Please remember to keep critical reflective journal and notes on everything you do to advance in your research. Describe your action, explain it, rationalize it, note what happened, was it according to your plan? What was your plan? What did you want to do? Write some theory that accompanies your plan. Bring the ideas of others and describe them. Later on, in due curse, you will critique and critically engage with the ideas of those authors.
What was your intention and rationale for doing this specific action?
Why this particular action and not another action, or series of action?
Did it work? Did it follow your intention, rational and plan? How well or bad did it follow or implement your plan, intention and rational? partly, complete disaster, well, Describe and explain it and elaborate?
You did not succeed because?
What went bad and why?
What went well and was good?
What would you have done differently? Why?
What did you learn?
What did you feel every step?
Revise the initial plan or make a new one.
Obviously do it in the firstperson singular (I) "This researcher" is ridiculous and 'We' is reserved to the queen.
I am doing this a few times a day. I do it naturally and instinctively. It is part of me - a reflective and self-critical person. And it helped. It does not take la long time. You will be able to critically engage with your work, methodology, theory and ontology.
People also respect me and my integrity more and open up to me and my work more easily. It evokes sympathy and respect. No one likes a person who thinks all his or her actions and being-in-the-world are perfect and his/her unsuccessful actions are all due to other people and nothing is ever due to his oversights. We have to critically reflect on and learn from our actions. We must take self-accountability.
It is not going to be pleasant, but can be cathartic. And not everything we do is pleasant. This is part of being a researcher and I believe human.