For the majority of my practitioner research, my participants will be employers or dance colleagues, therefore I will be acting as an insider-researcher whilst using some of the tools/methods. I have read sections of "Costley, Carol, Williot, Geoffrey, Gibbs, Paul (2010) Doing work based research : approaches to enquiry for insider-researchers, London : Sage Publications Ltd" and this has been extremely informative about what I must consider when being an insider-researcher, especially Chapter 3 "Research ethics and insider- researchers".
Insider-Researcher
Merits:
- I know the context.
- I know the participants.
- I have knowledge about the particular workplace.
- I will have greater access to people in the workplace.
- I have knowledge on "who" is best to approach for the participation of my inquiry and "how" is best to approach them.
Downfalls:
- I may already have preconceptions which could lead to being bias.
- It could affect my professional relationship.
- Colleagues/Employers might feel obliged to participate as they know me.
Requirements/Ethical considerations:
- I need to know how to handle the situation in the best possible way, if a participant uses one of the research methods as a form of "therapy" and discusses issues about their work to air them, as they will be familiar with me.
- The participants might feel obliged to participate as they know me, so I must make them aware they don't have to take part if they don't feel comfortable doing so.
- I must make sure by carrying out the practitioner research with work colleagues, it won't affect and professional relationships or cause any tension.
Conclusion:
I will be interviewing my employer during my practitioner research and also using dance colleagues to participate in a focus group. Therefore, I will need to make sure I go into these interviews/focus groups with an open mind and no preconceptions I may already have. I also need to make sure I don't judge any of the participants based on their answers and make them realise this is the case, so it doesn't affect our professional relationship/atmosphere. I will make sure they all know they are not obliged in any way to participate and inform them all the data received is strictly going to be used just for my degree purposes. However, in my case, I feel knowing the participants will be beneficial as we all feel at ease with one another and therefore this should create a relaxed atmosphere for everyone.
Observations
Merits:
- Provides a rich source of information of a behavioural nature.
- The events can be recorded at the time.
- The observations can be structured in terms of predetermined framework.
- You can act as a participant in the event being studied or act solely as a "disinterested" observer.
- Time consuming.
- Many ethical issues to consider.
Requirements/Ethical Considerations:
- Usually requires the agreement of a Gatekeeper within an organisation.
- Need to be able to respond sensitively and appropriately to issues of ethics, permission and confidentiality.
- Pre-planning the approach to the observation is essential.
Conclusion:
I feel this method wouldn't help me to develop my inquiry, as I can't think of a scenario where I could observe anyone in order to help further my ideas and contribute to the inquiry in any way. I feel the other three tools will be more beneficial.
Interviews
Merits:
- Qualitative method where you can collect what people say and use it as evidence.
- "Can follow up on ideas, probe responses and investigate motives and feelings" (Bell, 2005, p.157).
- Can ask the "Why" questions, directly to people who have knowledge, experience and perceptions about my topic.
- It can be conducted in a variety of different ways e.g. face to face, over the telephone, with an individual or group, using a structured list of questions or a more informal method or interaction.
- There are a number of different types of interview method (indebted to Bell, 2005) e.g semi-structured, non directive or open interviews, narrative inquiry, informal interviews, informal/guided.
- Can allow the collection of valuable data about motives, expectations and attitudes that are very difficult to collect by any other means.
Downfalls:
- Time consuming.
- Interviewer may affect the participant.
- Participants might be lead to respond in a certain way.
Requirements/Ethical Considerations:
- I must consider what data I need to collect in order to make sure I am asking relevant questions to the participants.
- I need to consider who I want to interview and why.
- I need to consider where I will hold the interview.
- I need to consider the degree of structure.
- How is the interview going to be recorded?
- Make sure the data gathered is store securely.
- Make sure the participants feel at ease.
- I need to make sure I don't make the participants answer anything they feel uncomfortable answering.
- Need to make sure I get the necessary forms signed in order to carry out any interviews with my employers.
- I need to make sure I stay neutral and don't affect any of the answers given.
- I must not judge any of the participants on any of their views and opinions.
Conclusion:
After conducting my pilot Interview, this is a tool I will use when carrying out my Inquiry. I will use a semi-structured approach as I can balance structured questions with a more natural conversation, which will hopefully create the atmosphere of a relaxed/informal interview, allowing the participants to open up and speak freely about their knowledge and experiences. I also feel the method of collecting qualitative data will be key for me, as I can use what people say and use it as evidence. It is also beneficial that I can always conduct the interview over the phone or by Skype if the participant is unable to meet face to face.
Focus Groups:
Merits:
- Participants might open up issues that they might not have thought about on their own.
- Participants might feel more relaxed as there is more of them than an individual interview.
- Can gather data from a group of people at the same time.
Downfalls:
- Can be hard to manage
- Strong personalities can "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) others
- Prepared topic questions might be expanded and changed
- Transcription is more difficult due to multiple voices
Requirements/Ethical Considerations:
- Participants need to have similar characteristics or interests.
- I need to make sure my role as moderator provides the "trigger" topic to keep the discussion on track.
- Transcription needs to be used for accuracy.
- If recording, I must get participants to identify themselves when they speak.
- Need good time keeping skills.
- "Quotes should be made in context and as in the interview tool, the discretion of the researcher is needed to ensure that the identity of the participant is not given away by their use of language (Denscombe, 2007).
Conclusion:
I feel a focus group would be beneficial to conduct for my inquiry, as I am wanting to get the opinions of other professional dancers and compare them to those of the employers and casting directors. Originally, I was just going to conduct a survey to gather this data, however I feel even though a survey would still be beneficial in gathering quantitative data for my inquiry, I think a conversational approach will gather data in more detail and also the conversation could trigger new ideas between the participants that I hadn't thought of and this will help to develop my previous questions and thoughts. I am extremely lucky to have a close group of friends and dance colleagues in the industry who all know each other and I would love to conduct the focus group with them if they will allow me. I feel this will eliminate the risk of any of the participants feeling over shadowed and not able to contribute to the discussion as the atmosphere will be very relaxed and feel like an informal conversation between us all. Similar to the interview tool, I would want to use to a dictaphone to record the interview, as it could get very confusing making notes on what every one is saying and it would definitely interrupt the flow of the conversation. However, I would need to ask permission from everyone in order to do this and each participant would need to differentiate themselves before speaking. I think I would do this with numbers e.g. Participant 1 etc. in order for the interview to remain anonymous.
Surveys and Questionnaires
Merits:
- I can gather data from a large group/range of people.
- Quick way of gathering data.
- Easy for participants to access.
- Can leave spaces for more detailed explanations/views, if needed. "Blank spaces are inserted in the survey for worded qualitative responses..." (Middlesex University -Reader 6).
Downfalls:
- I need to ask a wide range of people to ensure a fair representation.
- Lacking in qualitative data.
- Doesn't answer the "why" questions, unless extra space is put into the survey.
- Not as personal, as it is being sent to a large amount of people.
Requirements/Ethical Considerations:
- I must make sure the questionnaires/surveys are anonymous when being presented in my Inquiry.
- I will need to send out a covering letter accompanying the survey or questionnaire, explaining the research and what their data will be used for. It should also thank the participants for taking part in the research.
- I shall also make sure the questionnaire/survey states that the participants don't have to answer any questions they feel uncomfortable answering.
Conclusion:
After conducting the pilot survey, I think this tool/method would be useful when collecting statistics for my inquiry as it allows me to collect data from a large amount of people quickly and conveniently. It is also a contrasting method from the interview method as it is collects more quantitative data with the option of opening it up to a more qualitative approach. Therefore, I will be able to collect a variety of data to help develop my Inquiry. However, I will be relying on the participants to send the surveys back to me and therefore, I feel a focus group would also be useful to carry out so I know I will have enough data to develop my inquiry.
Conclusion
Therefore, the tools/methods I feel will be most beneficial to me are
- INTERVIEW
- A FOCUS GROUP
- SURVEY
I am looking forward to preparing my questions and carrying out these tools in order to inform me and help develop my inquiry.
WBS 3630 - Middlesex University, Reader 6 "Principles of Professional Inquiry"
Costley, Carol, Williot, Geoffrey, Gibbs, Paul (2010) Doing work based research : approaches to enquiry for insider-researchers, London : Sage Publications Ltd
WBS 3630 - Middlesex University, Reader 6 "Principles of Professional Inquiry"
Costley, Carol, Williot, Geoffrey, Gibbs, Paul (2010) Doing work based research : approaches to enquiry for insider-researchers, London : Sage Publications Ltd
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