Reflecting on Research Methods

I thought I would dedicate this week’s post to my experiences writing my non-thesis research paper and taking the research methods course simultaneously. I will admit that at first it seemed I would not benefit from the class and I was a bit wary of having to write my paper while taking the course. It also seemed it would be a challenge when I realized that my colleagues would be working on their thesis proposals while I worked on my research project. And it was a challenge! There were times when I felt I could not really help my colleagues because I knew little of the process they were experiencing. I was surprised, however, by how much I learned in the process of giving them advice and feedback, it was much more fulfilling than I expected.

Overall, I learned a great deal in the research methods class and I believe my project benefited as a result. If I had to do it over, however, I would prefer to take the research seminar before beginning my project. At times I felt I was working backwards and I believe the blog posts overall would have been much more helpful to me last semester or last year, for example. Regardless, I have enjoyed this class and my time spent creating my research project immensely.