Final Stretch

In the beginning of the subject it was difficult to determine a research topic that was both interesting and could be done in the short time frame of the semester. It was surprisingly time consuming finding a topic that fit these two criteria. The lab session in class was useful in explaining how you can refine your search criteria to look for results that are more tailor-made to the topic of research. This made it a much faster process of scanning through large portions of information to find relevant material. A lot of the research involved in finding an appropriate topic felt as if it was for nothing when you would invest a lot of time in one topic to find that you could not pursue any new analysis in the subject or just did not have the resources to conduct a study in the area. Finally finding a research gap that I could study presented the initial momentum for writing the research proposal. Once finding a research gap it seemed more rewarding reading papers that I could eventually use to present my literature review for the research proposal component of the subject.

After presenting the research proposal the analysis component of the subject had seemingly the same challenges. That is some days the analysis would be straightforward and at the end of the day there would be a sense of accomplishment. However other days were less straightforward when issues occurred with the data or the analysis hadn’t ran as smoothly as you imagined it to. The most difficult part was that the challenges were almost completely new. I’ve not had the same type of challenges in other subjects. For example when you study for an exam the hours you devote to studying will always lead to accomplishing something whether it be learning a topic or refining knowledge. With research the feeling of accomplishment is not always present after the completion of work.

Public speaking for the research proposal was the biggest challenge I faced so far in the subject. I hadn’t had a lot of opportunities to practice public speaking previously at university. I found it less stressful to prepare the research proposal than giving a ten minute presentation on it. Major triumphs include finding a research gap or anytime there is a wall is broken through in the research adding momentum to the task. After hours spent on a problem and making seemingly no progress with the research, every time this kind of problem is solved I consider a mini triumph, as it is the most rewarding element to conducting the work.  The two biggest learning experiences from the subject were presenting the research proposal and learning how to refine search results using research tools provided by the university.