Audio research towards project proposal.

This is demonstrating some of the secondary research that already exists which perhaps motivates people to strive for a performing arts career.
This source of information displays how appealing a career in performing arts can appear in the public eye.This audio research will be useful when executing my research for my project title:

'What motivates a person to strive for a career in dance and drama?'.

Secondary Research- Newspaper article from THE INDEPENDENT.

FROM CAREERS ADVISER: AN INDEPENDENT PUBLISHING MAGAZINE

Performing Arts: No business like show business

Passion, stamina, and intellectual rigour are vital in the performing arts, says Virginia Matthews


Monday, 4 December 2006


There are few career options nowadays open to school leavers who don't feel moved to complete a college course or go to university, but performing arts is perhaps one sector where enthusiasm, attitude and sheer talent are still more important than academic achievement.

Whether a love of the limelight was triggered by a school theatre club or an amateur dramatics troupe, it is still possible to don the greasepaint and become a performer on stage, screen, TV - or, of course, cruise ships - without first having studied for a trio of A-levels.

As befits this most individual of career choices, the options of training provider range from top drama schools, such as RADA, to universities and privately-run theatre schools.

Janet Devenish is deputy principal at the Bedford-based Stella Mann Dance and Drama school. She believes that "determination, physical stamina and passion" are the three key requirements for any would-be performer.

While the 100 or so students at this privately-run FE college emerge, after three years full-time study, with a national diploma in professional musical theatre or musical dance - equivalent to a Level 6 NQS or vocational degree - Devenish stresses that would-be performers need to perform, not be hunched over books:

"When we ask our students to research West Side Story, we may well ask them to look at the career of Leonard Bernstein, but at least 80 per cent of the course will be practical.

"Our students come from ballroom, ballet or disco, or combine singing with dancing, but we are always looking for raw talent."

Although show business careers are open to people of all ages and backgrounds, those who combine the ability to entertain with intellectual rigour are likely to last longer, according to Anne Prince, editor of the influential UK Guide to Performing Arts:

"For those who want to make a name by appearing in a show like Big Brother, it's safe to say that qualifications don't really matter - this sort of celebrity status is fairly easy come, easy go and it doesn't tend to last very long.

"But if you want to turn a love of dancing into a career as a choreographer later on, or would like to progress from acting to running your own theatre company some day, then a good qualification is worth its weight in gold."

Most reputable drama schools have relationships with talent agencies who have the contacts to kick-start a career in performing arts. While it is still possible, as a novice, to attend an open audition for a West End show and secure a contract on the back of it, actors or singers with the backing of an established school or agent find the process far easier.

The very many and diverse role in performing arts - acting, dance, music or musical theatre - tend to fall into two categories; either behind or in front of the camera.

While the front-of-house roles as actor, singer, dancer or comedian remain the most difficult to break into - How Do you Solve A Problem Like Maria? gave a glimpse of how many people want to pursue a career in musical theatre - it is the behind-the-scenes, technical roles that offer far more scope.

From arts administrator, stage set or props designer to lighting technician, director, sound engineer, makeup artist, stunt artist or wardrobe assistant, the opportunities to entertain others, while not actually being seen, are far greater away from the spotlight.

Full BA courses in theatre studies or performing arts are available at some of the best-known universities in the country, but there are also a wide range of HND and foundation degree qualifications in this area.

Professor Steve Dixon, head of the school of arts at Brunel University believes that the skills learned on a university music or drama course are "highly transferable."

"Would-be performers have excellent team working and communication skills," he says. "For those students who don't make it in acting, PR, media and even banking and finance have all proved to be very enthusiastic recruiters."

Choosing the best college or university course may, says Prince, be a matter of identifying a top performer and working back:

"If there's an actor or singer you particularly admire, it's worth researching his or her background and finding out where they trained. Performers already known to the public are the very best advertisement for the drama school or university they attended."

Case Study

Rachelle Glover, 22, graduated from Stella Mann last July with a diploma in musical theatre. She is a singer with an all-girl pop band - Fallen Angelz - and hopes to sign her first record deal within six months.

" I've been dancing since I was two and have always loved ballet, tap and disco. As a child, I danced regularly in big theatre shows, but it's always been my dream to dance in the West End.

I did my qualification because I want to be able to teach in the future; it also taught me a lot about the entertainment business. My parents paid for the course because they believe in me and they know how much I care about my career.

We formed Fallen Angelz last November and since then we've been at lots of different gigs, singing with people like Simon Wells and Chico. We've met loads of producers, songwriters and agents and we're already getting ourselves known to the public.

I really want to sing and make pop videos and I think drive is almost as important as talent in this business.

I really admire Michael Jackson for his dancing skills and the Spice Girls for their guts and determination, but Fallen Angelz has a very unique sound.

When we sign our first record deal and I get on TOTP, I'll know I'm on my way. "



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http://www.independent.co.uk/student/magazines/performing-arts-no-business-like-show-business-427081.html

Recording research data.

Recording the Data


The approach we take to data collection involves systematically gathering information and recording it in such a way that it can be preserved and analyzed by a single researcher or a team of researchers. For qualitative data collection, forms for recording the information need to be developed. If interview data are collected, then an interview protocol is needed that not only lists the questions and provides space in which to record answers but also has a place for essential data about the time, day, and place of the interview. In many cases, the researcher audiotapes the qualitative interviews and later transcribes the interviews. Having an interview protocol helps keep the researcher organized, and it provides a record of information in the event that the recording devices do not work. An observational protocol also provides a useful way of organizing an observation. On this form, the researcher records a description of events and processes observed, as well as reflective notes about emerging codes, themes, and concerns that arise during the observation. Recording forms can also be developed for reviewing documents
and for recording image data, such as photographs.

In quantitative research, the investigator selects an instrument to use or develops an instrument. This instrument may be an attitudinal scale, with scores of past use showing high reliability and validity. It might be a reliable and valid checklist based on past scores. For documents with numeric data, the researcher often composes a form that summarizes the data. In choosing an instrument or a checklist, the researcher is concerned about the validity and reliability of past scores, whether the questions fit the research questions and hypotheses in the study, and whether adequate scales are used to report the information.

Rational for Award Title.

The award title I wish to graduate with is a BA Hons in Professional Practice (Performing Arts).

This award title was approached after considering a number of factors that would make this title beneficial for my future career.

The first of many elements I considered was my prior training at Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts where I achieved a Trinity National Diploma in Musical Theatre. When taking in to consideration my Diploma title and my BA title I realise that my passion and career development exists strictly in the fields of dance and drama. Therefore my personal development has made me realise that my previous qualification in Musical Theatre is no longer as relevant to my future career and aspirations as singing is not an element I wish to continue with.

After graduating from Italia Conti I have worked in the performing industry from acting in theatre to dancing for Disney. During my past employment I have always assisted fellow employees with my education in dance, drama and patience. My experiences have led me to conclude that I have a talent to teach and gain great satisfaction from others learning and improving. In January 2010 I started teaching as a dance and drama teacher at a Performing Arts Academy called Lemon Jelly Arts and this confirmed my determination and decision to teach was the right one.

Since the commencement of my Work Based Learning Course I have developed a deeper understanding of what my strengths are in teaching and established that drama is a main area I wish to focus my teaching skills towards. I ultimately wish to apply my teaching ability at a well recognised and highly respected stage school so I can work with students who have ambitions to uptake a career in acting or drama of some respect. I hope that my BA Hons Professional Practice degree will put me in good stead for my career, creating a foundation and entrance into my desired place of work.

Throughout the course I have adopted new ideologies and methods towards my execution of teaching in my job at a performing school. Each module allows me to broaden my knowledge of lesson content, discipline and other crucial teaching areas through exercises I have undertaken throughout the course.

I also have a passion to direct films, theatre and television. With my selected award title this may engage me with directing opportunities, opening new doors of employment with my accreditation and varied experience.

Another major impact on my award title was my finalised project proposal. The project will be investigating the influences and factors that encourage a person to adopt a career in dance and drama. This subject was chosen to gain insight on the initial and continuous attraction towards the industry and to understand what is required of an individual to sustain a career in dance and drama. My work at Lemon Jelly Arts will compliment this project and work by executing my research methods throughout my teaching practice. This project will educate me to understand an aspiring students needs and what they require to achieve throughout their training. It will also help me discover what motivates people in the industry and how to extract their complete potential.

I believe the term Performing Arts justifies my intentions towards my future career and is suitable to adopt the correct employment for successful progression.

Sampling Research.

Sampling Procedures

To address a research question or hypothesis, the researcher decides which people and research sites can best provide information, puts a sampling procedure in place, and determines the number of individuals that will be needed to provide data.
In qualitative research, the inquirer purposefully selects individuals and sites that can provide the necessary information. Purposeful sampling means that researchers intentionally select participants who have experience with the central phenomenon or the key concept being explored. A number of purposeful sampling strategies are available, each with a different purpose.
One of the more popular is maximal variation sampling, in which individuals are chosen who hold different perspectives on the central phenomenon. The criteria for maximizing differences depends on the study, but it might be race, gender, level of schooling, or any number of factors that would differentiate participants. The central idea is that if participants are purposefully
chosen to be different in the first place, then their views will reflect this difference and provide a good qualitative study. Another approach is to use extreme case sampling of individuals who provide unusual, troublesome, or enlightened cases. In contrast, a researcher might use homogeneous sampling of individuals who have membership in a subgroup with distinctive
characteristics. In terms of numbers, rather than selecting a large number of people or sites, the qualitative researcher identifies a small number that will provide in-depth information about each person or site. The larger the number of people, the less the amount of detail typically emerging from any one individual— and a key idea of qualitative research is to provide detailed views of individuals and the specific contexts in which they hold these views. Many qualitative researchers do not like to constrain research by giving definitive sizes of samples, but the numbers may range from one or two people, as in a narrative study, to 50 or 60 in a grounded theory project.
Typically, when cases are reported, a small number is used, such as 4 to 10. The number relates to the question or to the type of qualitative approach used, such as narrative, phenomenology, grounded theory, ethnography, or case study research (Creswell, 1998).
In quantitative research, the intent of sampling individuals is to choose individuals that are representative of a population so that the results can be generalized to a population. In this way, investigators first select their population and define it carefully. Then they choose a sample from this population.
Although not always workable, random choice of individuals for the sample is attempted so that each person in the population has an equal chance of being selected. Probabilistic sampling involves randomly choosing individuals based on a systematic procedure, such as the use of a random numbers table. In addition, the investigator may want certain characteristics represented in the sample that may be out of proportion in the larger population. For example,
more females than males may be in the population, and a random sampling procedure would, logically, oversample females. In this situation, the researcher first stratifies the population (e.g., females and males) and then randomly samples within each stratum. In this way, a proportional number of participants on the stratification characteristic will be represented in the final
sample chosen for data collection.
The sample size needed for a rigorous study is more specified in quantitative research. The sample needs to be large enough for statistical procedures to be used that will make it possible for the researcher to draw inferences with some confidence that the sample reflects the characteristics of the entire population (if that entire population could be studied). We want to reduce the sampling error: the difference between the sample estimate and the true population score. To determine the adequate sample size, researchers turn to sample size formulas available in research methods textbooks.
If the quantitative research design is an experiment, investigators turn to power analysis formulas (e.g., Lipsey, 1990); if the study is a survey, sampling error formulas can help identify the appropriate size for the sample.

Learning Diary Entry 5.

Ethics Involved.


I was unable to make the campus session based on Ethics. This worried me slightly because this is an area I feel I have limited information to and lack knowledge therefore the blogging net work and course adviser help was vital to me.
After reading much information on ethics to understand and apply ethical issues to my research project I discovered:

voluntary participation-

This requires that people not be coerced into participating in research. This is especially relevant where researchers had previously relied on 'captive audiences' for their subjects

informed consent-

Essentially, this means that prospective research participants must be fully informed about the procedures and risks involved in research and must give their consent to participate. This is closely linked to and crucial to the matter of voluntary participation.


risk of harm-

This can be defined as both physical and psychological. There are two standards that are applied in order to help protect the privacy of research participants: Confidentiality and anonymity.


Confidentiality and anonymity-


The first, Confidentiality documents are assured that identifying information will not be made available to anyone who is not directly involved in the study. The stricter standard of anonymity means that the participant will remain anonymous throughout the study -- even to the researchers themselves. Clearly, the anonymity standard is a stronger guarantee of privacy, but it is sometimes difficult to accomplish, especially in situations where participants have to be measured at multiple time points (e.g., a pre-post study).

right to service-

Good research practice often requires the use of a no-treatment control group -- a group of participants who do not get the treatment or program that is being studied. But when that treatment or program may have beneficial effects, persons assigned to the no-treatment control may feel their rights to equal access to services are being curtailed.
I now feel I grasp a better understanding on the situation and will be considering and putting in to practice many of the ethical issues covered to result a well researched and flaw proof piece of work.

Observation research.

Direct (Reactive) Observation

In direct observations, people know that you are watching them. The only danger is that they are reacting to you. As stated earlier, there is a concern that individuals will change their actions rather than showing you what they're really like. This is not necessarily bad, however. For example, the contrived behavior may reveal aspects of social desirability, how they feel about sharing their feelings in front of others, or privacy in a relationship. Even the most contrived behavior is difficult to maintain over time. A long term observational study will often catch a glimpse of the natural behavior. Other problems concern the generalizability of findings. The sample of individuals may not be representative of the population or the behaviors observed are not representative of the individual (you caught the person on a bad day). Again, long-term observational studies will often overcome the problem of external validity.

What about ethical problems?
Ethically, people see you, they know you are watching them (sounds spooky, I know) and they can ask you to stop.

Unobtrusive Observation.

Unobtrusive measures involves any method for studying behavior where individuals do NOT know they are being observed. Here, there is not the concern that the observer may change the subject's behavior. When conducting unobtrusive observations, issues of validity need to be considered. Numerous observations of a representative sample need to take place in order to generalize the findings. This is especially difficult when looking at a particular group. Many groups posses unique characteristics which make them interesting studies. Hence, often such findings are not strong in external validity. Also, replication is difficult when using non-conventional measures (non-conventional meaning unobtrusive observation). Observations of a very specific behaviors are difficult to replicate in studies especially if the researcher is a group participant. The main problem with unobtrusive measures, however, is ethical. Issues involving informed consent and invasion of privacy are paramount here. An institutional review board may frown upon your study if it is not really necessary for you not to inform your subjects.

Activity 2 - Being the Worker Researcher.

This activity was designed to help establish and understand the advantages and disadvantages of combining the roles of worker and researcher to produce accurate or inaccurate results.
I feel a significant source of influence that has not been addressed is having participants trust due to present relationships with them. This can be recognised as an advantage because the participant would share more personal information to research methods than to a stranger conducting the research. It would perhaps develop more depth to my answers and more precise results. However, this can also be considered as a disadvantage, knowing that the information may be biased as the participant may express answers influenced by their relationship with the researcher. This source of influence lacks reliability and may produce very different answers if the research were to be conducted for a second time.

Relating this to my Project question would be interesting as their background and exposure of true character is crucial for my research.

Working for a performing arts company, 'Lemon Jelly Arts', allows me to teach students ranging from 3 years of age to the more mature 18 year old. I believe applying my research to a variety of ages will award me with more accurate results developing valid Primary Research. My research will develop and reveal more project answers in comparison to participants of a more restricted age bracket. It enables me to investigate and consider a wider scope of opinion. It reveals more aspirations as to why dance and drama motivates society to adopt it in a career. This is another source of influence I found relevant.

Activity 7 - My designed research Instrument - Survey.

After completing activity 7 and using an existing document to critique I decided to put my thoughts and efforts towards designing my own.
I have designed a constructive survey that is most significant to establish information towards my Project Proposal. I would be most grateful if you would take a few minutes to complete my survey and any feed back you feel is relevant. Any feedback would be appreciated. Thank you.

Click here to take survey

Learning Diary Entry 4.

I now feel comfortable with my research knowledge and by reading and analysing others literature and theories I have discovered how to construct my research. I have also brainstormed what must be considered when deciding on my project proposal.
After spending much time brain storming Research questions I have decided on my Project Proposal Question:

• What motivates an individual to strive for a career in dance or drama.


I decided to research further in to the field that my project question would be based and perhaps discover techniques, instruments and general performing information that I may not have considered. Whilst doing so I came across a company called ResCen. This is abbreviated from the full term as the centre of research into creation in the performing arts.
From this site I learned some key research tools which I think may be useful towards my Project.
Knowledge generation
A key part of ResCen’s work is to generate and analyse knowledge through reflection on process, as well as one-to-one, group discussions and presentations by ResCen artists, invited guests and audience members.
A number of events have been presented in which artists discuss and examine particular processes that form and influence their work. These include:

• Nightwalking conference/symposium a three-day, artist-led event that included podium discussions, presentations, installations and performances in and around the South Bank Centre and Greenwich Dance Agency.

• an on-going series of public seminars and workshops in which the ResCen artists discuss particular issues and themes within their creative process including: intuition, the role of play, the artist as catalyst, motivation, making space. Guest speakers from other disciplines have contributed to many of these discussions.

In addition to our extensive public conference, seminar and workshop series, ResCen has begun to develop seminars for delegates from key performing arts institutions, research centres and organisations, as well as funders and policy makers, to discuss past, current and future policy issues that affect artists' practice.

Activity 1 - Glossary.

Control Group - In experimental research, a group that, for the sake of comparison, does not receive the treatment the experimenter is interested in.

Crossbreaks - Also called cross- tabulation and cross partitions. A way of arranging data about categorical variables in a matrix so that relations can be more clearly seen. This is not to be confused with a factorial table, in which two or more variables are related to a third.

Data Set- a collection of related data items, such as answers given by respondents to all questions on a survey.

External validity- the extent to which the findings of a study are relevant to subjects and settings beyond those in the study. Another term for generalizability.

Univariate Analysis- studying the distribution of cases of one variable only. For example, studying the ages of a particular group in society but not considering their gender, ethnicity, and so on.

Validity- a term to describe a measurement instrument or test that measures what it is supposed to measure; the extent to which a measure is free of systematic error. For example, a bathroom scale provides a reliable measure but cannot give a valid measure of height.

(These are just a selected number of words from my full glossary I have constructed since the start of the module.)