Reflection Report: Research Process, Learning, Analysis, and Outcomes

This report is a reflective analysis of a student's experience undertaking a research project, focusing on the process from topic selection to data analysis. The report details the student's engagement within a team, highlighting the dynamics and challenges encountered during collaborative work, particularly in the context of researching social media privacy issues. It describes the initial stages of the research, including literature reviews, identification of research problems, and the formulation of research questions. The report further explores the selection of research methodologies, including data collection methods, research design, and ethical considerations. The student reflects on the learning experiences, challenges, and insights gained throughout the research process, including understanding different research paradigms, data analysis techniques, and the impact of social media privacy on users and businesses. The conclusion emphasizes the importance of reflection in improving problem-solving and critical thinking skills, and in preparing for future research endeavors.

Running head: REFLECTION
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Name of Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................2
Discussion..................................................................................................................................2
Conclusion..................................................................................................................................5
References..................................................................................................................................5

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Introduction
Reflection is done in order to analyse past experience to gain knowledge rom the
same and to apply the same in real practice. Therefore Reflection includes the process of
learning from past experiences and connecting the same with practical experience in order to
improve problem solving and critical thinking ability of an individual. Reflection therefore
helps us in challenging our basic assumptions, to be open to different alternatives and
approaches for solving some problem (Boud, Keogh and Walker 2013). Moreover reflection
helps an individual in identification of their strengths and weaknesses and therefore by
identifications of the same individuals can work upon themselves. In order words, reflection
helps in self-improvement. The main aim of the paper is to carry out reflective practices for
the entire research process undertaken by me and to learn from the reflection. The paper will
therefore discuss about my reflections upon the entire research process and my learning’s
from the same.
Discussion
When we were divided into teams for the purpose of our project, I was very excited to
work with my team members as I was not very familiar to them. And therefore I was
interested in knowing more about them and also working with them (Cohen and Levesque
1991). The main aim of the assignment was to prepare a research report that starts with
selection of a topic for the research. Therefore our team decided to select that topic to which
majority of the members agreed. When the process started, I took part in the same actively
and start recommending different topics.
However the first stage of the research process was not going well because many
members were not ready to make an opinion because of the fear of being judged and in many

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occasion the silence on part of the team members was considered as a consent. However
after much discussion, our team reached the decision that we would be working with the
privacy problems of social media. This is so because this topic has become a major concern
for all the social media users. In fact according to our study about 23% of the social media
users are completely dissatisfied with the privacy handling ability of the Facebook. Then we
started discussing on the problem definition and everyone kept on adding a point which they
felt was important in this regards (Körner et al. 2016). Then we prepared research topics on
the basis of the topic. While discussing about the same, I felt that there were a lot of things
that was unknown to me such that the way these privacy issues were ultimately impacting the
company through reduction in the customers base.
And that instead of knowing and being aware of everything the major social media
platforms are unable to take any action (Mezirow 1990). Therefore the first assignment was
related to selection of an appropriate topic and the problem statement. I was given the task to
take part in teams initial research for identification of relevant literature and the way it
provided us with contextual understanding. After much discussion on the topic, we started
discussing about which all journals needs to be included and the way the articles will be
critically reviewed for the purpose of the literature review. We initially decided to prepare an
outline for the literature review such that articles can be searched on the basis of the same.
Different team members were assigned the work for looking for articles, while the other team
members were asked to prepare the outline of the literature review. We selected the articles
on the basis of their relevance with the topic and also preferred selecting the recent articles.
Therefore the second assignment was related to identification of a research problem
and research gap, discuss about the privacy issues and the security threats of social media. I
was allocated the task to identify the privacy issues of the most widely used social media that
is Facebook. Some of the major privacy issues identified by me were- hacking, loss of

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personal identity, harassing people, defaming and others. For this purpose, I was also
required to a comparative scholar study. At the end of this stage, some of the major findings
revealed the fact that due to these issues, companies are losing their customers base and
people are losing their trust and therefore they start switching to other social networking
platforms.
During this stage I had gained a lot of information because I have understood how I
can achieve a balance between social media security issues and my self0suscloseure on
Social media platforms. Further I have also understood about the way teens react to social
media adverting that is the effect of social influence and cognitive appraisal for different
privacy concerns. Then during the next stage that is the research methodology stage, our team
decided about the methods of data collection and analysis through open discussion on the
same topic and again using the same technique of mutual agreement for reaching a particular
decision. However I felt that the team leader was sometimes dominating us with his opinions
and decision as he avoided any form of detailed discussion with us.
Then for the assignment three, we discussed about the research questions. Every team
member was asked to provide at least one research question (Velleman 1990). While deciding
upon the research style and paradigms there were some conflicts between our team members
because some of the team members were of the opinion that a positivism approach would be
better as that included close observations and experimentation was required to understand the
human behaviour but some felt that the best approach was the inrerpretivsim approach
included studying the worked as it is. By the end, the interpretivism method was only adopted
because the team leader was able to influence all the team members properly. For the purpose
of deciding the research design, a mixed research design was used that made user of both the
quantitative and the qualitative approaches (Mezirow 1998). Therefore from this section of
the research paper, I have understood the entire process of deciding the data collection

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method, the research design method, the research paradigm and the research style. Therefore
the same knowledge can be applied by me in future whether I will be working in teams or if
even I work individually (Moon 2013). Therefore I have learnt a lot from my entire
experience, I have learnt to work in teams, I have learnt about the different concepts and
elements of a research paper and I have also gained a lot of knowledge about different
theories related to ethical and unethical activities.
Conclusion
Therefore from the above discussion, it can be concluded that reflection plays a very
important role in our lives because it helps us in thinking differently and therefore we become
capable of thinking about different alternatives for solving a problem. Moreover reflection
also helps us in improving ourselves through identification of our weaknesses and working
upon the same to overcome it. This process helps us in learning from our past experiences
such that in case we are faced with a similar situation in future, we will be in a better position
to manage the same. From the paper, it has been understood that working in teams is not at all
an easy task because a team comprises of diversified people who may think differently and
therefore it becomes very difficult to reach an agreement in case of team work.

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References
Boud, D., Keogh, R. and Walker, D., 2013. Reflection: Turning experience into learning.
Routledge.
Cohen, P.R. and Levesque, H.J., 1991. Teamwork. Nous, 25(4), pp.487-512.
Körner, M., Bütof, S., Müller, C., Zimmermann, L., Becker, S. and Bengel, J., 2016.
Interprofessional teamwork and team interventions in chronic care: A systematic
review. Journal of Interprofessional Care, 30(1), pp.15-28.
Mezirow, J., 1990. Fostering critical reflection in adulthood (pp. 1-20). San Francisco:
Jossey-Bass Publishers.
Mezirow, J., 1998. On critical reflection. Adult education quarterly, 48(3), pp.185-198.
Moon, J.A., 2013. Reflection in learning and professional development: Theory and practice.
Routledge.
Velleman, J.D., 1990. Practical reflection.