On piloting the 4 research tools that are presented in the
reader, I have gotten a good insight into he methods that may be most useful to
me. I am going to reviewing each method starting with the ones that I found to
be least useful for answering my enquiry questions.
Survey.
Surprisingly, I found that the survey approach of a
questionnaire one of the more difficult methods of research when completing my
pilots. I found that developing questions that were specific enough to add to a
questionnaire was difficult as I am really interested in more in-depth
opinions, changes in behaviour and reactions to situations created in classes
rather than something that can be measured by statistics.
The second problem that I encountered was that really the
best people to ask would have been the participants in the classes, but as I am
working with learning disability and often written communication is difficult
and questions need to be reworded or explained with the help of sign, widget
symbols and pictures this would have been difficult, and would have turned into
a interview situation anyway.
In asking the opinions of support staff as onlookers the
opinion sections were either not completed or vague. I have no real evidence
for this but I wonder if perhaps they felt unable to comment as they do not
have a deep enough knowledge of teaching or were not experiencing the class
themselves. I wanted to know about outward benefits seen in participants but I
think it is possible that these onlookers had never looked for anything other
than enjoyment and therefore had nothing to share, perhaps it is because they
see no benefit…. That is something for my enquiry to answer.
Then there were other more common problems with this method
for me. Out of the 15 surveys that I handed out to be completed I only received
7 back, this is an uptake of less than 50% and in addition the ones that were
returned were not fully completed.
I am interested in looking at behaviour, reactions and
interaction that occur as a result of different teaching styles, I think that
this is perhaps something that is more difficult to judge through a question
and answer system and can not simply be answered by statistics, even the
sliding scales of responses suggested by Black (1999) I feel would not give the
detail that I would want. I am looking for more qualitative, the how and the
why, and so think I need a broader approach.
Focus group.
The focus group created lots of evidence to analyse. There
were lots of opinions shared and a lot of discussion around the topics of
creative classes and creative therapies. However these opinions were all form a
certain group, the participants who are usually most vocal, and who are not
afraid of sharing their opinion. It was difficult to involve the quieter members
of the group and so it wasn’t really a representative sample of people. It was
not always possible to decide when analysing whether the majority agreed with a
particular point or not as not everyone was fully engaged.
The stronger personalities in the group responded to the
questions and ideas quickly and were then supported by equally strong
personalities, the quieter member of the group seemed intimidated by this and
would begin to present an idea and then back down if they were challenged. I
don’t think that this meant that their opinion was wrong or any less valid I
just think that they found the situation uncomfortable and were not able to get
their feelings across. I feel that this may undermine the validity of the data
collected.
Perhaps one to one interviews would have got a more
representative cross section of opinion as each person would have had the time
and space to think about their response and do so in a more relaxed
environment.
What I did find interesting about the focus group though was
that it was a good way to gauge the response to the relevance of my questions,
people became animated and engaged in talking about the role of the creative
classes and this made me feel that there is a support for the relevance of this
kind of activity and the benefits it can have.
As a staring point for research and in gaining some initial
responses to questions I think the focus group is a useful tool. My skills as
researcher I think would need to be improved in order to try and involve more
people to participate and to share opinions freely. However I don’t think it is
the strongest of the methods in answering my questions, again, I am interested
in seeing the benefits of different approaches and although opinion will of
course support this I want to look at interaction between people in classes,
body language and data that can not simply be ascertained by asking.
Interview.
I was able to pilot this method through a one to one
interview with the head dance tutor at a school that deals with challenging
students. This I found truly valuable.
I was able to ask my set questions, but the conversation
then evolved naturally into other things, I was able to further question
particular points of interest to gain more knowledge, and a greater
explanation, the interview allowed me the opportunity to do this as opposed to
say the survey questionnaire where there is a limited space for opinion.
I also came to realise that the set questions would allow me
a point of comparison between interviews. The further explanations would then allow
the experience and knowledge of the interviewee to come through, further
supporting the evidence.
Additionally in this interview the tutor was able to show me
lesson plans, progress reports to support what she was telling me; again this
allowed me further insight and understanding of what she was saying.
I was incredibly lucky with the person I chose to interview,
she was extremely forthcoming and allowed me considerable time which was very
valuable in gaining evidence, of course not all situations may be like this,
some people may not have the time to afford to the interview, and this will
limit what data I can record. Sound recording however is a benefit, as you can
say a considerable amount in a short space of time, compared to writing in a
questionnaire for example.
I think a chosen time frame would be an advantage, both
parties will then know what to expect and the interview can be conducted at a
convenient time. Also the set of original questions would be vital as it then
guarantees a certain amount of response and data to analyse.
The final reason that I found the interview to be such a
success was that it was held directly after my observation of her teaching day.
This was a fantastic advantage as she could link back to things that I had seen
in practice. The evidence gained in the interview was directly in support of
that which I had seen through completing the observation. She was able to
provide explanations of certain teaching methods and I didn’t have to just take
her word for it being true as I had seen examples of it myself.
This then allowed me to be more confident in the combined
data that I had collected.
Observation.
The most valuable tool of professional enquiry that I
piloted was the observation. I was able to watch several classes often with the
same pupils, and see the different approaches and subjects taught and the way
that this was received by the learners and the way in which the tutor maintained
control of the lesson. This included very structured classes with set tasks,
free classes where they created own work, and classes where they worked as a
team to create.
The observation framework I had already planned allowed me
to record the amount of students that were engaged throughout the process of
each class. This was useful to use as a comparison to my other observations.
For example, at the beginning of one class there were a number of disruptive
behaviours, and a number of students who were not engaged. This improved
throughout the class and at the end of the session all students were engaged
and disruptions had stopped. Through collecting this data and comparing it to
the notes I had taken I was able to see the reasons for the increased participation,
the methods that the teacher had used to bring about these changes in
behaviour.
I was also able to see the learning that was happening and
the benefits to these children simply by watching one class. The problem
solving that was going on, practicing of communication skills, tolerance and
understanding of the needs of each other, and the method of teaching an
encouragement that were being adopted by the teacher to support this learning. I
believe that in the future a set of several observations would allow me to
collect considerable data.
If I use the observation method I would definitely use the
observation grid again, I would however also leave some spaces to link the
changes in behaviour to actions taken by the class leader this would then make
things easier when it came to analysing. I would still however take additional
notes, as it is valuable to keep and open mind and look at an entire situation
rather than simply zone in on one aspect. I know that this will perhaps make my
life more difficult as there will more to look at and evaluate, but I think it
is important to get a true representation of what is going on. This method
allows the combination of the quantitative and qualitative which I would hope
would make for more reliable results.
Conclusion
The methods that worked best for answering my questions are
obvious; they are the observation and the interview. The observation allows me
to look at the human behaviour and responses that I am interested in. I can see
how student respond, look for their learning and skills being used and see any
outward benefits first hand. It allows me to create quantitative data and
qualitative data, how much and when a behaviour occurs and how and why. I think
this would make any finding more secure.
In support of the observation I would favour using
interviews, particularly of the class leaders after the classes. This then
gives the opportunities for them to share a background to their methods, the
results that they have seen (if they do) and for me to question and understand
anything that may be relevant and of interest. I think the combination of the
two gives a clear picture that will help me to answer the questions in my
enquiry.
Although I said that I wasn’t particularly in favour of the
survey questionnaire I would like to try it again. I would like to create
something that I can trial with the participants of the classes I want to use
for my enquiry. It will have challenges because of the written communication
barriers within learning disabilities and may end up becoming more like a
simple interview. But I would like to see the kind of responses I would get
from them about their experiences as of course that is the whole basis of my
enquiry idea. This is something that I will pilot separately and record my experiences
on the blogs later.
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