The findings of these few studies suggest that reflective thinking may develop in association with certain interventions. It also appears that the development of reflective thinking is related to other aspects of learning and professional development. The methods employed were usually observational and analytical, and appropriate to the questions asked. However, only one of these studies had a comparison group, so the transferability of the interventions and results across contexts is unclear. In addition, reflection was not spontaneous, but was deliberately stimulated by the educational context. Although it seems likely that events occurring naturally in an authentic professional context would stimulate a similar response, this has not been.
