during the course of the research project report hence, i would definitely want to avoid such miscommunications when the group meets to discuss about the oral presentation.

5 comments:

Brad Blackstone said...

Thanks, Tim, for your detailed reflection. I'm glad you feel like you learned something and that it was manageable for you. I appreciate your hard work.

yUk_lUm said...

Hi I agree that understanding and accomodating one another is very important. We were also faced with the same problem of many tests coming up and no time for project.

yuklum :)

Gwen said...

HI! I thinks that was really great of you not to show any unhappiness when your team mates fail to complete their task. In a way, this reflects the importance of being understanding when doing projects. Flaring up do not seem a good solution at all.

Anyway, thanks for suggesting that four person for a report! That is really great!

Danielle said...

Yup! One of most difficult things about doing group work is having to deal with situations when other group members come unprepared for a meeting, thus rendering the meeting pointless. Those who bothered with their assigned task become disappointed at others' work attitudes, and it would seem that those who came unprepared just didn't care.

Although being a team player is important, accommodating such behavior can become tiring especially when such situations repeat itself.

Maybe those who weren't able to complete their assigned tasks should have suggested a slight postponement of the meeting?

alibooboo said...

Hello!
Yes I do think that we have to work on some of the miscommunications that we had during the project. Other than that, I think that we have done a pretty good job ann am excited to work on the oral presentation! Hope that we will be able to work just as well if not better in the upcoming project!