PCI #1 - Self-assessment of PBL competence using the D&D scale

PBL Skill	Level of competence
	Novice	Advanced Beginner	Competent	Proficient	Expert
Identifying a self-chosen societally relevant problem		X
Engage in search for literature		X
Engage in search for empirical facts	X
Problem delineation		X
Empirical and theoretical inquiry			X
Experiments			X
Production				X
Writing up in a group of collaborating students, a project report answering, but also critically discussing the problem initially formulated			X

In my opinion, about researching on a problem, the most important but also the trickiest part is about outlining the problem, and base the research on relevant elements.

I'm a beginner at identifying a relevant problem since I have to stick to some rules and some patterns during the reflexion if I simply want to have an outcome. The use of intuition is simply not an option on this one, though I make use of all contextual elements that can ease the task.

I'm also only a beginner in the search of literature. I have some methodology about it and tend to stick to it, taking the context into account, in order to find relevant references. The goal will only be to find some literature to base my reflexion but nothing will be especially daring or advanced.

The facts are even more difficult to search for, as while for papers it is easy to define if a paper is often quoted or used and thus probably relevant overall, for empirical facts, judging their quality and relevance can be more difficult, and I lack the methodology for it, I don't even know the rules to follow to begin with.

The problem delineation poses a real stake as if a problem is relevant, then narrowing it without loosing important fields of reflexion can be quite tricky. I do have some methods for it and some past experiences, but I still don't feel confident at all doing this.

Once the problem is outlined and the material for reflexion acquired, the actual reflexion and experimentation to create some result is already less complicated for me.

About theoretical and especially empirical inquiry I can follow some methodology, I'll modify it according to the context and past experiences I got and get rid of the useless considerations to go to the point.

Here I understand the production part as the way to lead the research project. As I got already some important experience in managing projects, I know the basic methodology, but mostly totally adapt myself to the context and others and really try to improve the way to manage it in comparison with previous experiences.

Writing a report is also something in which I have both some methodology and some experience. It still remains something I'm not comfortable with but I can use both my knowledge and my experience and do it in the perspective of a particular context.

About experiments, I don't get the difference between this and “Empirical and theoritical enquiry” so what I said about the latter one applies to the first one.

It is at this point quite obvious that I am not really comfortable with every aspect of the PBL approach. Though, this choice of skills is in my opinion perfectly relevant for a research project, it pretty much covers every aspect of the research process. But I'd give it a second look if it was for a more practical project. I happen to be from a rather technical formation, and on one side this doesn't cover every aspect of a more technical project, on the other all the skills above are not necessarily relevant on those projects. Without going further into what adaptations could be made (as it could take countless hours), I'll just take the question at its root : when speaking of PBL, is it necessarily a research problem or can it be a more practical problem which could fit in a more technical approach ?