This month I started on the long road to discovery by tackling the first stage of my timeline for this project. I stated in my proposal that during March and April 2014 I would:
"Start an on-line public blog and research various data
collection methods and record on the blog. Develop data collection methods appropriate to the project and plan action for undertaking interviews etc."
This has been a long process that has really helped me to identify how I will undertake this research and although I have answered a lot of questions along the way, through research and reading, this, as ever, has created many more questions to be answered. In my next selection of blog posts I will explain the processes I have gone through to develop data collection methods for this project and I will share honestly the answers that I have discovered and the questions that have become apparent.
The first major hurdle to overcome was to know where to begin with working out how to collect the data, what data I wanted to collect and who from; it seemed rather overwhelming! I consulted some literature on the subject of designing research to get an overview of what I really needed to do. In some ways this added to the confusion and I felt that there was a lot of information to digest with many different ways of approaching data collection. I consulted these documents to begin with:
- Conducting In-Depth Interviews: A Guide for Designing and Conducting In-Depth Interviews for Evaluation Input by Carolyn Boyce, Palena Neale.
- Interviews: An Introduction to Qualitative Research Interviewing by Kvale Steiner.
- Principles of Qualitative Research: Designing a Qualitative Study. A presentation by John Crewswell, Ph.D and Vicki L. Plano Clark, M.S (University of Nebraska)
- Designing a Qualitative Study by Joseph A. Maxwell
- Qualitative Inquiry and Research Design by John W Creswell
Following on from what I read,I decided to sit down and ask myself some simple questions to try and stream-line the thoughts and findings I had gathered from my initial reading. I needed to start the whole processes by first planning my research and data collection methods:
"The process for conduction in-depth interviews, follows the same general process as is followed for other research: plan, develop instruments, collect data, analyse data, and disseminate findings." (Boyce and Neale.2006.p4)
So in this initial stage of planning I felt that it most important to ask myself the following questions regarding my project and the related data collection:
- WHO
- WHAT
- WHY
- WHEN
- WHERE
- HOW
I then divided these 6 simple questions in to sub-questions related to the project:
WHO…..
- Who are the subjects I will interview/observe?
WHAT…….
- What do I want to find out from the subjects?
- What data collection methods could I use?
- What data collection methods will I use?
- What will I need to ask in interviews to collect the right data?
- What do I need to ask of myself during and after activity observations to collect the right data?
- What do I need to do before I hold an interview?
- What will I do after I have collected the data?
- What do I need to conduct the interviews?
WHY…..
- Why will I collect data in the way I have decided?
- Why have I chosen to select certain people for interview/observe?
- Why have I not chosen some people to interview/observe?
- When will I do the interviews/observations?
- When will I write-up notes or interviews?
- When will I be able to assess the data?
WHERE……
- Where will the data collection happen?
- Where will I record my data?
- Where will I source UK subjects?
- How will I do the interviews/observations?
- How will I ensure the process is the same for all subjects?
- How will I record the data and how will I organize it for analysis?
- How will I phrase the questions?
Once I did this it was obvious that there was a lot to determine and that some questions needed to be answered before others, as they had an impact on the answers of the second question, for example, "Why will I collect data in the way I have decided?", can not be answered until I have tackled the question of "What data collection methods could I use?".
Who are the subjects I will interview/observe?
"Your research questions—what you specifically want to learn or understand
by doing your study—are at the heart of your research design. They are the one component that directly connects to all the other components of the design". (Maxwell. 2009. p228-229)
I began to answer this "Who" question by going back to my research question and asking myself who do I want to collect data from in order to answer the original question:
"Exploring and comparing the approaches to inclusive arts though an investigation in to the perceptions, experiences and practices of activity participants, facilitators and programme managers of Epic Arts Cambodia and congruous organisations in the UK."
So the answer seemed clear - activity participants, facilitators and programme managers at Epic Arts Cambodia and at arts organisations on the UK…….But how do I identify or categorise someone as one of these titles? I needed to first explain what I meant by the titles to ensure that in each country the subjects fit in to the appropriate category. I originally used these titles as these are the descriptions used for people within the Epic Arts organisation.
I looked at the Oxford English Dictionary for definitions of these words:
"Exploring and comparing the approaches to inclusive arts though an investigation in to the perceptions, experiences and practices of activity participants, facilitators and programme managers of Epic Arts Cambodia and congruous organisations in the UK."
I looked at the Oxford English Dictionary for definitions of these words:
- A Participant - "A person who takes part in something"
- A Facilitator - "Make (an action or process) easy or easier"
- A Programme Manger - "A person responsible for controlling or administering and organisation or group of staff"
I expanded on these definitions using the Epic Arts pay structure explanation of roles and developed set definitions for this researchFor the purpose of this research I will classify subjects as the following:
- A Participant - A person who takes part in an arts-based activity within the organisation being studied
- A Facilitator - A person who leads, teachers or guides a group of participants in activities within the organisation being studied
- A Programme Manger - A person who is responsible for administering a group of staff, or a programme, within the organisation being studied. A person who has overall responsibility for a programme or the organisation itself
I used the 2014 Staff Structure for Epic Arts Cambodia to identify who fit in to each category. For the simple issue of time, I realised quickly that it would not be possible to involve every participant, facilitator or programme manager at Epic Arts. This is where I discovered my first clash in questions - How would I chose the subjects, Why chose some and not others? (I will explain what conclusions I drew in a later blog post). After looking at the staff structure and answering these questions, I was finally able to draw up tables to outline who would be subjects for each of the three required areas in Cambodia:
1. Participants at Epic Arts:
2. Facilitators at Epic Arts:
3. Programme Managers at Epic Arts:
Because I will be unable to identify participants in the UK until nearer the time of the visit, I was unable to outline in such detail the subjects for the UK part of the research question. But what I was able to do was to put the information about the subjects in Cambodia in to a spread sheet to generate clear numbers and information about subjects that would mean this could be mirrored, or at least be similar, in the UK:
I was then able to use the data on the Cambodia subject list to create a initial list of required subjects from the UK arts organisation that have agreed to be part of the research project:
In my next blog post I will explain my processes and thinking with regard to the second area for my research design - "What?"
Thank you for reading this post and please feel free to add any comments or email me at laura@epicarts.org.uk
References:
1. Participants at Epic Arts:
Area
|
Ability Status
|
The Inclusive
Arts Course students =
8 (2 Female, 6
Male)
|
2 Non-disabled
6 Disabled
|
The Epic
Encounters performance team (selection) = 4 (1 Female, 3 Male)
|
4 Disabled
|
Students from
the Special Education project who join arts-based classes (Observation of
classes only)
|
Disabled
|
People from
outside Epic Arts that join a workshop or performance with Epic Arts team
members = 4 (gender unknown)
|
Unknown
|
2. Facilitators at Epic Arts:
Area
|
Ability Status
|
IAC Staff = 3
(2 Female and 1 Male)
|
3 Non-disabled
|
SEP Staff
(arts-based activities only) = 2 (2 Female)
|
2 Non-disabled
|
Epic
Encounters = 2 (1 Female, 1 Male)
|
2 Non-disabled
|
Translators for
IAC + EE = 2 (1 female, 1 Male)
|
1 Non-disabled
1 Disabled
|
Translator for
SEP= 1 (1 Male)
|
1 Disabled
|
3. Programme Managers at Epic Arts:
Area
|
Ability Status
|
Arts Programme
Manager
|
1
Disabled
|
Programme
Development Manager
|
1 Non-disabled
|
SEP Consultant
|
1 Non-disabled
|
Because I will be unable to identify participants in the UK until nearer the time of the visit, I was unable to outline in such detail the subjects for the UK part of the research question. But what I was able to do was to put the information about the subjects in Cambodia in to a spread sheet to generate clear numbers and information about subjects that would mean this could be mirrored, or at least be similar, in the UK:
 |
I have been able to answer the first in a long list of questions, and although I felt that the further I looked in to the question, the more questions it generated, I found the following statement from Creswell helpful in understanding the intricacies of designing a study and that all parts are inevitably interlaced with each other:
I think metaphorically of qualitative research as an intricate fabric composed of minute threads, many colors, different textures, and various blends of material. This fabric is not explained easily or simply. Like the loom on which fabric is woven, general assumptions and interpretive frameworks hold qualitative research together. (Creswell. 2013.p42)
Thank you for reading this post and please feel free to add any comments or email me at laura@epicarts.org.uk
References:
Bickman. L and Rog. D (2009) SAGE Handbook
of Applied Social Research Methods. SAGE Publications Ltd.
London
Boyce. C and Neale. (2006) Conducting In-Depth Interviews: A Guide
for Designing and Conducting In-Depth Interviews for Evaluation Input.
Pathfinder International. USA
Creswell J.W (2013)
Qualitative Inquiry and Research Design. SAGE Publications Ltd. London
Creswell. J and Plano Clark. V Principles of Qualitative
Research: Designing a Qualitative Study – Presentation slides. University of Nebraska. USA
Steiner. K. (2002) An Introduction to Qualitative Research
Interviewing. University of Minnesota. USA
www.oxforddictionaries.com (Accessed 28.4.14)
