ASSESSMENT TASK: DESCRIPTION
Reflection is an important human activity in which people recapture their experience, think about it, mull it over and evaluate it. It is this working with experience that is important in learning (Boud, Cohen and Walker, 1985).
Reflective practice is an excellent learning tool and is particularly important when reviewing performance and seeking approaches to improving knowledge and skills. These skills are learned through effective reflection.
Reflection has been said to have four main purposes in helping learners to:
1. understand what they already know (individual)
2. identify what they need to know in order to advance understanding of the subject (contextual)
3. make sense of new information and feedback in the context of their own experience (relational)
4. guide choices for further learning (Hinett, 2002)
Students should maintain a diary outlining the activitiesand experience they have during the marketing research project over the study period. Students will also be required to prepare a reflective journal concerning their experiences, observations, impressions, critical analysisand evaluation of their role as a member of a marketing research team and the process they engaged in as a member of that team. The reflection should include where appropriate, insight into marketing researchpractices and also include reflection upon how you may improve your own skills and marketing researchknowledge.
Reflecting involves thinking about your learning, taking a critical stance to your problem solving and seeking feedback from your peers and Lecturer (may be the client). Think about the problems/ issues and challengesthat you as part of the team are faced with, consider how you tackled the challenge. Was the approach you used the most suitable or could you have done things differently? Think outside the square - about how you have worked in the marketing research environment, how you have related to your peers and client. Think about how nervous or scared you may have felt and any preconceptions you had about the marketing research environment when you first started and whether, and in what situations these have changed and how you have gained skills and/or confidence.
WORD COUNT: 1200.