First Reflection

I decided to do my EE in psychology as the subject has always fascinated and motivated me to find deeper reasons behind our everyday actions. During my vacations, I heard about the suicides cases committed by teenagers after the CBSE board results. It intrigued me to look for the reasons behind such severe actions. I began to read more about this topic, however, I wasn’t convinced by the studies I found. While researching I discovered about different parenting styles and personally found this area very interesting as I wanted to study the effects and role it has on adolescents lives. I reworked on my RQ and changed my variables to parenting and adolescent development. The challenge that I faced was getting relevant resources. However, with my supervisor’s support and by the use of textbooks in our school library I was able to get collect information. Motivation by my peers was the high point for me as I could see the results of hard work which gave me satisfaction. In contrast, time management was the low point for me as I had a lot of other submissions to cope up with to overcome it I tried making a timetable.

Second Reflection

As I was able to read through a lot of material, sort them and choose the most relevant ones, I do believe that my secondary research is quite successful. During the process of research, I had to change my approach to the EE. I felt my RQ was very broad as it originally focused on parenting styles and overall adolescent development. I then decided to narrow down the focus on personality development in adolescents for more conducive research work. Initially, I only used google scholar for finding relevant studies but with the help and advice of my peers, I explored other online sources like JSTOR and researchgate. The use of these online resources provided a depth to my research which otherwise wouldn™t have been possible. This process helped me in developing good research skills and analytical skills as I had to independently infer and analyze the secondary researches. Overall the EE has abetted me in learning skills and in widening my knowledge about the factors impacting adolescent development.

Third Reflection

If I were to take the research again, I would do more brainstorming and prepare a detailed mind map for each step to make my work effective. This will eliminate changes that I made due to insufficient resources and lack of clarity faced when I had to narrow down the RQ. I would also start the process early so that I get sufficient time to find more resources in terms of online material as well as published books and thesis papers to add more authenticity in my work. The strategy that I used by preparing a timetable was effective but making a detailed mindmap could have been more effective in achieving the desired outcomes. During the research, I realized that there are factors like resilience that may not let other external factors including parenting style or peer pressure impact adolescent personality development. If I had to undertake the research I would probably look at internal vs external factors that impact adolescent development.