I don’t know about anyone else but I find group research projects very daunting! You’ll be put in a group with five or six other strangers that often have completely different learning styles to you. While this definitely improves your ability to adapt and compromise, it can nevertheless be a difficult experience when those you are working with are not on your wavelength! Albeit somewhat stereotypical, here is a list of the different people you are bound to work with (or be yourself) within your group research project. It will make you chuckle if nothing else!
The Leader
Although the idea of a group research project is to collaborate as a team, there is always THAT one person who tries to take charge. This can be a good thing if some members of the group aren’t pulling their weight as The Leader will certainly know how to stop them from slacking. However, we all know of people who don’t like to collaborate with other members of the group and think that their ideas should be put on a pedestal in comparison to everyone else’s.
Being dismissive of other ideas and being a little bit bossy won’t get the job done any quicker and will only cause frustration.
The Slacker
As much as you may hate the idea of working with others – some people are naturally independent learners – your whole grade for this module relies on you doing just that. It becomes rather unfair for the rest of your group if you start turning up late to or even missing study sessions completely as it will not just be your own grade that will affected!
Slackers are bound to crop up in every group. You can easily spot one – if they turn up – as they will probably been found making an excuse as to why they didn’t do their work. ‘Sorry, I got locked out and couldn’t access my laptop.’ Okay Ricky, we believe you!
The Artist
The Artist will most likely be found unleashing their creativity in the company of some pretty coloured pens. They will have been elected the task of copying up lecture notes as their handwriting is by far the neatest of the group.
When it comes to the group presentation The Artist is in their element, playing around with attention grabbing colour schemes on every PowerPoint slide and creating an infographic posting worthy of framing in The National Gallery. This quality time could have been put to better use on the actual research but there is no stopping The Artist once someone hands them a fancy pen.
The Over Worker
The Over Worker does more than their fair share of the work, most often because if they didn’t, then none of the research would actually get done. They spend all of their free time doing the work that their other group members did not do, spending every second of every hour fretting that their grade may drop if it isn’t done.
The Over Worker is taken for granted by all of the other group members and deserves so much more recognition. Instead, the whole group will take responsibility for their work when in reality they weren’t the ones facing sleepless nights.
The Know-It-All
The Know-It-All can be such a godsend if they aren’t constantly annoying you with new ideas every five seconds! Having someone who actually understand the topic you are researching about is something to cherish. The Know-It-All will explain everything to you that has gone over your head, leaving you somewhat more knowledgeable about what the heck you are supposed to be doing!
The only downside is that they can have the tendency to be a teeny weeny bit patronising. Not everyone is as smart as you but please don’t belittle them.
The Anxious One
Hands up if this is you! I’m most certainly The Anxious One in the group and if you are too, I don’t blame you! The Anxious One will be recognisable, sitting in the corner often having their head in a book, writing away… basically doing anything other than contributing to the group discussion.
That’s not to say that they don’t have great ideas but the thought of speaking amongst a group of extroverts is enough to make them sick. They will prefer to contribute to the written work and pray that they have as little to say in the group presentation as possible.
The Argumentative One
The Argumentative One never agrees with anything anyone says (they would claim that nobody agrees with them though!) Any ideas that others suggest will be immediately shut down with ‘something better’ and if nobody agrees they will call them out for not listening to them. They like to have things their way and will often blame others when things go wrong because they didn’t take their advice.
If you have an argumentative group member, expect to experience situations similar to that of The Apprentice Board Room!