This week, following Frances’s advice, I realized that I had neglected the temporal question when I set the research question in week 11. Since the study was conducted on COVID-19, which mainly occurred around 2020, the research question should focus on the past tense. Accordingly, the three research questions for the final proposal were decided to be:
- Do museums have the expertise and personnel to face the digital trend?
- What were the benefits and disadvantages of hosting online exhibitions?
- What can museums learn in light of this pandemic?
Secondly, in my fact-finding this week, I discovered that ICOM and UNESCO have published reports on museums and the COVID-19 crisis in 2020. These two reports were of great help to my research proposal.
Finally, in the process of writing the Final proposal this week, I realized the importance of reading a lot of literature and having a clear logic after reading the literature. This is because, in the process of writing the proposal, I read a lot of different materials, and the hardest thing for me to do when I read the materials is to distinguish between what I need and what I don’t need. Simply put, I lack critical thinking. “Critical thinking includes the component skills of analyzing arguments, making inferences using inductive or deductive reasoning, judging or evaluating, and making decisions or solving problems.” (Lai, 2011) And these skills are exactly what I lack and bring difficulties to my study.
In conclusion, this week’s final proposal changes the research question, critical thinking is a very important thing in the learning process.
Reference
Lai, E. (2011). Critical Thinking: A Literature Review Research Report. [online] Available at: https://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/document?repid=rep1&type=pdf&doi=b42cffa5a2ad63a31fcf99869e7cb8ef72b44374.
