My process for this research assignment has changed a good amount since the beginning of the semester. Working on this assignment has taught me the different strategies for doing research and what makes good and bad research. I’ve learned that when doing research it’s important to be as clear as possible about what the topic of my research is. I first made sure I narrowed down my ideas to be sure I was clear of what I want my research to measure. To do this I made sure I learned to be specific in what variables go into doing social research; Exploratory (who?), Descriptive (what?, where? when?, how?), and Explanatory (why?). I also made sure I knew what units of analysis I wanted to use such as what type of individuals I was doing research on, what social interactions would effect the research, along with any social artifacts that could be used.

When evaluating and selecting sources for my research assignment I also only found research and articles that included information that would enhance my research question and hypothesis. It was also important that I found relevant and up-to-date research and multiple sources of information about my topic. I didn’t really need to add any new sources or change any new sources after turning in my annotated bibliography because I felt that there weren’t that many articles or past research on my specific topic. This was a challenge that I came across while doing my research but I was able to work around it. I made sure I found information that supported my topic close enough to add to the research. For example, my research question was asking about the relationship between education level and job satisfaction, which didn’t have much research. So I found articles and research on job satisfaction overall and what other factors go into satisfaction in the work place. In doing this I found about 3 different other ideas to add to my research that still supported my initial research question. Another challenge I found was that because I was using research from past researchers, I had to ensure they the original authors of the articles didn’t seem to be invested in certain results and that they too wee unbias in their research.

My attitudes and perceptions have changed slightly when during my research. As a Psychology major we analyze and do research often when doing research so overall my perceptions are the same but I have learned many new ideas and steps when doing research. I mentioned a couple in the beginning of this reflection but another would be that I have learned to look at the strengths and weakness of existing research that I am using along with establishing a need for current and future research. I now believe that it is important to have reason in your research. Not only is this a way to “Think Like a Researcher” but it also gives those who are assisting or funding your research a reason to help you and to help others find important ideas that could add experience to their research assignments.