Before the COVID-19 breakout, my essential question was to look into the different structures of the healthcare system in NY to help find a solution to make our healthcare system more equitable and fair for all. Now looking back at my question, I don’t think it would’ve been feasible. I needed the research I am doing now to come up with a feasible and solid solution. Although my project is fully research, I think I’ve received a better insight than if I were to be in and out of doctor offices. As much as I would’ve loved to be helping out in offices it wouldn’t have been incompetent research. I think that I would’ve had a different outcome as well as a different solution. Although, I don’t if that is true, or what the difference would’ve been, I feel like I would have been answering a different question.
It might be bad to say, but if this pandemic didn’t occur, I would’ve reached a point of boredom with my project and probably would have been able to answer my question by the third week. COVID-19 brought a different aspect and concept that put an extra layer to my question. Not only can I learn the science behind COVID-19, but also learn what is happening in other countries and the political and economic aspect.
Now that I am focused on a research-based project, I haven’t had that many challenges, I’ve had tons of questions, one of my biggest challenges is to know what research is beneficial towards my essential question or just pure curiosity. During the second week of my project, I started a notebook of a bunch of topics and questions that I wanted to further dive into. I had about 3 pages of these and as I still go through them, I am hitting barriers. There is no direct answer to some topics/question or the topic might be too big to fit into my project or the relevance to it may not be directly coordinated to my final product. For instance, one question that I had, that I can’t get a single answer for, is: What is the breakdown of the 17% of GDP in the health care system? Or what is the breakdown of the money that is going to the healthcare system in the United States? I have rephrased this question so many times but still have not had a concrete straightforward answer.
As I still want to go into the health science major, this research project has made me learn more about myself. I love the topic I am learning about, but I don’t think research is for me. At least for a future career. I am not only now confused about what I want for my future but also what my final project might look like. I wished that we could be back in the school to present our product. I had the idea of creating a conceptual map of everything I learned but now that our presentation is virtual I might want to create a paper so people can easily access it.