Reflection
The assessment aligns with my skills and knowledge, as I am looking at social
media. I have been around social media most of my life, so I am familiar with it.
Working with other people for this assignment is beneficial, as we can find
information that others may have missed. Friends of Watertons wall is a very
interesting charity, as it helps engage and educate the general public in the
architecture, geography, natural and social history of the area of benefit. FOWW
also help to preserve the wall.
I am coming up with objectives for my consultancy project, as well as looking at
doing my literature review. I have looked at
I am slightly more confident about the project, although still not 100% clear on
what I’m doing. I have made a start on the group project, and have also got my
objectives for the presentation.
The presentation went well and I was given useful feedback, nothing surprising
was said. The presentation was how I expected. I’m going to mainly focus on
secondary research, as I think most of that information will be more useful than
from primary research.
W/C 3/3/25 – I have completed my ethics form and am getting my questions
ready for a focus group that I will complete next week. The focus group will allow
me to gather important data that will then be analysed and used in my report.
Clarity for this assignment is improving, as I now feel I have a solid
understanding of what I am going to write up for the project.
• Where are you ?
Im currently in the process of collecting primary data in the form of a focus
group.
• How well have you interacted with the client?
• Where do they want / need to be?
• What is helping or hindering?
• How are you working with and contributing to the group?
• What can help them overcome this?
• What are the key things that they need to achieve this week?
• Who / what can help? – update project plan/ set out list for the next day / next
week.
• What observations do individuals have about their progress and insights as to
what may inhibit progress
• Why does this matter in the
o Short term (stress/anxiety/ fear/ need to undertake tasks to complete the
project undertake the
assignment/ impress the client)
o Medium term – completion of the project / module / degree.
o Long term – Job / employability?
Make a list of what you have learnt so far from the project,
including knowledge and skills.
Charities
Ethics
How to do focus groups
Forming questions
What you would be doing differently if you started your
project again?
I would have tried to get more clarity on the project so I could start working on it
earlier on.
Consider your successes/ any failures you remedied
What will you do next and why?
Start it earlier.
1) What strengths has undertaking the project revealed so far?
Time management,
2) What weaknesses/ challenges has the project revealed to date?
Workload, timing, new types of research.
3) How have/ might you address these weaknesses/ challenges now and
through
future developments?
More preparation, research,
4) Share in pairs and make notes
The Consultancy Project in Business Studies set out a consultancy portfolio for
me to complete which entailed collecting primary as well as secondary data. This
was the first time in my university experience where I had to collate and collect
primary data, which was a bit daunting for me when I was given the choice of
assessment briefs. The brief that I chose to focus my study on was to review and
recommend how Friends of Waterton’s Wall (a charity aiming to preserve a wall
surrounding a nature reserve that is considered one of the first in the world) can
use social media to promote its aims and objectives.
An aspect of this consultancy module that I believe developed my skills the most
and will benefit me in the future is collecting primary data. As I have mentioned,
this was the first time that I have had to collect this type of data during my time
at Sheffield Hallam University. In order to reflect on this, I am going to use Gibbs’
Reflective Cycle (2013).
Description – Conducting primary research in the form of a focus group for my
consultancy project, exploring Generation Z’s social media habits and their
perspectives on and donating to and engaging with charitable accounts across
social media platforms.
Feelings – Initially, I felt a little bit overwhelmed, as the primary research was
something that I hadn’t done before. The ethics form was also a little bit
overwhelming, as I had to ensure that everything to do with collecting data had
to be done ethically, which included keeping my data secure and guaranteeing
that my participants where anonymised. Although I was a little nervous to carry
out primary research, I was also quite excited. This is because I knew I would feel
a level of satisfaction from designing and leading a study by myself, making it
feel more personal and meaningful. I also knew that it would provide me with lots
of useful skills that can boost my confidence and my future career.
Evaluation – Overall, the focus group that I carried out gave me useful insights
which enabled me to carry out my consultancy project. The participants that I
chose were willing and comfortable to discuss their feelings, which resulted in
useful topics for me to research further. There were however some challenges
that arose when it came to conducting the research. The focus group was
intended to include five participants, however time constraints and the busy
schedules of my proposed participants meant that only four were able to take
part. This meant that discussions were slightly limited, which was evident in the
run time of the focus group, which was only around ten minutes long. Another
factor that impacted the flow of discussions in my focus group was the lack of
input from a couple of participants. This is because I was unable to explore new
perspectives and valuable insights from the participants that were less vocal,
which could’ve added more depth and given me a more detailed understanding
of the topic.
Analysis – Scope creep has affected the outcome of my project, as new aspects
kept arising that I didn’t plan for e.g. less participants than I had proposed. In
order to avoid this, I should’ve communicated better with my participants to
allow them to make sure that they would be ready and available to join me for
my focus group. There were however some participants that took lead during the
focus group and tried their hardest to answer and discuss my question in a clear
and concise manner, which helped other participants join in with the discussion.
Conclusion – If I was to do this consultancy project again, I would ensure that I
have a clear understanding of the project earlier into the module. I would also
start planning my primary research earlier by looking at past research that other
researchers have conducted which would help me plan my own questions. If I
was to redo the focus group, and had more time to plan and conduct it, I would
use more participants and a wider range of ages and genders within the
Generation Z demographic. I would also look at doing other types of research
other than a focus group, potentially doing questionnaires and semi-structured
interviews. Questionnaires would have allowed me to get a larger sample size of
participants, which would have given me more accurate data. Semi-structured
interviews would have allowed me to get more personal responses from
participants and potentially better-quality qualitative data.
Action Plan – In the future, if I was to do another consultancy project, I will make
sure to fully understand the brief prior to researching the topic. I will gain a clear
understanding of the topic fully before starting to plan any type of primary
research that will be conducted, which will allow me to structure the questions in
order to receive the types of answers that I am looking to receive. I have also
learnt to understand that even if the data that I have received form conducting
primary research isn’t quite what I’m looking for, it is still important within the
project.
Gibbs, G. (2013). Learning by Doing, a Guide to Teaching and Learning Methods
(First). Oxford Brookes University.
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