Piloting a Questionnaire

Critical Reflections on piloting a Questionnaire:

Why use a Questionnaire?

-          Primarily because they provide quick and easy way of accessing pupils opinions for data collection.

-          Means of data gathering from a wide range of respondents in a comparatively short time period.

-          Efficient in providing appropriate data for my enquiry – quantitative data, but can also produce answers and responses of a qualitative nature too.

Preparation:

-          Being a wear of problems of reliability and validity caused by a low response rate. To alleviate this, reading on the benefits of a ‘face – to –face’ delivery of questionnaire. Personal approach in this way may encourage participation.

-          Pre – planning of structured questions displayed clearly following an order that flows correctly from one topic to another. Asking myself how best to target my sample of audience of students ages from 4 -20 was quite difficult, large age range to cater for. Stepping into their shoes to think about how they may interpret and understand what I am asking. I want to encourage freedom of sharing opinions, not trick anyone with complicated and awkwardly worded questions.

-          Decided I wanted to include two types of questions, one being of a facular nature to find out basic information for future comparison and correlation (how many times per week people dance, their age, which style classes they take etc) Secondly, more open ended questions as I am hoping for a wider range of responses to share their experiences of what Dance means to  them. Getting an insight into respondents attitudes and perceptions will be important for my research, asking the deeper questions to allow for wider responses rather than just single yes/no answers,  (how do you feel when you dance/what do you think about dance etc)

-          Decided to try different style of question, some where I identified some appropriate statements that could determine effective answers from my sample respondents – kept it multiple choice again for a varies scope of data. Others, giving the respondent to volunteer their own comments on top of my suggestions. Finally, asking the student to describe what Dance means to them through optional choice of colour, diagrams, words of phrases – a wear dancers are artists and may favour this creative approach. This question was specifically aimed at the younger respondents who may find long written answers very boring.

Reflection

-Already a wear of potential reliability issues of data collection die to low response rate, although this was not the case in my pilot, it may be for future enquiries. One way to elevates this would be to also offer and online version of the questionnaire. E. G Survey Monkey, the process of completion online would be extremely helpful to those in busy work based situations. More convenient methods – also enabling me to send them to a wider community of people farther afield – more varied responses as people have time to take the questions outside of the dance place, they have more time to think more deeply about their answers and will not feel pressured from any influential surroundings.

-  Types of Questions massively affect the analysis; questions must be focussed around providing the information I need.

How to increase the effectiveness of this tool:

-          Although an online version may be convenient, it may prelude those who do not have internet access, having a questionnaire in a documented form which I can deliver face to face as well as an online version would hopefully ‘cover all bases’ regarding receiving optimum response of accurate data.

-          More focus on the information I want to gather from doing the pilot, perhaps covering such a large age range was not the most effective use of a questionnaire – very difficult to compose questions to keep the attention and focus of very young children as well as young adults and parents.

-          To address the issue of potential teacher /student power relationships making data inaccurate, I could have created a poster stating that completing the questionnaire is completely optional. It could have read ‘Is anyone Interested in sharing their Dance experience?’, the poster could also tackle potential ethical issues by using text explaining what my aims are for doing the research, where the information will go, how it will be analysed etc. Confidentially issues were discussed face to face on this occasion – time could have been saved by creating a poster. A poster would also offer participants to volunteer to offer their thoughts, rather than being forced.

Summary:

Constructing effective questions is not easy! But, given due care and attention, have the facility to produce valuable data and research to really develop an enquiry, whilst staying within the work based learning environment. Piloting a questionnaire has been extremely useful, more so to draw my attention to how I can better its effectiveness for the future. Main point to consider about the questions themselves: do they make sense? Are they in the correct order? Are they visually well presented? All these areas could have been improved from my pilot of this technique, targeting my sample audience more accurately would mean producing a questionnaire or survey that is professional, but aimed to be inclusive for the ages targeted, both parents and students themselves.

Pilot Interview - Task 6a

Following on from my pilot Focus Group, I conducted a pilot interview. It seemed a logical tool to use next as the focus group was an excellent format for grounds of a platform of discussion. To develop my enquiry further, to really get into the individuals experience of Dance, one to one interactions would be necessary.

Interviews seem to have an advantage that the researcher can follow up on responses given from the initial focus group, clarify meaning of opinions share, or probe more responses and investigate motives for the answers that were discussed.

Really wanting to uncover potentially unexpected data as well here, interviewing as a tool seems to have capability of being adaptable is producing ways to probe my topic of what Dance means to the individual.

Decided on two types of interviews would be most beneficial to getting well rounded data. I have made some rough notes to describe my considerations before undergoing the pilot, as well as reflections and reviewing afterwards.

1 - Informal Interview with Programme Leader at a professionally established community dance company

- at the Ludus Studio - 'home' ground, creating a sense of comfort/ease/freedom to speak at ease/answers given in context and 'in the moment'

- informal/unplanned structure - alleviated potential of participant being affected by nerves about speaking to researcher. As an 'insider researcher' looking into a topic I have some knowledge previously attained, found the informality of unstructured interviewing suitable when interviewing a familiar colleague with similar interests in promoting community dance and dance accessibility.

- transcribing notes after the pilot, rather than recorded data seemed most appropriate - observation of facial expressions beneficial to really understanding how the interviewee was answering. Being able to retain eye focus felt more respectful in the situation.

-  consideration towards how I would direct questions - remembering I am talking with a professional who has worked for years on creating community based dance projects. Felt inappropriate to have pre structured questions - wanting to remain open and objective, also wanting to initiate a feeling that I had considered the power relation ships exposed. (I am undergoing the research for a project of my own interest, gratitude for her sharing her experiences through her years of experience to help me gain a wider insight into my enquiry.) Letting the conversation be lead in a way.

Reflections after the pilot:

- Pleased with decision to not record the conversation, gave me change to gain respect by maintaining engagement through eye focus.

- Perhaps for my actual enquiry, having a more negotiated form of accounting the information discussed as opposed to be writing notes afterwards would be effective. Notes I made afterword lacked passion/meaning experiences whilst the interview was taking place. When analysing the interview responses, creating a summery documented by both myself and the respondent would be the most beneficial way of collected reliable and valid data.



      After consideration into how time consuming interviews can be to organise and execute, deciding to pilot an interview over the phone was the next logical step into reviewing the tools on enquiry. Arranging a conversation via Skype with a fellow student on this BAPP Programme (thanks again Sonal) was a way of getting instant data from an accountable source.

Being in a work based learning situation, this was a learning curve for me to always consider in reality people do live busy lives with not much time to spare to be researched. Also, wanted to gain response from the widest range of people I can, people often live far apart, and gaining access to them face to face would be unrealistic. Sonal is also a work based learning student so this form of communication enabled me to contact her and collect reliable data with minimal inconvenience.

2 - Skype phone call - interview with fellow BAPP learner and dancer

- Fellow colleague with similar dance interests - underlying mutual respect already initiated

- my first consideration were to focus of the purpose of the call - wanting to get clean, unbiased data. Creating a situation where respondent feels entitled to share their own experience. Wanting to have the respondent open up to share their joy of dance, NOT to be confused wit thrusting MY experience on them with an expectancy of it being a shared one.

- no pressure situation, to alleviate feeling under pressure, emailing prior to pilot discussing suitable time convenient for both. Assuring knowledge of confidentially, Data Protection Act issued have been adhered to.

- piloting an interview with a colleague and a personal fiend can have advantages - one is able to get feedback after the interview itself, (feedback on my approach, how it could be improved etc)

- creation of a semi structured format to home in on the type of data I wanted to collect from the interview process, ensuring topics covered are of relevance to my enquiry. To do so, having a pre planned set of questions felt most appropriate. This creates a professional flowing format, but also allows room for flexibility of exposing and potential emerging issues

- Including some open questioning styles, for example:

What does Dance mean to you?

My aim here was to offer Sonal opportunity to contribute her personal interpretation not only of the question, but her answers too.

- Being sure not to include leading questions formulating inaccurate data. Questions must not be formulated in a way that makes the respondent feel obliged to respond in a certain way, remembering the solid foundation principle of my enquiry to to share someone else's experience in order to research answers to my enquiry question.

Reflection after the pilot:

-I noticed the interview as a tool does have some limitations. Because the information I want is sensitive, and personal to the individual, I was luck to have a willingly responsive interviewee. This may not always be the case. Following this, Sonal was happy to be recorded, again I should consider that this also may not always be the case. Here points out how the benefits of face to face interaction (noticing body language) can help stimulate more respectful relations with the 'researched', and ultimated producing the most reliable data.

- Having read about it before hand, (Campbell et al, 2004) I found the use of para - linguistic utterances encouraged the respondent to keep talking freely, almost as a way of the interview showing their support.

- I found the more open questions most helpful to finding the data required, using discussion in this way helped me to develop a more in depth understanding of their insight in Dance.


On reflection of the whole task, I feel interviewing will be a helpful tool in developing my enquiry to find varied but reliable data. Although I am glad to experiment with a phone interview, its limitations as an effective tool have confirmed I will not use this method during my enquiry. I feel face to face interaction most effectivly enabled me to develop understanding of the respondents thoughts, feeling and opinions in their world of Dance.

Has anyone else piloted an interview yet? Please share any thoughts!


References:

(Practitioner Research and Professional Development in Education), Campbell, McNamara and Gilroy, 2004

Ethical Implications - researching 'young people'

Wondering if anyone else is intending to under go research with contribution from young people. I have bee looking for official documentation on specific guidelines on how to ethically do this,

It seems once over 18, one is classed as being able to make there own decisions, yet being under 16 (minors) parental consent must be sough before a research can undergo any part of an enquiry.

•

Older young people (18+) are able to give their own consent without their parents’ agreement. <sup>6 The Protection of Children Act 1999: ‘A Practical Guide to the Act for All Organisations Working With Children’ Department of Health 24
I have found these websites below useful when considering the ethical implications of involving young people in research, they also highlight the benefits to gaining insight from younger people, it's really interesting!

I am wanting to explore further in the possible 'power issues' involved when researching into the opinions of younger dance students, the approaches mentioned in these texts address what the potential issues could be, but also as the researcher how they can be avoided.

Has anyone had any thoughts on this, or is anyone else having to consider the implications we need to consider?

http://www.invo.org.uk/pdfs/Involving_Young_People_in_Research_151104_FINAL.pdf

http://www.ciimu.org/webs/wellchi/reports/workshop_1/w1_morrow.pdf</sup>

Task 6a - Critical Reflection on piloting a Focus Group

I conducted my first Focus Group this week as a pilot to analysis the relative merits and limits regarding how this tool may address my question, has anyone else found conducting the pilots had exposed significant merits and/or limits?

Blogging my reflections on my first pilot focus group, critically assessing my own personal performance in how I approached this tool of enquiry has been eye opening. Discovering through this trial process the specific characteristics of the proposed tools is helping to formulate a plan as to how best to plan my enquiry research, hope others may find parts of this blog useful, let me know what you think!

(Evaluation of the pilot Focus Group are in note form below)

My Question:

What does Dance mean (to the users of Ludus Dance)?

My inquiry is looking into what Dance means to everyone as individuals, implications of my question are only really understood and comprehended through appropriate application of the suggested tools.

  Key factor for me is the foundation for a topic such as mine is in the researcher respecting the ideas that dance means something different to everyone. Ideally, I want to get people to feel at ease and ‘open – up’ to discuss their personal feelings towards dance.

In all aspects of my enquiry, I must ensure participants feel they are entitled to openly share their opinions, and that these opinions will not be judged, aiming to gather the widest variety of data.

In terms of understanding my question, although I have personal passion for sharing the joy of Dance, care must be taken to not force my ideas onto participants. This may suppress creativity and have negative effects on my research.

To sum up, engagement in dance is an inter personal experience, and everyone has the right to ownership of their own experiences, I am ultimately wanting to share their experience and not force mine upon them if I wish to succeed in a successful, ethical and unbiased enquiry.

Focus Group

Why I chose this tool:

- Each member of the group can bring very different dynamics in their interaction, there is huge potential of a range of opinions to be voiced, effective way of developing my line of enquiry.

-Being a dance teacher, having a tool which could be piloted in the work situation was convenient, considered my position of being a familiar face a bonus to encouraging freedom of expression and speech from participants.

-It was the only research tool I have never practised or experienced myself; not knowing what direction it could take to develop my enquiry persuaded me to try this method first.

Preparation

-          Under the knowledge that focus groups are useful to explore interactions between groups of people with similar characteristics and experiences. So, piloting this tool with a group of three students from the school in which I teach seemed appropriate. They are similar ages, all girls, attend similar classes and have similar dance style interests.

-          Considered that my preparation would be key – wanted to develop a supportive atmosphere in order to collect group responses and encourage interaction with opinions of personal connections to engagement in Dance.

-          Consideration of an appropriate setting to ensure creating a calm, relaxed environment with equal power relationships between all involved. Decision to use a familiar studio space just after a class, being on ‘home’ ground I hoped would ease feeling comfortable and open.

-          Format or some structured questions to follow were thought about before hand, although being a wear that in the situation other topics may be addressed, so being able to adapt and go with the ‘flow’ would be important. Up to me as the facilitator to effectively channel the discussion to gather most useful data.

Reflections after the pilot, how will this enquiry tool address my question?:

-          Found being the moderator/facilitator quite testing, hopefully more pilots would enable me to work at always providing the right ‘trigger’ questions so discussion is channelled to discover valuable data.

-          Lucky to have three personalities that gelled and encouraged one another, in future focus group situations, having one personality stronger than another may dramatically affect the validity of data collected as less assertive members may experience difficulty in expressing their views. 

-          Initial approach of how the focus group will work and the direction it may take seemed key. To alleviate problems of people talking over one another, the decision to ask each member to introduce themselves individually set the correct tone – everyone’s opinion is as valid as everyone else’s.

-          Appropriate consideration to executing the group in familiar surroundings seemed to set a tone of feeling comfortable, being on ‘home’ ground created a sense of ease within the group. Willingness to contribute personal views was never a problem, possibly even the fact that we all sat together on the floor created a sense of equality and a feeling of being in a relaxed atmosphere where no judgements would be made or assumed.

-          Found the focus groups link very closely when considering developing a Questionnaire, asking the pre-planned structured questions lead to more developed questions coming from different angles being noted. E.g, I asked Why do you keep coming back to Dance lessons?  Listening to their answers and observing body language triggered me to ask for more in depth explanations. (It was felt by one dance  is ‘exercise without realising it, not like Netball at School’, discussion then flowed into why dance activity was different, and issues such as dance not being  as competitive as other sports offered were addressed. From this, I would consider developing a question on a survey or questionnaire around this.

-          Being the moderator, I found my own use of body language and choice of verbal language key. Use of encouraging motions, both verbal and non verbal stimulated participants to share their experiences more openly. Noting that on more than once occasion, re-prompting a participant with use of their words and phrases gave room for further explanation that I felt I wanted to clarify. For this tool to be used to its greatest effectiveness, as the facilitator, continued use of positivity for the opinions being voices and a sense of showing interest and respect for the individuals inter personal experiences is key.

-          Being a wear that there may be a tendency to want to share my experiences, application of when this may or may not be appropriate. On one hand, I experienced difficulty to always keep my reasons for participation in dance quiet, one must not have an expectancy that others share what you feel.  On the other hand, in one circumstance, sharing of one personal view set the ball rolling that total honesty is OK! (I explained honestly the primary reason I started to dance was reluctantly being dragged by my mother at a very young age – this appreciation that even me as the researcher, exposure to dance has been completely co incidental, enabled other members to speak more freely about why they began to Dance). Could be a tendency for them to say what they think they want the researcher to think, again affecting validity of the data collected.

How would I change my approach to improve the effectiveness?

-          Add more members – more members of a group would provide different dynamics. Perhaps ensuring to involve both genders for example could be beneficial at exposing more view and opinions of why people Dance. Increased interaction between the group may be tackled by having larger number participate.

-          Recording the process was extremely useful for future reference, it also meant I could maintain eye focus with participants and equal engagement between all members was therefore evident. However video recordings may have been more accurate when analysing the data, personal experiences and opinions are often expressed through body language, some of these crucial observations may have been missed.

-          Having a gate keeper – a figure such as the principle of the school may have been effective in setting a more formal and official tone in future. A parent was asked if they would be happy to take this role, however once in the situation decided to opt out so as not to distract from the groups focus, or make participants feel obliged to answer in a certain way.

-          More consideration into the order of questions asked would have been appropriate. Again, preparation and planning a structured sequence of questions that flow will allow for a smooth group discussion. Adaptability of the researcher is key, the qualities needed are not only to plan follow a framework which one can always refer back too, but having the ability to think on the spot to ask more in-depth questions that evolve during topical discussion.

Summery

Data collected was so diverse and varied, analysis of it will develop my understanding of my enquiry hugely. With an enquiry such as mine, which is fundamentality one based on personal opinions without a definite right or wrong answer needs in depth, varied data when considering how to make my results measurable. Focus groups are definitely a tool I envisage using in the future, by experimenting with piloting one my understanding of how this tools relate to my personal workplace and specific dance sector knowledge as an insider researcher.

Communicating with SIG's

Unfortunately we are all experiencing the loss of the BAPP Facebook page. Thanks to Rosemary’s post, we all now know Facebook have removed the Reviews and Discussion tabs temporarily.

So in high insight, we all have the discussions saved to refer to later, but if you’re like me I have to confess to not doing this. Although the topics we began to delve into have been removed , the one notable downside to web 2 technology, engaging with our wider professional community to take them further is still very positive. Hopefully, further discussion with colleagues, classmates and friends inside the profession community and workplace will keep sculpting my question.  It’s time to encourage even more discussion through perhaps face to face discussion, email, or even starting a new facebook group.  In terms of showing engagement with the previous discussions that have now been deleted,  rather than trying to recollect every single thing that what was spoken about,  but instead drawing upon new knowledge learnt from bits of the discussions that have clearly focussed my learning on new ideas have challenged my way of thinking/doing/behaving in practise.

Initially I began a discussion on a topic that was ‘hot’ with many others on this programme; the general feeling was that Dance definitely does have a role in Education. Discussions explored what the role is, how it differs in the differing levels of education, even how it varies country to country.  Many highlighted evidence focusing on how to show that Dance is a beneficial activity and should be part of a child’s education, but was came to light was how much society’s opinions differ on the importance of it to be included, if at all.

In terms of where I am in my practise, and looking where I want to take my career in terms of how I can help myself to develop as a teacher who is passionate about promoting dance in all communities and generally making dance available and accessible to all, relating opinions on a youtube clip suggested by a fellow BAPP collegue has pointed out where a niche in this market may potentially lie. Being keen to promote ‘taster dance sessions’, because one cannot involve themselves if they are un a wear where this Dance Activity takes place, so a logical idea suggested in my workplace was to promote and offer workshops at various local schools over a school lunch time. Participants get involved with the free class, and hopefully spark some future engagement with Dance. Approaching the schools themselves however has been a delicate issue. It seems some take the view that society seems to have created a ‘structure’ of intelligence’, one that has core subjects such as Math and Languages at the top, and practical subjects such as Dance and Photography at the bottom. This underlying hierarchy in the educational system has meant that Dance is less valued , stigmatized as less important. This particular YouTube clip brought about the concept of Creativity itself, in that it is ‘the process of having original ideas that have value’- views on the SIG have confirmed my predictions that Dance, or expressive physical movement can be a perfect way to provide a means of facilitating for the creativity to develop.  Having the knowledge that what were previously just assumptions are shared with other in the professional community is encouraging and aid maintaining objectivity when undergoing any enquiries or projects. 

Undergoing my regular teaching practise encouraged me to initiate discussion via the SIG’s  on dance teachers accumulate skills in practise that cross many educational subject boundaries.  Solid technique and all round dance ability seem obvious, but the application of drawing upon ‘Maths’ to calculate our finances, interpreting ideas on ‘Business’ is considered in successful marketing and promoting of the school as a financial business and ‘Biology’ knowledge is required in terms of applying how the human body works, and how to advise students on injury prevention and cure. Relating specifically to the community based dance work I have got involved with at Ludus, regularly drawing upon my experience of the most morally and ethically sensitive ways of approaching different culture and religions, and how dance is considered to the individual has been key to developing into a professional.

Here is a link should anyone else think they might find it inspirational:

http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/en/ken_robinson_says_schools_kill_creativity.html

Homing in on my question further, how the role of dance had changed in society had changed from the past to the present has given exposure to colleagues opinion of whether engagement in dance in today’s society is specific. Although not directly focussing on how the concept of dance differs in varying countries, contribution to the discussion from others had provided me with a new ideas and thoughts to appreciating that everyone’s view on the sociological role of engagement with some form of dance differs.  The skilled professional can then apply this appreciation to create and develop successful practise.

Mina added a thought provoking diagram regarding attitudes to how the role of dance may have changed over the years (shown below). Again, in terms of relating these ideas to my personal work situation, we already share appreciation for the primary purpose of dance is its fun factor. Pleasure it can make one experience, despite the culture, religion, environment or age of the dancer is an opinion collaboratively shared, again giving focus as to how to improve my practise. Whatever factors make up the dance participant, it seems everyone in their own way thrives off the sense of ownership that dance and dance making provides. Dance provides a means of self expression and therefore self – control of one’s body, understanding this and then being able to portray this idea provides many ways in which my professional practise can diversify. Communicating a two sided shared idea that through learning dance, on the one hand we learn to take control of how our body moves, and in effect metaphorically feeling like we are taking control of our lives. On the other hand however, dance can provide an expressive vehicle for ‘letting go’ and experiencing intensive emotive feeling for the duration of that class. Highlighting Dance in terms of escapism is something I had not previously considered before sharing thoughts via an SIG on a community based project I worked on with ‘troubled youths’.

Hope this has helped to jog memeories a little!

Interested in continuing SIG Discussion?

Thanks to a post from Rosemary, we all now know that Facebook has removed the discussion and reviews tabs on the BAPP Facebook page.

If like me, you did not get round to saving any important or revlavent information from our dicussions, you might be frustrated too!

The BAPP Arts Programme have a philospohy to use 'Social Media for learning and communication', and we all know the purpose of an SIG is to engage ourself with a wider professional community networks to explore topis and questions further.

Is anyone else keen to continue discussion similar to what we had started?

From a personal stance, I am very interested in homing in on the sociological role of engagement in Dance, this seems to incorporate lots of topics others may be looking in to (Dance in Education/ the effect of culture on Dance/ how can we enourage involvment in dance and theatre etc), so I was wondering if anyone would be interested in setting up a Facebook page that this time we make sure we document for future reference. Also, please feel free to exchange thoughs via email. I have also noticed Nicole and Stephanie are potentially planning to blog what they can recollect about issues that were raised on the Facebook discussion boards, great idea there. I shall contribute what I can also!

Digging deeper....

Adesola had encouraged me to really consider the deeper meaning of my question before I run away with trying to solve the problem, meaning I need to actually ask more questions to try to perceive the context of my initial questions.

My initial question:

What is the sociological role of engagement in Dance?

But what do I mean by society? Who am I specifically talking about? Which groups in society interest me/will be of benefit to others?

What do I mean by engagement in dance? Is this inclusive to professionals and amateurs/non – dancers?

How can I incorporate my passion for the community based organization I am starting to work for (Ludus)? As far as I am wear the next module will involve a lot of work, so choosing a topic in which we are motivated to persevere through our inspiration is essential, no one wants to study something they don’t find interesting right?!

So for now, I am looking into

‘What does Dance mean to the users of Ludus Dance’

I have had a series of informal chats with the Creative Director of the company whilst shadowing her at one of the projects offered to the Ludus Youth Dance Company. Although I did not speak to the students themselves, observing how they engage with the Ludus concept, from entering the building to how the atmosphere is in the studio to how they approach and react to the tasks set, and noticing their attitudes and different approaches to what was being asked of them was very interesting.

The specific points of interest in our conversation were that as the creative director, she aims all Ludus opportunities at ‘Opening doors to inspire lifelong engagement in Dance’ – the Ludus Dance Mission statement. The word ‘lifelong’ makes me wonder if this means having dance available and accessible to all ages?

For this specific guest teacher workshop situation, the students are encouraged to work from the inside out, introduction to focusing on how a movement feels on the inside as opposed to how it looks. This community troupe specializes in the process of movement making to try to create positive feelings during dance engagement. Following this, a sense of self ownership is created through what they produce, this usually means very different things to each person and is all very individual – she felt this is potentially what stimulates and encourages so much focus (something I observed straight away was the level of focus and active interest from all students)

Our conversation progressed onto what her thoughts were what kept them going back to dance on a regular basis, (this particular 4 day workshop project was done in half term, so why weren’t these students off doing other things in their free time(??)) Various elements tied into her thoughts on this, one being that many of them had decided they wanted to make dance a career, students understood the importance of regular practice and that they make full use of every opportunity they get, ‘soaking up every opportunity before they undergo their professional training’. Location was a factor here, most students can’t afford to travel to London and back for lessons, so having a professional organization nearer their homes in the North of England is key to their development of regular engagement in dance activities. She highlighted that at Ludus, exploration of movement is always encouraged, and that the emphasis is on engagement in the creative process with a deeper sense, rather than being so black and white and either right or wrong. Ludus is an organization that has found a way to encourage relationships with very individual personalities from varying backgrounds, cultures and religions. Finding a medium where they have exposure to collaborating and sharing thoughts and ideas to create something diverse and beautiful is so unique. Lastly, this is not always the case at Ludus, but the Youth Company are actually a selection of students who have been chosen to join this troupe through an audition process – she thought that they were so keen to keep coming back during their holidays from school and work because they felt a sense of prestige and belonging.

 

Thinking Aloud...

Isn't it funny when ideas can hit you at the strangest of times.....having just come home from a pretty average evening teaching, admiring the sheer passion of the principle of the school which without fail she interprets across to her pupils week on week,  I was browsing the BAPP homepage and reading the latest blogs. I have come across one from Stephanie Thomas, she is a wear I am particularly interested in looking at the role of Dance in society and has encouraged me look at an article about a company 'Freedom Theatre'. Again, what the article is representing is more evidence as to how the Arts still remain strong in their role in society, even through heartache and times of despair.

Linking to this, as it stands my initial enquiry question is:

Whatt is the sociological role on engagement in dance?

Wanting desperately to narrow this down further, coupled with my determination and passion to promote community dance groups and the ways of making dance available and accessible to all, I have realised one of the huge factor that affects my practise is my location. Living in the Lake District in the North, as beautiful as it is, why do I always find myself trekking off to London for audition after audition. London has a marked location named the 'Theatre District', seemly accepted by society that that is the place in which artistic performance takes place, and performers and spectators alike gather to enjoy the pleasure it brings. This got me thinking why is there a lack of dance opportunity elsewhere in England, surely it can't be down to the fact that London is our capital city and obviously more densely populated? Pretty sure it isn't down to lack of enthusiasm/knowledge/standard of teaching here either.

Perhaps my enquiry could revolve about looking at how Dance's role in society differs depending on location? I already understand specific cultures can influence the role dance may play in a certain country, but cultures from one end of England to the other do not vary that greatly, so why is there less opportunity in the north? I know Sonal experiences this too living in Manchester, and Mina is interested in how the meaning of dance may be determined from the attitudes of a countries society. This way I would hope to incorporate researching my interests in encouraging organisations and affiliations such as the one I am currently freelancing for (Ludus Dance in Lancaster) to promote ways to highlight the benefits of Dance to society.

Does anyone have any thoughts, is this a progression to specifying my enquiry? Would others find this useful, perhaps Northerners such as Sonal and myself would, but how about those people who live in or around London? Although I am a wear there is much literature on the subject of the social role of engagement in performing arts, would I be able to find readings on the subject of this engagement with dance and how it may be affected according to ones location?!

What have I learnt about Professional Ethics? Task 5c

Consulting the reader on Professional Ethics has helped me to fit what I have learned from the previous two tasks into the theoretical ethical framework. Whilst looking into how ethics have evolved from differing theoretical perspectives I am able to begin constructing a framework for myself in which I can evaluate issues in my profession. Considering specifically the notion of Consequentialism, which has roots in utilitarianism and the writings of Jeremy Bentham and JS Mill rarely plays a role on my day to day practise. When looking at the specific codes of practise and regulations as to how my professional community practise work, I witness ideas from faculty members transform into actions taken with the hope that the act ‘maximises the good’ of the whole school, however the outcomes of what the act will try to achieve will always be considered first. This theory here states that, in effect, the act can only be classed as officially ‘morally right’ dependant on its consequences, but I am finding that how a teacher goes about their daily practise by acting and behaving in a way that will determine desired outcomes, with consequences already considered as opposed to waiting to see what they are.

Furthering this, Deontology can sometimes play a part here too. Kant argued that ‘the only absolutely good thing is a good will’, as a teacher my actions are always determined based on my motives behind them. So, if for example I decide to split a large class of mine into two separate lessons due to too stretched ages and abilities, my motive to push me to make this action is to enable each child to feel they are in a class of more similar ability and have more dedicated attention from me as the teacher. In this way I would hope to achieve more professional practice as each child will be able to be stretched appropriately according to their own individual needs. It is my ‘action based on duty’ here which is relative to the deontology approach to ethics.

Thirdly, thinking about ones character as a professional, and therefore how their actions reveal their characteristic traits rather than the rules on action and consequences links what I am learning to the approach of Virtue ethics. Reading into the philosophies of Plato and Aristotle, it seems they put emphasis on ‘being’ rather than ‘doing’. What I am experiencing is how teacher’s characters differ determines extremely diverse teaching techniques, and inevitably the atmosphere of each class couldn’t be more different. For a student, gaining experience of many different approaches to how their teacher provides them with knowledge and skills will arm them sufficiently to cope when progressing out into the Dance world outside of their local school environment. So in this sense, the approach of being virtually ethical seems very important.

What is key to my learning here is to consider the difference between all three of these approaches. It seems the three viewpoints explained here consider that the degree of morality in each event that may occur in a professional environment situation lies in the way dilemmas are approached beforehand, rather than in how the moral conclusions are reached.

                My profession is compiled of others like me who have occupations with shared characteristics in dance. However, depending on how much my occupation actually manifests these characteristics declares the profession or not. For example, when considering that ‘professionals’ must have three features to class themselves in this category, I know I fit into this framework as I have extensive dance training from reputable schools, and that this training has required me to develop a significant intellectual component to my personality (certain grade and exam levels and result requirements). Knowledge gained has then contributed to the organised functioning of society through teaching students of varying ages, developing their dance education and awareness of physical movement as a means of learning. The importance of fitting in with different theoretical ethical frameworks has meant focussing on maintaining my professionalism through keeping regular checks on my public liability and CRB checks (my licence to practise), how the schools I teach in run and their organisation of its members. Finally learning that by maintaining the autonomy of the work through working and networking with fellow qualified teachers who have much experience enables me to fit in the ‘professional’ banner whilst working in a way that adheres to correct ethical standards.

Looking at professional types from the reader, my qualifications and experience that make me qualify for both a dancer and a dance teacher put me under the ‘professional practitioner’ heading where my income in usually commissioned or contracted.

Referring again to my own specific dance practise, I have been considering which attributes of the differing ‘Arenas of professional practise’ (Reader 5) best sum up my role. For me, my code of practise encourages me to teach every student the same steps from the syllabus required for each exam. Ensuring I offer an equal approach to teaching is key, even though the abilities of the students may differ dramatically. A problem that may arise here is when it comes to exam term time, my judgement as a teacher may tell me a student is not ready to take the exam (lack of knowledge of steps, lack of strength etc). The idea around personal ethics here highlights that I would consider pulling the student out of the exam to prevent a failed result. I have a certain level of employer expectation to consider, everyone student has had the same amount of time to learn and contextualise the knowledge I have given then should perhaps take it at the same time as everyone else to ensure a degree of fairness. When applying ethics to a situation like this, the descriptive ethical issue here is that the case is each child has come to lessons, learn what they can and now need to proceed onto the examination to progress to the next level. However, examining the norms of my principles when trying to make moral choices highlights normative ethical issues here, as a teacher my concern is that they are not ready, and may fail. Again, personal ethics makes me think the purpose of exams is to learn the work and become solid on it, to take and pass the exam and have a solid foundation to then build upon to take the student to the next level, and so on. One exam progresses in terms of demands and difficulty levels, (single turns turn to double turns, double turns eventually to triple turns etc). Regardless of the result, if the student is not strong enough for one level, the object of stepping up to the next level on a solid foundation is defeated. Although I know this is a very importance principle, being the type of person I am, I also think about the consequences of pulling the student out. They may feel very defeated and possibly offended, almost like it is a personal attack, or that they haven’t been working hard enough. As a teacher, this goes against my own principles of encouraging all abilities. Also, the students parents may respond negatively, they may not want to trust my judgement for future work with the school for example which would obviously have consequence for my professional community. Exams are expensive, the question then lies do I let the parents pay for their child to take the exam, but in the event of them failing all money is totally lost?!

Reading into personal ethics really brings so many questions and points of views to consider, and very rarely can us as practitioners know exactly what is right in a situation and what is wrong. Realising the importance of ethics, and how they appear is so many aspects of our lives without necessarily realising

 It is really improving me as a professional. Ethics can’t be avoided; it pervades all parts of our lives, personal as well as professional, public and private too. Whatever profession you work in, their ethical guidelines and codes of practise aim to deliver ‘good’ in any way that they can in society. The more the profession develops and becomes established, it seems they create their own set of rules and norms for their employees to follow and promote. The decisions and actions we take due to our moral judgements primarily boils down to our own personal interpretation of approaches to professional ethics.

Balance Of Power

Balance of Power…..

Whilst reading through the professional Ethics researcher, I have begun to think about what potential ethical issues I may hit undergoing an enquiry that will most probably involve questioning both dancers in my professional community, as well as members of the public who have never danced in my local community.

 I am looking particularly at a passage entitled the ‘Power of the Researcher’. Introducing ourselves as researchers, we run the risk of influencing the attitudes of the inquiry. Has anyone begun to think about ways in which they ensure they maintain an objective approach, and keep the enquiry research un bias? I am thinking about wanting to create a verbal communication situation potentially, so I would need to consider ways in which to record what is said and how to capture that ‘rawness’ of emotion caught then and there in the moment. I may also wish to compose a questionnaire, so careful considerations will need to go into developing questions that have meaning and intend, are not closed, or questions in which I already know the answer too. Would anyone have any pointers as to guidelines to follow when considering questioning the public about the role of Dance in Society? Has anyone undergone such, or similar practical research before?  Perhaps the next section of the module ‘Professional tools of enquiry’ will enhance my knowledge here….

Nicole mentioned on a post of mine about how sometimes we can ‘be blinded by our passion’, which I think is very true. So to step outside of our role as an enthusiast for dance, or acting, or photography for example, to encourage a fair and balanced enquiry will be potentially very difficult. In terms of my personal enquiry, and my interest in the role of dance in society, focusing on what the role of engagement of dance has on my local community is crucial. Developing further on this idea, I am releasing that I need to ensure I collect and collaborate opinions from fellow professional performers, like many of you on the Bapp program, but actually consider the voices of amateurs and semi – pro’s who may merely be stimulated by moving to music or are enthused by the social aspect that dance classes can provide for example. I am considering ways in which I can introduce myself efficiently and professionally in order to gain co-operation and a sense of trust with my participants, letting them know who I am, what my intents are, and what I will do with any findings I may discover are worth sharing for the greater good of the dance and dance teaching community. However, at the same time, conducting myself in such a way that I represent a sense of openness and willingness to listen and value all opinions, even if I do not share them.  Preparation for how I can maintain productivity during communication when potentially someone may say they have absolutely no interest in Dance whatsoever for example need to be considered. It may be that, as an individual practitioner passion about dance, my views on my moral decisions will undoubtedly differ from some participants, but to find the average thoughts among the local community in which I am involved in will mean having to record as many different opinions as possible. How we behave in an enquiry process sends out signals to those taking part – I need to think further into what is the best way to behave to remain neutral. I have found a quote (Editorial Research in Drama Education 10 (2)) useful to consider here:

‘Ethics throws a spotlight on the balance of power between the researcher and the researched’.

It is our judgment on this ‘balance of power’ that is so crucial to making such the outcomes of enquiry are not only ethical, but beneficial to others in similar professional communities.