Reflection written by using Gibbs' Reflective Cycle

This research was part of improvement of my investigative abilities to grow professionally in the event industry. My SMART goal was to gain deeper insight into drug use at events from both the visitor and researchers perspectives. To achieve this, I conducted desk research, distributed a survey aiming for at least 30 responses, and planned to conduct three interviews. I ultimately received 65 survey responses and completed two interviews. For the data I used thematically analysed and formed the basis of my research paper. I began with my findings so the interviews, surveys and literature review, This was the most time-consuming part. After that I proceeded with writing the introduction, abstract, and conclusion for my research paper. My goal was to complete the project before the 8th of June, which I successfully achieved with two weeks left.

At first I didn’t really look forward to the project because I knew it was going to consume a lot of my time. It did help that I found the topic genuinely interesting which motivated me in a way. I had moments were I was very frustrated mostly because of having to find sources for things that felt very obvious and well known such as polydrug use but I needed trustable sources to be able to mention it. Besides these moments, I became very motivated and focussed, especially when I started seeing the results come together. The number of survey responses (65) was a big surprise and very interesting. It gave me a reality check about how normalized drug use actually is in the Netherlands. I was slightly disappointed about not securing a third interview, especially with someone holding a different perspective on the drug use.

I was very proud of how well the survey succeeded. I managed my time efficiently and finished before my set deadline. I might have gone a little overboard with the findings section and sometimes losing sight of the research question a bit because of interest in the data. I really hoped for more interviews to really understand the experiences and be able to ask follow up question and gather more qualitative date as well However, I am proud of the depth added by reviewing eight articles, which helped strengthen the research overall.

I think the survey was successful because I shared it on every single social platform that I have and asked others to share it as well. I also feel like participants may have enjoyed reflecting on their own drug use anonymously. Which might be a stretch but I think it might be the case. As to why the interviews disappointed, I feel like I waited to long. It is now the end of the year and everyone is very busy with finishing school. I think my planning went very well but also perhaps out of stress. Since there is still so much that I have to do that I kind of have no choice but get things done, however finding the topic interesting helped a lot! By working on this research paper I improved my research and analysing  skills and prepared myself better for future research. I also discovered that while I have a love-hate relationship with APA 7, it forced me to work carefully and precisely which is needed for academic work and checking everything .

If I would have to do this again I would consider more creative research methods However, I still believe surveys are most effective due to their anonymity and flexibility for participants. Starting the research a bit more early would have given me more time to pursue additional interviews. Despite these small disappointments, I am very satisfied that I achieved my SMART goal and completed a full research paper. In the future, I might choose a more challenging research question to push myself even further.

I plan to keep using my time management and planning habits that helped me during this project. I use to-do lists effectively and tend to organize tasks regularly in my head. However, I would like to start the habit of starting projects early instead of  procrastinating  the workload until the deadline is close. Because this gives me stress that I didn’t need to be there seeing as I had enough time. This experience has given me a  basis for both my upcoming internship and the research demands of the final academic year.

In total, I spent approximately 25 hours on this goal, including research, survey creation and analysis, interview transcription, and writing the final report.