What? This week was a real increase in tempo compared to my previous weeks in Durham, with longer sessions to prepare for data collection, alongside confirmation of my research title.
The former required me to be fully focussed, so that I could recall all the information I needed to apply when testing children, especially as the wording required for most tasks needed to be controlled (and therefore exact). As well as this, I was expected to have a strong understanding of the psychological mechanisms and expectations of each task, so that I understood why we were doing each. This required me to have done the prior reading, making me grateful for my motivation switch last week (see previous reflection).
The latter (finalising my research title) allowed me to begin the literature review and introduction writing for my Laidlaw report, something that I was keen to begin due to the strict deadline. However, in order to write an effective introduction, I find that strong understanding and recall of papers is required. This meant that, alongside memorising wording and reasons for tasks, I also had to remember a multitude of papers I was reading. While I write notes, it is best to remember the basics, so that you know which paper to look for when referencing. Helpfully, some papers were relevant for the tasks, cutting my required reading in half, however many were introductory/broader than my project requires, leading me to begin feeling overwhelmed by the amount of information I was consuming.
So what? As a result of this multitude of information I was consuming, I decided to make a proper plan to divide the work, so that I could focus on the task at hand, rather than both receiving half my attention. As most of my supervisor meetings were in the afternoon, I decided that mornings would be dedicated to my project (reading, writing, and fine-tuning). Then, over lunch I refreshed my memory of tasks for my project, so that for my meetings/training this was fresh in my mind.
Now what? As this method of organisation has been effective for the past week, I will continue to apply it throughout the rest of my research period, as well as applying it in situations beyond the project when relevant. However, I recognise that flexibility is important, and so I will adapt the plan when necessary (for example: if I have 2 participants on one day, then I will dedicate a whole day to my project on the next available day).