RESEARCH TASK GROUP

The research task was a continuation of the research protocol we did in HSS2, and unlike prior tasks, we did not change the group members. Group 3 felt like a home away from home. Our personalities all complement one another, and we work so well together. This forges a close relationship between us and encourages procrastination, which results in poor time management and a lack of concentration on our daily objectives. However, we are aware of when we no longer have enough time to do our tasks. At that point, we set the jokes and tales aside while we focus on other things.

The major research effort has been evidence-based and scholar-competency-reliant. We were asked to do in-depth research on our topic to generate the findings for our narrative literature review. It has been necessary for us to study books, essays, and other types of literature to compile in-depth annotated bibliographies for our sources. To conform to the structure of a literature review, we had to adapt our study procedure from the previous year.

We changed the research task to one topic we were working on since it wasn't obvious and chose a better, more comprehensible topic, but things didn't go as we had hoped because there were so many difficulties, frustrations, and uncertainty. The frustrations came from a group member who decided to distance himself from the group and stop participating giving us more work to do at the last minute. We believed that the briefs were confusing, which caused the misunderstanding. This frustrated us since we weren't sure which part of the assignment to do because the brief incorporated material from later-completed assignments.

Even though we as a group faced several internal difficulties, we received high scores for research task 1. I am pleased to tell you that despite the difficulties, we learnt a lot from them and tried not to make the same mistakes in task two. I had a little part in group leadership throughout this activity and utilised my goal-setting abilities to ensure that we had enough time to revise our work together and submit it on time. In task two, each participant was expected to create three annotated bibliographies. As I play skills, I established a deadline for each participant to turn in their draughts and organised a meeting where we could discuss our mistakes.

We should work well in advance and ask questions to ensure that we are the best researchers possible moving forward. In addition, our team contract will have to be updated and made more specific when it is needed again.

SEMESTER 2

In block 3 we were required to review previous literature in Task 3 and draw up the results, discussion, and conclusion of our research in Task 4. I found the research process to be fun, especially because of who I was doing it with, but there were many moments where we were confused. However, our confusion would not last too long as we had learnt from the previous blocks, to always ask questions so that we could successfully complete the tasks that we were required to do.

The methods for a narrative review are different to those for a non-review empirical research. Empirical research is based on observing phenomena, using inductive reasoning to make sense of what has been observed, and then deducing conclusions. In this research method, the phenomenon is tested and evaluated (Question Pro, 2022). In narrative literature reviews, however, previous literature is gathered, critiqued, and summarised; it describes empirical evidence that evaluates a hypothesis (Baumeister and Leary, 1997).

I found the results and discussion sections of the narrative literature review article the most challenging. It was because it felt like there was an extremely thin line between stating the result and discussing it further. While writing the result, I automatically wanted to explain its significance or insignificance, and I had to force myself to focus on the one aspect. Talking to my team helped address these challenges because we discussed the methods that we thought we should use. We fixed this problem by working together and trusting each other’s strengths and ‘correcting’ our weaknesses.