RESEARCH PROCESS REFLECTION

I started out by figuring out my question, finding some sources, and finding a way to make up some of the hours that were canceled. I had to make up a whole lot of hours or my internship, already putting me in a bad position. I wasn’t able to complete some of the worksheets that were due; which just made the situation a whole lot worse. Starting off, I realized that I didn’t really have a lot of successes; however what I did have was more than enough difficulties.

            After I realized that the odds were against me, I tried to come up with an action plan. My plan was to do all of the worksheets to the best of my ability right when my humanities teacher Mr. Liou gave them to me. When it came down to the sections, my plan was to take care of all of the simple ones such as sections one, two, and five, the title page, table of contents and the recognition page, all at once. After those sections were complete I then moved on to all of the other sections until everything was complete.

            I would have done many things differently, for starters I would have never agreed to go to HOPE I would have suggested to go to a different organization. I like HOPE a lot it’s a very important and helpful organization; however because they are so important and helpful they never had the time to help out with our projects and our interviews. I would have also done all of my sections on time and with multiple drafts. The last thing I would have done differently is I would have made my survey a little easier to create a GIS map.

This entire process has taught me a lot about myself as a researcher, I learned that it is very easy for me to go from no data to more than enough data in an hour. After passing out surveys, doing interviews, going to my site and getting some flyers about them I already have enough information to help me write the first 30 pages. It’s very easy to get more information that is needed; my only problem is figuring out what information I want to use, or what information will make a bigger impact on the reader.

Learning PAR and the PAR process was a very interesting experience for me. My form of research was just to go to the library, get some good books on my topic, get on line and stay focused on the information I needed. But after learning about PAR I realized that anyone can go and research whatever they want in many different ways, while getting a hands on experience with interviews, surveys, and a couple of days in the environment that you are writing about.

             This experience can definitely start the rebirth of youth activists around very important social and community issues. I believe the PAR process begins with one idea; once you grasp that one idea, all that you have to do is take it and run. In my case I’ve had this idea for a long time now, writing this paper has just helped me realize that everything started with just an idea. I also realized that youth get the best ideas and don’t really have the chance to research and act on certain topics. The PAR process will give youth the chance to get heard through real evidence, a well thought out paper, and support from their communities.