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.)

Learning Diary Entry 3.

Like many others on the course I have come to the conclusion that my chosen topic to base my project on needs to fulfill career aspirations and answer the questions I have about my life as it stands now. This will help me achieve my future goals and resolve problems which are present in my employment.

When attending the last campus session the module criteria was explained in more detail to me developing my understanding of what was expected of me. The session was a thorough guide of research methods, how to apply them and under what circumstances they would best be used for.
I have never academically constructed a project proposal or had the necessity to investigate new ideas and information through research so have a very limited knowledge on research methods and theories.

I learnt that two compulsory sources to be used are those:

• Primary

and

• Secondary.

Primary Research.

This is research that is collected directly by myself from the targeted participants of my project. It is collected in the form of: surveys, interviews, focus groups, observations, questionnaires and other methods that involve me personally applying myself to collect information and data. This source is usually designed to help answer and solve a specific question or problem about experience and depends on being physically involved.

Secondary Research.

This type of research already exists in the form of: census data, features in journals, newspaper articles, databases, internal company documents, audio videos (e.g you tube, training videos) and other documents that may have been used by the public or former researchers.

Both Primary and Secondary information can be related to either:

• Quantitative

or

• Qualitative research.

Quantitative.

Is concerned with the collection and analysis of data in numeric form. Links statistics and involves: percentages, proportions, graphs, charts, numerical measurements and other results concerning quantities.

Qualitative.

This research gathers more insight from participants about detail including feelings and motivations. It strives to specify the quality of relationships between two or more things. Related terms that can be associated with this type of research are: emotions, attitudes, reactions and beliefs.

Other relevant terms covered in the Campus session were:

Exploratory Research.

This develops a focus and direction for conclusive research. It is often used to uncover problems and identify variables that need to be measured. It specifically helps formulate a hypothesis or an educated guess about the outcome of a test. It can provide detail to evaluate alternative courses of action. Mainly designed to test hypothesis and examine relationships.

Descriptive Research.

This discovers and describes the behaviour of elements within the research problem.

E.g- Student competence , satisfaction, likes and dislikes and improvement.

Can be remembered by the research that helps to answer the primary questions: who, what, when, where and how.

Other methods of research:

• Casual Research
• Validity and Reliability

I feel this session has extended my knowledge of methods and types of research that will be of importance when designing my project proposal and deciding what tools should be applied throughout my research. It has helped me discover that choosing the wrong source of research may develop insufficient results causing my final module to be unsuccessful.

Learning Diary Entry 2.

Like many others on the course I have come to the conclusion that my chosen topic to base my project on needs to fufill career aspirations and answer the questions I have about my life as it stands now. This will help me achieve my future goals and resolve problems which are present

After reading through the 3835 module handbook I believe that this will be the module I find most interesting, being able to develop my thoughts around an area I feel passionately about and research intensely.


Through holding many conversations with fellow students on my course I discovered that when brainstorming my ideas for my Project Propsal title I should consider:

• How much I already know about the chosen Topic.


• Am I working in or closely alongside the proposed area of interest. Will I be at the centre of this research?


• Has this Project Proposal been researched before and if so how often.


• Is there plenty of background literature and research resources available to support the project.


• Will the chosen topic help me achieve my future ambitions to become a successful drama teacher.


• Am I souly interested in this topic.

After disscussing and considering all of these factors I drew to the conclusion that I wanted to base my Project around other pupils/ students desire and motivation towards establishing a successful career in performing arts.

At 'Lemon Jellys', the stage school where I work I held a brief informal end of class discussion to try and discover whether my area of interest was also of interest to others. Through debates and many verbal opinions I drew to the conclusion that my selected field of research was well worth while.

When arriving home I decided to venture deeper into my idea of revealing the factors behind performer and teacher's inspiration for performing arts. I read and learnt a little on past discoveries from peer presure through parents to pure talent and amazing creativity, sparking societies varried and exciting performing carreres.I reached the conclusion that although my idea had been researched and reported in many styles there was room for more constructive analysis.