Critical Commentary

Critical commentary

Looking back it is really interesting for me to see the way that I have learnt and progressed through this module.
From reading my first diary entry, I can remember how completely overwhelmed I felt at the beginning of the module, confronted with an email containing a seemingly never ending handbook to read. (I later realised I should have asked for a printed version of this as I progressively found it difficult to learn when reading off the screen.) At this point in the module I had managed to familiarise myself with a few research terms, but was struggling to find a research topic idea and felt rather lost. It wasn’t until my first phone call with my tutor that I had a little confidence restored and started to get my teeth into the course. I have realised from this that I am the kind of learner that needs someone to support and build my confidence and who also likes to see how other people approach the tasks. Particularly from looking at the way I have utilised people’s blogs in this module I now understand I like to have a little guidance from my colleagues, or just a taste of how they are doing things to reassure myself that I am going about matters in the right way. I have to mention that the BAPP network has been of great help to me as a long distance learner and other than the handy skype conversations with my tutor, has been the one source I have relied upon for help and information on campus sessions.

This module has also opened my eyes to a completely different way of learning. Work-based learning requires you to almost be your own teacher, it is up to you to look for information, complete the various tasks and look back and realise what you have learnt in order to progress. From being unable to go to the campus sessions, although having support from my tutor, I have found that I have almost been undertaking this course and learning from it completely by myself. This is a totally different way of learning for me coming from a background of strict schooling, and at first was a rather daunting prospect, almost like your first time riding a bike without stabilizers. However, now I feel I have gained more of an idea of my capabilities and a better understanding of the way I learn. The thought of having to choose a topic idea myself rather than it being handed to me was at first a struggle, but now I realise will enable me to be more knowledgeable about an area I really care about.

Then of course, there is all the new information that I have learnt from completing the tasks in this module. I had never heard about the different research approaches and am now pleased to have an acquired knowledge of them. Since learning about them, I have been able to link the requirements of my research topic with the most suitable research approach and move on to choosing an appropriate data collecting technique. Although I had encountered data collecting techniques before, this module has given me a much better understanding of how they can be used to most effect and how they must be carefully constructed in order to be as free from bias and as ethical as possible. Ethics, in particular, has been one of the most critical aspects of conducting a research project that I have learnt. I have never had to consider ethical issues before when conducting a project and my eyes were opened to their importance. In particular, for a worker –researcher, familiarity with their organisation and those within it will make it difficult to eliminate bias and be totally ethically correct. I have learnt, therefore, it is important to carefully consider what you mean when promising such things as confidentiality and anonymity.
Time management is also something I have had to consider in this module, and I now know it is important for me to allow myself enough time to complete my research project.