Identifying how to approach the world around

Identifying how to approach the world around

For my inquiry I will be using a qualitative research approach as this is used to gain an understanding of underlying reasons, opinions and motivations. Within my qualitative research I will be using an ethnographic method to enable myself to fully observe and interact with the participants in their real-life environment. I am hoping to truly understand the problems dancers face when performing in varying contexts in order to recommend a better solution. I will be taking a non-positivist theoretical concept during my inquiry process with the assumption that things are constructed from a number of elements which are inter-related.

I will organise the data into emerging themes comparing the themes in my literature review as well as interviews in order to assess the performance success in varying environments.

I have an upcoming performance with my company in Vancouver, Canada called ‘Uno’ which is where each member of the company performs a solo. This will give me an insight into how dancers feel about the success of their performance within a stage context. I will also be able to assess how different ages my affect a dancer’s self-criticism. I will analyse the responses with a coding system.

Coding open questions is not straightforward. I must first read through all of the comments made in response to the open questions and try to group them into meaningful themes. For example, if participants are asked ‘in which situation did you feel most vulnerable’, there are likely to be some very broad themes. A number may find the context of an audition most vulnerable and others may state more specifically when they were cut from the audition or when they were asked to perform the exercise again during the audition. Although these answers are all different they still fall under the context of an audition so when coding my response analysis, they will all be the same. It may also be useful to have an ‘other’ category for those responses that I am unable to categorise meaningfully.

In order to fully answer the historical aspect of my question into which context a dancer performs best in, I will be using literature in order to support my inquiry which will be extremely beneficial as it is a reliable source of information. I will also be using my own reflective journal to discover which context I personally perform best in and will relate this to my findings in the literature I have reviewed as well as my interviews with other dancers to look for any correlation.

Bibliography:

Analysing the results of questionnaires (No date). Available at; https://www.economicsnetwork.ac.uk/handbook/questionnaires/23 Accessed 20/11/2018

Module 2 Handbook (2018) BAPP Arts, Middlesex University, London: Middlesex University

What’s the difference between qualitative and quantitative research? (16/09/2011). Available at: https://www.snapsurveys.com/blog/qualitative-vs-quantitative-research/ Accessed 20/11/2018

When and How to Use Ethnographic Research (no date). Available at: https://www.spotless.co.uk/insights/ethnography-when-and-how/ Accessed 20/11/2018