Reflection

Reflection on AMP Report

Introduction
This reflection report aims to describe the personal experiences
encountered by students during the process of completing the AMP (Applied
Management Project) report. This report is quite effective for students to
learn from their practical experiences. It will be effective for me to express
my views on perceived performance, expectations, and lessons that I learnt
during the AMP report. This reflection report is the collection of skills,
learning and consolidated experience that I obtained during the process of
completing the AMP report. Along with this, it also reflects on issues faced as
well as approaches used to deal with those issues, which is significant to
improve learning for future projects and professional career (Kolb, 2014).

Reflection
This reflection report is the part of a lifelong learning process that will
ultimately benefit me to gain useful things from the analysis of experiences,
which is quite effective to do future activities in better way.
Leaning and Experience from APM Report
The AMP report is a broad project process that consists of various
stages under which I have undertaken different activities. All the stages of
AMP process contributed to provide various learning and practical
experiences to me that resulted as improvement in my skills and abilities.
During the AMP process, there are several activities such as group
discussion, interaction with tutor, independent study, data gathering and
literature review that I have done. I have experienced that each of these
activities made a significant contribution to improve my ability to carry out
and manage a research project effectively. In the start of this report, I was
made a discussion with supervisor that helped me to understand the
selected topic for the research study as well as plan relevant objectives.
I was maintained continuous interaction with tutor and other students
who involved in research on similar topic that benefited me to increase my
ability of managing research work and deal with challenges effectively. It is
because group discussion facilitated a platform where I not only shared my
views and ideas, but also came to know about opinions and ideas of other
students that ultimately helped me to plan and complete AMP report
according to requirements of conducting a research study (Pritchard, 2013).
In the group discussion and personal interaction with tutor, I have

Reflection

experienced that literature review and data collection and analysis are the
key elements to carry out a research successfully. Initially, I faced problems
in the selection of appropriate methods and techniques for the research due
to having lesser knowledge regarding literature review.
But, group discussion was helped me to increase my confidence as well
as level of knowledge through which I addressed these challenges. Further,
independent study was conducted under AMP report that contributed to
enhance my skills and level of self confidence, which resulted as
improvement in my performance during the research project. Under this
study, I used various sources of information to gather data for identifying the
potential financial risks that usually faced by the investor when making
investment of money. I experienced that independent study helped me to
improve my critical analysis and data collection skills, which enabled me to
identify relevant articles and journals for writing literature review.
In this way, there are various theories such as learning theory,
reflection theory and experiential learning theory that are quire relevant to
practical experiences and learning that I gained from the completion of AMP
report (Kolb, 2014). Each of these theories mainly states that practical
experiences of involving in various activities to complete a particular task
can be effective to obtain useful learning as well as identify mistakes and
their causes, which is quite significant to conduct future research projects
more effectively. For example, learning theory explains that the efforts made
for completing a particular activity and their results are quite effective tools

Reflection

to learn from mistakes (Bender, 2012). It is because these things can enable
a person to identify possible causes of mistakes that are generally made
during the collection of data, writing literature review and interpreting results
of data analysis.
As in the completion of AMP report, I made several mistakes especially
when I involved in searching data for writing literature review. It is because
most of secondary sources that I used for collecting data belong to books
and websites that are inappropriate to write an authentic and reliable
literature review on chosen research topic for AMP report. As per the concept
of literature review, it is required for a researcher to use authentic and
reliable sources such as previous published articles and journals when writing
literature review on a research topic. It is because it is quite effective to
ensure reliability and validity of research outcomes (Brookhart, 2013). I faced
various challenges in collecting the relevant data for literature review due to
lack of knowledge regarding the authentic sources of data and importance of
articles and journals in writing meaningful literature review.
In this way, the discussion with tutor and other students during the
AMP process helped me to realize my mistakes in data collection and writing
of literature review. The feedbacks and comments of tutor and other
students on my work supported me to eliminate mistakes from AMP report
and to ensure use of authentic and reliable sources in for writing the
literature review. Along with this, it also helped me to make critical analysis
of literature by considering the views of different researchers who studied on

Reflection

similar type of topic. In this way, the guidelines of research project helped
me to understand that to get reliable and valid results from research, it is
required for a researcher to use only authentic and reliable secondary
sources to gather data for writing a critical literature review.
During the AMP report, I always maintained a diary to record key points
of group discussion, feedbacks and suggestions of tutor, and useful things
observed when collecting data and writing literature review. This diary
played a key role as reference that helped me to include relevant key points
when critically analyzing previous literatures to write a literature review for
AMP research project (Pritchard, 2013). According to me, literature review
and data collection are the key stages of AMP report because both these
provided me various learning and practical experience that ultimately
contributed to enhance my skills. Apart from this, each of these stages of
AMP report enabled to develop my knowledge and understanding about
research topic that made significant contribution in improving my analytical
skills and ability to conduct a research project independently.
At the same time, I also experienced that feedbacks and views of tutor
and other class mates are quite significant and relevant to identify mistakes
as well as determine appropriate ways to eliminate their causes. In addition, I
also learned that to write a literature review and conduct an independent
study are not easy tasks because both of them required knowledge of
research works and analytical skills. I also experienced that regular
discussion with tutor made a significant contribution in improving my

Reflection

confidence and skills, which helped me to deal with challenges as well as

complete the AMP report according to requirements.
Overall, I can say that to complete the AMP report is a big experience
for me. It is because it not only improved my skills, but it also helped me to
develop myself to face challenging tasks successfully. Additionally, it can also
be determined that AMP process was not stable due to inclusion of various
challenges and involvement of different situations.
Personal Feeling and Learning
I personally feel that the AMP process is an effective way to get
different types of experiences and learning, which are relevant to both my
personal and professional life. It is because it consists of different stages or
phases that are quite significant to enhance level of skills. From the AMP
process, I feel that the process of putting AMP report together is not easy
due to involvement of different situations, which sometime created instability
during the stages of AMP process. In initial stage, it was not as easier to
perform research projects with perfection due to lacking of previous
experience of working on this type of report.
In start of AMP process, I was confused between the terms of
investment and speculation. It is because I feel that both of them are quite
similar as well as used by investors to get higher returns. In addition, I also
found that it is quite difficult for me to identify potential financial risks for
investors who prefer to invest in single security due to lack of knowledge on
this aspect earlier. But, the readings of secondary sources of data like

Reflection

articles, journals and books helped me to improve level of knowledge and

gain useful understanding that ultimately benefited me to understand
research topic and their related concepts effectively.
Along with this, I also personally feel that it is required for a researcher
to develop a schedule and then plan his/her research work according to
schedule first. It is because this way can be effective to manage wide
research projects or AMP reports effectively. After completing AMP process, I
feel that I experienced difficulty with research topic due to having less
knowledge regarding the area. Due to this reason, I started reading of
previous articles, journals and studies related to research topic in order to
develop knowledge about the research area, which helped me to get clear
understanding of research issue. Along with this, the working in a group
environment also supported me to understand research and its requirements
effectively that contributed in the successful completion of AMP report.
Apart from this, the AMP project process also contributed to improve
my learning skills as well as team working ability that ultimately benefited
me to work on the research project in effective manner. It is because this
process provided opportunities to work with tutor and others students that
helped me to get valuable learning and experiences. In this concern, I feel
that the actions of other students helped me to plan this AMP project process
as well as prepared to manage them in a significant manner. It is because
some of students have previous experiences of working on research projects

Reflection

that assisted me to learn from experience and manage each chapter of AMP
process effectively.
Along with this, I also feel during the AMP process, it is essential for the
students who are working on research projects to manage their time
effectively, develop good coordination and interaction with tutor and others,
ensure continuous reading of related studies and plan their work. It is
because all these things are quite significant to ensure smooth working on
the AMP reports without any problem and frustration (Nijstad, 2009). I feel
that to work on a research project is sometime quite frustrating due to its
long length, lengthy and theory based literature review, and lack of interest
that could contribute as overall failure of research study by making irrelevant
research on the selected topic. In this way, I feel that there are various issues
such as formation of research question, theory based case study analysis,
time management, and planning of associated activities that encountered
during the AMP project process.
The lack of previous experience of working on a research project and
lengthy work was the main reason behind the occurrence of these issues
during the process. When start working on the AMP report, first of all I faced
problem in the planning of activities due to availability of limited time that
created problem for me to manage all activities properly. To remove all these
issues, I made several efforts like personal discussion with tutor, discussion
with group members and readings. After interacting with tutor and
participating in group discussion, I felt confident to manage each of these

Reflection

issues effectively. It is because discussion with tutor and other students

helped me to understand the importance of planning, time management,
interaction and reading in the successful management of an AMP report.
The experience learning theory also states that an individual should be
analytical and always focus to learn from personal experiences and actions
of others. It is because it is quite significant to manage projects like AMP
report effectively (Bilyk, 2010). From the experience of the AMP project
process, I feel that individuals should have habit to writing, reading and
interaction with others. It is because all these things have potential to
increase their ability to working and managing a large research project
successfully.
Group Working Management
In the beginning of the AMP project process, I worked in a group with
some other students in order to be prepared for research project. In this way,
supervisor of my group conducted an initial group discussion of all members
that helped me to understand about AMP report and its requirements, which
was quite significant to get right direction for managing and completing a
research project effectively. Along with this, group discussion can also be
effective to complete the research project successfully by gaining
understanding of research topic and its area from the views and learning of
each other. In this concern, the teamwork theory depicts that to work in team
of group is quite significant for student or individual to develop skills specific
to collaborative and project management efforts (Levi, 2010).

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Along with this, group working also enabled me to increase my

contribution in group activities and performance in personal research project.
It is because most of the team members always prefer to ask questions from
tutor and other students that helped me to learn about new skills and
concepts as well as get useful experiences, which is significant to plan and
manage the AMP report in efficient manner. From the AMP project process, I
learned that both group discussion and question asking method are quite
effective ways to improve level of skills by gaining knowledge about new
things, and prepare them for future tasks effectively.
But at the same time, group working also brought few tensions for me
during the AMP process when I faced conflicts with some team members in
case of forming research questions and selecting methods for conducting
research. It is because it is not required that all team members have same
views and suggestion when interacting in group discussion that usually
caused to problems in group working. During the AMP, tutor was strongly
emphasized to develop direct coordination and interaction between each
team members to overcome causes of conflicts and other issues. It is
because these ways contributed to develop understanding of each other and
their views among team members. In this concern, questioning method
played a key role in overcoming these problems because it allowed me and
other members to ask questions directly from tutor and with each other,
which is significant to develop mutual understanding (Nijstad, 2009).

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Apart from this, I also faced issues when participating in group

discussion due to ineffective communication skill and hesitation in speaking
among large audience. During the process, I developed personal contract
with each one to get feedback about my communication and areas for
improvements as well as participate in group discussion activities regularly
to improve communication and overcome hesitation. In the group, I preferred
personal interaction along with group discussion to chat with other in order
to work together more effectively for completing the AMP report.
Learning for Future
From the experience of AMP report, I learned following lesions that I
plan to take into future in order to improve future activities related to
research projects:
Planning Skills:
From the practical experience of managing the AMP project process, I
learned that planning is essential for successful management and completion
of any work. It is because it has potential to increase ability of a person to
plan future activities properly, which is significant to achieve desired
outcomes. In future, I will give special consideration to improve my planning
skills because it can enable me to manage future research activities or
projects more effectively.
Communication Skills:
From the experiences, it is found that I was not good in communication
with a large group at the initial stage of research project thats why I faced

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problems in interacting with tutor and group members. An effective

communication skill is required to get success in every field thats why I will
increase my focus to improve my communication skills in future activities. It
is because it will help me to complete both individual and group projects
successfully. For this purpose, I will plan to take communication training
classes and participate in group discussion regularly to enhance my
communication skills.
Analytical Skill:
It is another important area in case of participating in the AMP project
effectively. It is because this skill is required to improve decision making and
understand different concepts easily. To get success in future, I will improve
my analytical skill in order to ensure effective decision making when
participating future activities related to education and professional life. Along
with this, it will also be effective for me to visualize and solve complex and
uncomplicated problems and concepts, which is quite effective to make
sensible decisions.
Time Management:
Apart from this, I also learned that time management is essential to
organize a research project or other work properly thats why I also need to
improve this skill in future activities. I it because it will help me to complete
my projects on time and utilize extra time to improve required skills.
Conclusion

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From the above discussion, it can be concluded that the AMP project
process was a good learning experience for me because it contributed to
make several improvements within me in terms of communication skills,
questioning skills, work management skills etc. From the reflection, overall it
can be determined that there are some lacking areas in which I need to make
improvement in the future activities for performing better.

References
Bender, W.N. (2012) Project-Based Learning: Differentiating Instruction for
the 21st Century. UK: Corwin Press.
Bilyk, B. (2010) Reflective Essay: Kolbs Experiential Learning Cycle.
Germany: GRIN Verlag.
Brookhart, S.M. (2013) Grading and Group Work: How do I assess individual
learning when students work together? UK: ASCD
Kolb, D.A. (2014) Experiential Learning: Experience as the Source of Learning
and Development. USA: FT Press.

Reflection
Levi, D. (2010) Group Dynamics for Teams, 3rd Ed. USA: SAGE.
Nijstad, B. A. (2009) Group Performance. UK: Taylor & Francis.
Pritchard, A. (2013) Ways of learning: Learning theories and learning styles
in the classroom. UK: Routledge.

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