Hey,

My examiners asked me to add a reflections section on the whole research process in one of my discussion chapters. Is anyone else required to write a reflections section?

Any tips/advice/guidance would be much appreciated!

Hi Pineapple,

I am by no means an expert but the approach I am using requires me to be reflexive and reflective throughout my thesis and analysis. I think it's probably going to be about how you conducted the research, what went well/wrong, why it went well/wrong, what you would do differently and why. I would guess they want you to show how you have developed as a researcher. I think it will vary slightly depending on what kind of approach you've taken with your research. I think it might be worth pinging it past your sup just to check.

My thesis will have a section either in the conclusion or as an appendix discussing the use of reflection/reflexivity and the impact I had on my data as a dual insider/outsider. I'm writing the whole thing as a very open, confessional style. I hope that's somewhat helpful?

Hey Linda :)

Very helpful! Many thanks :)

yep, mine did, I did a few reflections on how my role as the research may have affected the research process and the things I found easy/difficult. I embellished a little because there wasn't much to talk about really. I suspect this may come up in my viva, so will report back as and when it happens as to how it went down!

I added something like this as the end of my thesis. Mainly because I had no idea how to finish so my supervisorsuggested adding a paragraph about how I felt about the research process, what I'd learnt, what I wanted to do next. he summed it up as 'life the universe and everything!' Reading it again previva I found this paragraph pretty cringeworthy! but I had to end the thesis somehow. I talked a bit about my expectations of the PhD - what I though the data was going to show, and then commented on how my views had been changed when I actually did the analysis. I finished with something lame about how much I had enjoyed the research process and wanted to continue with this in a research career.