Tools For Research

Observation

A key advantage of observation research is that often the participant is unaware that they are being observed, allowing their behaviour to be observed naturally.

Observation will be an important tool for me to use in my research as it’s very appropriate to work based learning and I will be able to gather information from the professional field that I work in.

Observation can be very time consuming, but as I will be conducting mine during my normal teaching hours I won’t find this such a problem but will have to ensure I have time afterwards to analyse and interpret what I have seen. I believe the sooner after the event I can do this the better, when everything is still fresh in my mind. I will make field notes throughout my observation time, but may also use a video recorder on some occasions. (Perhaps towards the beginning and then at the end of the research time to record and differences in my findings)

I will be undertaking insider research, as I will be observing students that I teach on a regular basis in my workplace I have already broken down some of the barriers and problems that you are faced with when beginning participant observational research. I already have a role within the group, I have established relationships and have acquired the participants trust; therefore I am already “accepted as a natural part of the culture in order to assure that the observations are of the natural phenomenon"(http://www.socialresearchmethods.net/kb/qualmeth.php). 

My presence should not impact on their behaviour and I have insider knowledge on to how the group normally behaves and what individual’s strengths and weaknesses are.

I have already gained verbal permission from my employer, but I will also get this in writing and I have their full support in my research project. They will not be present throughout the observations but may come in from time to time to see how I am getting on. I don’t believe this will impact on my research as it is part of their role to check up on classes from time to time so it is only natural that the participants would expect to see them there.

I will obtain full permission from the participant’s parents as they are all minors, and address confidentially issues before hand also.

I need to be aware that as an insider research I have a dual role to perform, that as a dance tutor and employee and that as a practitioner researcher. I must also be aware of:

• Any personal bias about the issue

• Preconceived ideas I have about the issue

• Defining my role as researcher and being able to look objectively at the participants. 

Interviews

Interviews will be a useful research tool when I want to get more specific information from participants or work colleagues. The most appropriate point during my research to use this tool will be after I have collected my survey results. I will then be able to use interviews as a follow up to certain responses or issues that come out of the surveys.

My preferred interview would take place face to face as I feel this is a more personal approach and would take on the format of being semi structured. I would include set questions; with sub questions should they be needed, be flexible for the interview to follow any interesting or immerging issues around the research theme. I would use the same approach for all interviews so that I can easily analyse and compare results.

I would try to hold the interview on neutral ground, somewhere that the interviewee would feel comfortable with as few distractions as possible. I would use a tape recorder during the interview, but also take notes on anything that really stood out for me or on the participant’s body language or actions that would not be picked up on the tape recorder.

 If interviewing children I would try to keep the interview short and would use language that was easy to understand.

Benefits

·        Interviews will allow me to seek further information that is not possible to achieve through a questionnaire.

·        I will be able to collect detailed responses

·        Participants can ask for clarification son questions should they not understand them

·        I will be able to find out people’s opinions on specific topics, what’s they feel as well as what they think, collect the facts and hear about peoples own experiences.

·        The majority of the people I interview will know me and so will feel comfortable in my company, and will have trust in me.

Limitations

·        Interviews can be time consuming

·        Keeping to my role as ‘Interviewer’, and not my role as teacher, employee or friend.

I could influence people responses:

• " interviewees desire to please interviewer
•  saying what they think the interviewer wants to hear e.g. gives the official viewpoint rather than their personal view
•  desire to create a good impression i.e. not answer ‘honestly’
•  the tendency to say something rather than nothing if they cannot answer a question or have nothing to say on a topic
•  interviewers’ own views coming across and influencing responses e.g. expressing surprise or disapproval. " (http://www.bera.ac.uk/data-collection-interviews-in-research/)

Focus Groups

Focus groups would be a good tool for me to use with children that I would like to get views and opinions from. They would perhaps be better than a one to one interview for some children as they would feel more secure and comfortable in a group environment than by themselves. It would be a good way of seeing how participants react to each other’s views and how they interact together.

It would be very important to make sure that each participant got to express their view. Strong personalities may “..influence, and in some cases actually take over, a group and make it difficult for the less assertive members to speak” (Bell, 2005, p. 163). Participants with a differing view to the majority may not want to express it for fear of being ‘different’.

Focus groups may be hard to manage as an individual researcher, participants may go off topic or talk over each other so you would have to try and keep on top of what was being said as well as taking notes for yourself and making sure everyone got a turn to speak.

Before starting any discussions all participants would need to identify who they were on the tape recorder in order for you to know the different voices when you analyse. If using a focus group as a research tool, especially with minors I would limit the number of participants and talk about respecting each other’s opinions and giving everyone a turn at the beginning before starting any discussions.

Surveys and Questionnaires

Questionnaires will be a great way for me to get information from a large number of people. Within the organisation that I work it will enable me to make sure I gather information from the different age groups, different sexes and from both pupils and staff. Questionnaires can be taken home and answered in the participants own time and own environment, I will use a deadline to ensure I have as many back as possible by a certain date in order to leave me time to analyse results and conduct further research depending on the outcomes.

I will keep my questionnaire anonymous so that participant’s feel they can be as truthful as possible and not be judged for the answers they give. I will make sure I use language that is easy to understand, I will keep questions simple and make sure they flow in a relevant order. I will also use a range of questions types, depending on what information I would like to get, including; multiple choices, scale ratings, yes/no answers, open opinion boxes.

The major downside to questionnaires is having a poor response level or people leaving questions blank. Due to the fact I am conducting my research within my work place I am well placed to promote a good response rate so I hope to overcome this issue.

Dance Teaching Survey...Task 6A

I have completed a survey on SurveyMonkey and would be very grateful for anybody who teaches full or part time to complete it. Just follow the link to http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/SK5F9L7

The deadline in Sunday 3rd April and it only takes a couple of minutes! Any feedback would be great also!

Thanks in advance! 

I’m filling in all the ones that I see for other people too:)

Professional Ethics - Task 5a and 5b

As I freelance dance teacher I teach for a number of different organisations, for the purpose of this task I have used just one of my places of work which is a Theatre Arts School, for children aged between 4-18.

Here are my own thoughts on the codes of practice that guide this setting:

• Respect and work in conjunction with the principal and other members of staff to achieve the aims and objectives set out each term.

• Arrive on time, dress and speak appropriately

• Treat all students equally.

• Motivate and encourage students to achieve their personal best

• Never leave your students unattended

• Suitable use of music, moves, games, tasks for age groups and abilities

• Be aware of all the health and safety risks, conduct classes in a safe manner, and be aware of fire regulations

• Be CRB checked, and keep up to date with own national insurance and tax contributions

• Report all incidents and accidents as soon as they occur

• Encourage the wearing of the theatre school uniform, make sure appropriate footwear is worn by students, hair tied back and jewellery removed

I then went on to read the ‘Code of Professional Conduct and Best Practice for Teaching’ for this organisation. I was pleased to find that everything I have written above was on there but there were also a number of other points that I would not have thought to include. Within the section on child protection it stated:

• not exchange mobile numbers or social networking site details with students
• not offer lifts to students without the prior consent from the principal or parent

These are things that I know not to do, (I often get requests from students on Facebook to become ‘friends’, but would never accept) but just take them for granted and so did not included them in my own code of ethics for the school

Having said this, I know that on at least one occasion a fellow colleague has given a lift to a couple of older students after Stagecoach as it was dark outside and pouring down with rain and they had to walk home and she was going the same way as them. I have never questioned it until now, and I know that she was only doing out of kindness as she didn’t want then getting soaked and was headed that way anyway. Was she in the wrong to do that? I guess she was judging the situation using her own code of ethics rather than that of the schools.

Other areas I had not covered:

Publicity

• a teacher should not under any circumstances, promote his or her services.
• a teacher should not publish, or cause to be published, any notice, newspaper, advertisement or any other matter likely to damage the reputation of the Theatre Arts School or any colleague.

Child Protection

• only touch a student when absolutely necessary in line with our child protection policy and with the student’s permission

When dancing we often work in partners and groups, and I may physically help a child find the correct placement of arms and so quite I often I do come into contact with the children. I had not included anything about this in my own thoughts on ethics at the school and is something I may need to think about to get the correct wording for in the future.

Confidentiality

A teacher should:

• behave in accordance with the Data Protection Act 1998.
• ensure that any confidential information obtained should not be used for personal advantage or be disclosed without the consent of the pupil or parent, except where there is a legal right or duty to disclose. A teacher should be aware of and abide by current data protection legislation

Reading this Code of Conduct has made me realize how detailed a code of practice needs to be, it needs to cover everything no matter how small or obvious. Some of the areas it covers I would not of even thought to include, for example about the Data Protection Act 1998, as I myself do not know enough about it to include it in my own set of ethics. I need to do some further research into data protection, child protection and publicity to have a fuller understanding of these ethical areas.

By Golly! I Think Ive Got It!

The last campus session really helped me clarify what this module is about and what we have to produce by the end. There was much confusion to start with regards to what needed to be done by the end of this module, what was to be handed in and what could just be done on line and the importance of certain tasks. I hope everyone left feeling a little clearer! I think I did!

One thing that really stuck with me when discussing our research project for next term, was to make sure it is something relevant to what we are doing and something that will be easily accessible to us with regards to doing the research, interviewing and observations.

I have been looking in to the benefits of dance, but there is a lot of research out there about the benefits of dance especially at a young age and so I was struggling to see how an inquiry here would help me learn anything new…I already know the many benefits that dance has as it were.

Then when teaching this weekend an event occurred that I think has clicked everything in to place. I have found a line of inquiry that is within the area I have been looking but something that I think could really help me within my practice in the long run and whilst it is something that I may have a few ideas on I really don’t know all the answers to this question.

Saturday’s event:

At the stage school I teach at there are four groups that I teach and the children range from 3 to 18. The children are divided into classes’ depending on their age. I can see why this makes sense as children are dancing with others of a similar age and it makes moving up to the next class quite fair and straight forward but often it leaves me with a real mix of abilities within a class.

For example:

Some children do lots styles of other dancing on top of coming to this stage school

Some people come more for the singing/drama and so dance is just an added extra for them that isn’t their main reason for coming.

Some are late starters and may join aged 14, so will go into the class of this age but will be dancing with other children who have a lot more experience and training.

This weekend I had two of my students asking me when they can move up to the next class as they feel they have outgrown their current class and the other children in it. I was truthful with them and said if it was solely up to me I would happily move them up as they are both very capable and hard working in dance, but I would have to check with the principal. She checked her records and age wise they are not next on list to move up as there’s a number of older children in that class who should technically move up before them.  Also, as this is a stage school the children also attend singing and drama class so whilst they are very strong in dance, they are maybe not at the same levels in singing and drama and so would perhaps struggle more there if they moved up early or may not be doing the most appropriate material for their ages.

We came to an agreement with the two students that they would move up in September at the same time they move up to secondary school. They now feel happier knowing they have a definite date to look forward to. But where does this leave me I thought? I still have to teach them until then, and want to keep them motivated and challenged so they don’t just get fed up and leave, but at the same time the other students in that class are not as strong technically or as focused as they are. So how do I make it all work!!

This is what triggered my inquiry.

I realised that most places I teach be it within a school, community or private settings, more often than not divided children into classes’ because of their age. It makes sense for them to be dancing with children of a similar age but often i then find there is a real mix of dance abilities within my classes.

I would like to do my own research project using my current practice and where i teach to find out how i can ensure all the children in my class are benefitting from the class and developing at their own rate no matter what their ability or capability.

Initial thoughts on things I may look at include:

• How can i make sure more capable children are challenged

• Children working together despite their different levels/abilities (not letting the class become divided)

• How to best structure a class to accommodate the different capabilities and keep everyone engaged in what is being taught. (use of games, creative tasks, set work…)

•  Providing suitable material for both the girls and the boys within the class

Award Title

I have been thinking about my award title, and whilst I haven’t got a definite question for my line of enquiry I have a good idea of the areas in which it will lie and what I want to achieve in the future with my degree.

The award title I would like to propose is:

BA Hons in Professional Practice (Dance Development and Education)

When contemplating my award title I wanted it to encompass everything that has led me to where I am now, but also to look to where I want to go in the future.

Dance

I was certain that I had to include the word dance. I have been dancing since a young age, and then went on to train at a professional level at The Northern Ballet School gaining my National Diploma in Professional Dance, which without I would not be doing the current BAPP course. Since then I have enjoyed a varied performance career as a professional dancer. Dance is the foundation of my professional practice.

Development

Developing dance within the areas I teach, be it in primary and secondary schools, community groups or stage schools. Developing dance with students that I teach to increase their knowledge and awareness in an environment suitable to their needs, wants and abilities.

My own personal development; I feel I have already learnt so much from my experiences of performing and teaching but there is always so much more that can be learnt! I think it’s important to keep developing as an artist, to be continually improving yourself and your practice; Taking on board new ideas, trying out different approaches, keeping things fresh.

Education

I wasn’t sure about this word at first as I felt it was almost too formal. I think this is because when i thought of the word education it automatically made me think of school education and whilst I do teach dance within schools it’s not the only area I work in. However after being prompted by a comment from Mark on Joannas blog I realised that education is by no means confined to a school setting but is relevant in any learning task that we do.

I am educating my students no matter what environment I teach them in, they are learning about dance but also other important life skills that go hand in hand with taking part in dance. Dance and education (i.e. learning through dance/ the benefits of dance within an education system) is also an area I would like to look into further in the future, as part of my inquiry and hopefully beyond.

Spring is in the Air

The suns out and spring is in the air so decided to re vamp my blog, making it brighter and lighter!