The focus of this unit was researching, organizing, and producing the formal report draft and peer reviewing a partner’s proposal. These were novel and insightful experiences for me.
Formal Draft Report
The researching part of my report included collecting primary data via online survey and review of secondary sources. Collecting the primary data was really challenging for me. The subjects of my research are psychology undergraduate students and despite psychology being my own major, I do not know a lot of other psychology majors. To collect responses, I sent a link to current and previous FaceBook group chats of psychology courses that I was apart of. I initially tried to aim for 20 responses, however I only managed to get 11 responses. I think this was very challenging for me due to me being shy and socially anxious. I would have felt more comfortable if I had a partner for this report. Besides this issue, the rest of the researching process went smoothy. I found many articles that offered insight into my topic. Because I felt more confident in my secondary data than my primary data, I put more emphasis on my secondary findings in my report.
This has been insightful for me because when I am writing research papers in psychology, it is really important to have a large sample size and the data analysis process is often rigorous. However, I learned that the feasibility report for ENGL 301 is exactly not the same a research paper in psychology. For the feasibility report, I am trying to convince my addressed audience that a certain problem exists and that my proposed solution is feasible. Despite the imperfections of my primary data collection process, my report acknowledges the shortcomings, has solutions to limitations, and can show the addressed reader how the advantages are greater than the limitations. Because of this, I believe my formal report is viable and will interest my intended audience.
Peer Review
The peer review process was a pleasant challenge too. My partner’s report topic was extremely interesting and well-written. My partner was gracious in reviewing my work and helped me understand how I can improve, for instance better formatting my graphics for better readability. I will be sure to implement my partner’s suggestions for the final report.