At the halfway point in my project, the value of creative thinking is becoming increasingly clear; whether it’s co-ordinating a last-minute meeting with my supervisor, changing the scope of my project to include more participants for our study, or learning a new statistical test that better explains the data, finding unique solutions has been the hallmark of my Laidlaw experience. I’ve enjoyed how challenging the first weeks of my project have been. Opportunities to apply psychological theory are few and far between in first year, so this is my first experience of moulding the theoretical frameworks around empirical evidence. Having finally gotten the chance to do so almost makes those first year 9am lectures worth it!
My first week was spent mainly reviewing the existing literature on Auditory Dominance. Upon reflection, this was critical to the success of the (much busier) next few weeks. Informed with the current issues in the field, and under guidance of my supervisor, I was able to make adjustments to my approach that benefitted the project, and produced a more well-rounded view of Auditory Dominance in children.
The challenge of the next few weeks was to battle that sense of perfectionism that plagues most university students. My writing was slow, in the beginning, as I attempted to navigate the introduction and methods sections of my report in a way that produced a more polished draft. Having met and discussed the issue with my supervisor, we agreed I should write a rough draft first, with more emphasis on creating a skeleton structure than a polished piece. I took his advice – and it worked! In retrospect, it was much easier to edit whilst knowing the overall theme and direction my work would take. 
I’m very excited to take forward what I’ve learned into the coming weeks, where I’ll be able to see the results of our study and analyse them. Wish me luck (and normally distributed data!).