Reflective Memo Your reflective memo is a more personal account of your observations. This is the place and paper to acknowledge your own subjectivity. As the professor, I’m looking for a TRUE and thoughtful reflection on the experience thus far about the research process, entering the field, collecting data, analyzing your data, and summarizing the findings for future studies. What are/were your feelings, emotions, ideas, hunches, issues, impressions and prejudices? This is also the place to think about clarifying or correcting misunderstanding or mistakes and layout plan for the future of your research. Reflective memos can include your musings on Issues of subjectivity and reflexivity• How your assumptions or preconceptions helped or hindered your observation• Any rethinking of assumptions and preconceptions as a result of the observation• Comments about your frame of mind as the observer and researcher Reflections on the experience of observing and interviewing• What went well, what didn’t go well?• Did you learn more or less than you expected? Did anything surprise you?• What, if any confusions arose? How would /should you proceed in light of these?• What is your assessment of your skills as an observer?• What would you do differently the next time around?• Comments about your methods. Initial thoughts about the data you collected• What you learned from the observation• Occurrences or patterns you’d want to search for in a subsequent observations/interviews• New questions that arose in the course of the observation/interview• Things you want to follow up in your next observation/interview• Connections between words or actions of participants, or between and among what you saw, heard and the literature you’ve read Points of confusion that require clarificationEthical dilemmas and conflicts…
