OUGD501 - COP2 - End of Module Evaluation

In evaluation, I feel this module was the most challenging of the year for me due to the amount of work we had to do for the module. The amount of research I undertook was far more than I'm used to, however this made the result more rewarding and produced a more informed end result.

After writing about consumerism last year, I felt I wanted to expand on this subject but make it relevant to my interests and take a more positive approach to the topic this year. I decided to delve into the world of marketing and research how professionals project it will evolve in the future

I've been able to properly construct an essay from start to finish and I feel my essay has more structure than last year and stays on topic, whereas last year my essay was loosely written and didn't have a clear argument behind it. I also produced a well synthesised practical project that clearly related to my essay, and due to this I was able to use the research for my essay as a basis for the research in my practical project.

I could have presented my argument in a more balanced fashion, as I mainly talk about my thoughts on what marketing will go into as opposed to citing more professionals on the subject. However, I think this presents an original take on the subject and I am able to dissect the references I have chosen and make educated assumptions on the basis of this data.

I have found that I thoroughly enjoy marketing and advertising, and I plan to expand on my essay topic next year for my dissertation. I think that advertising is an industry I would be interested to go into after my degree and so the more research I can undertake on the processes of the industry, the better for me. 

Next year I plan to undertake more physical research such as focus groups and in-person interviews as I feel that this will allow me to collect more in-depth data for my essay and create a new level of research to analyse for my dissertation. I feel this was one thing I was missing in my research as I mainly stuck to online surveys and questionnaires which is good for quantitative data but I was lacking in qualitative data to analyse.

Overall, this module has opened up new routes for me to take in my research and I have learnt how important making informed decisions is, not just informed in the context of my own decisions but informed with the preferences of my target audience.