A Sample Structure for an Inquiry / Research Proposal

I thought this might be of interest to my students currently planning a piece of research or inquiry in terms of a possible structure:

Title of Inquiry

·      This is the working title of your inquiry. It may change over time, but defining the title will help you decide your focus and methods, and suggest possible literature.

Topic Outline

·      Aim of the inquiry (overall, if your inquiry was successful, what do you think it might achieve for you? This is aspirational, it is what you are trying to achieve);

·      Identify the Context of the Inquiry (what it will apply to, its currency in relation to contemporary practices or theories);

·      Rationale (why it is important? will anyone will benefit from what you find out? How is it relevant to your interests or career?);

·      Inquiry Question(s) (these are the specific and answerable questions that the inquiry is designed to address. Answering these questions successfully should enable you to succeed in your aim)

·      Theoretical Framework (What existing theories do you think apply to your inquiry, and how might these help you to gain an insight into your topic area?);

·      Methodological Framework (what methods of gathering and analysing data do you think you will use and for what reasons?);

·      Resources (briefly assess what resources you need in terms of time, access to individual’s who you might interview etc.);

·      Objectives (explain what you are actually going to do in the inquiry, e.g. what you will read, who you might speak to, and the timeline you think will keep you on track);

·      Ethical Implications (are there any likely ethical issues or problems that might arise in your inquiry process, especially relevant if you are gathering data from people, e.g. through interviews?);

 

Literature

·      What are the main current ideas in circulation that are current to your topic?

·       Where are these located (academic texts; journalistic work; within a practice setting)?

·      Who else has tackled your topic area, how did they do it, and what did they find out?

Constructing an Argument

I thought it might be helpful to set out some thoughts on how you set out your arguments. I think one good way is to write 1 paragraph per argument, cycling through the process above. I am very happy to receive comments and have posted this to Google Docs for your convenience:

Link to:  'Argument Diagram'.

Mapping Professional Domains

Following on from the campus session, I have put up on 'My Learning' a template of the 'Mapping Professional Domains' diagram. You can use this to explore your ideas on any of the modules of the programme. I have included below a simple example of questions that emerge as we think about developing a plan for the inquiry using the template.

I hope this is of interest.

You can click on the image below to enlarge.

Thoughts on the ‘Reflection’ Blogs … generic feedback on Part 2

I thought it would be helpful to discuss some observations and thoughts about some of the posts on ‘Reflection’. Some of the best posts seem to focus in on one or more of three aspects. Here are some examples of how different people have tackled these three different aspects I have observed from Blog posts on Reflection. There are plenty of other good examples so please do not see these as necessarily the only good examples:

Firstly, In this example we can se how Beth conceptualises reflection as an internalised process of learning. We can see reflection as a process of revisiting the memories we make of our experiences, trawling them to extract out new or more worthwhile conclusions.

 

Ruth discusses reflection as relational to the external world of practice. We can see reflection as locating our responses in the wider world of practice. The ‘experiences’ matter because they are located in the external world, and are mostly focused on making sense of that external world.

 

Amy discusses reflection in terms of the methods of engagement, i.e. using different technologies and tools to engage the process of reflection. If we create internal memories based on reflection upon experiences (or memories of experiences) then the different methods we use ‘to’ reflect may assist in the formation of particular types of usable, worthwhile memories.

So Reflection can be seen as a ‘method’ of learning or adaption to ‘the external world’ of practice and life that has ‘internal, personal resonance’. To make Reflection effective, this way of thinking about it (internal; external; methodological) seems to have value and utility. My overall thought on current posts is that the most useful conceptualisation uses these, or similar models and I hope this is helpful generic feedback.

What is Research?

This is mainly intended for my students studying on the Television Production Proposition module TVP3110 but may be of interest to others

My lecture on 'What is Research' can now be accessed on My Learning

Here is the link to the Seminar worksheet 'Planning for The Research Proposal'

I hope this helps you in your assignment.

Feedback on the general qualities of Module 1 Posts

This is likely to be of interest mainly to Module 1 students

I have been reading through the Blog posts today for Module 1. There are lots of good posts, the best of which are really good and set a high standard for all of us to emulate. I’m not going to say precisely who but I have seen excellent examples of:

• Individuals who have made multiple comments to others and by virtue of their activity, attract lots of comments to their own posts. This means ample and good quality feedback is already flowing to those individuals that will help them develop their ideas and skills;
  
• Some good levels of critical thinking in some posts. In particular, individuals who have questioned why they do things in the way they do, and have sought alternatives. Some people have tried to rationalise what they have done. We are about developing high levels of good critical thinking and people are already showing good qualities:
  
• People making multiple attempts at tasks. BAPP Arts is about experimenting and then evaluating. We learn from our experiences, so why undertake a task just once? Why not try it different ways and they post on the best way and why you think it works best? Our brains are like muscles, thinking something once will relegate that thought to the dustbin. Keep with a thought and hone it, and it’ll stay with you forever.

Overall I have seen the above qualities evident in peoples’ posts. You could do worst than to go and find examples yourselves.

Well done to all the active BAPP Arts Bloggers!

More on Making Questions ...

This post is primarily intended for Module 2 students but I would welcome comments from others.

I have been thinking about the features or characteristics of meaningful inquiry questions, and think the following three perspectives might be helpful:

Three possible elements of an inquiry question (?):

a.     The reasons for asking the question

b.     The context in which the question makes sense

c.      The coherency of the question-making

The reasons for asking the question
At the core of a good question may be an assurance that it has some meaning to you, the questioner. Too may questions that arise in schools and universities are motiveless. They stem from the interest of the teacher (through a syllabus) or external interests (say on terms of a discipline). It seems to me, less about the interest (or interests) of the student. Within the space of BAPP Arts, it is essential that the question has relevance and value to you as a student because it is YOUR practice that is the focus of learning. Looking at your emerging questions, try and think in terms of the utility of the answers to you, personally, professionally and creatively. Avoid inquiries that are simply ‘about’ something, and look for inquiry questions that do something meaningful for you.

The context in which the question makes sense
Having thought about the relevance to you of your question(s), it is equally important to think about the context that the question relates to. If the emerging question is about developing your choreography, then a number of contexts are suggested. These might be for example, the nature of dance practice (in a particular place, e.g. UK); choreographic practice (again with specific localised differences); career development in dance; lived experiences of choreographers etc. Each of these are the professional contexts in which the question will, or will not, make sense.

The focus of attention here is on understanding the context so that you can evaluate the question for its appropriateness and value. This considers then the extent to which your question(s) are grounded realistically in the context to which they relate. It is about understanding similar questions posed that relate to the contexts, how others have tackled the questions, the particular conversations, what has been said and what are the conventional ways of understanding this question within the specific context.

The coherency of the question making

This last perspective is about the consideration given to the internal logic and coherence of the question making itself. So for example, a question that seeks the ‘best way’ to do something carries its own internal fault. It assumes there is always a ‘best way’. It carries perhaps also the prejudice of the questioner, i.e, that they think in terms of ‘best ways’. A better internal construction for a question might be ‘in what different ways’ is something constructed. This does not create a hierarchy before any attempt to look at an issue; rather it seeks to simply understand the different ways something is done. The coherency of the question is therefore about the technical method by which a question is framed. It is important because some questions are technically (in terms of research methods) straightforward to tackle, while others carry faults that mean they can never be answered.

I hope that is of interest and prompts ideas.

You might like to look at a previous post I have made on The Art of Asking

Developing Professionalism ...

It was great to meet some of the new students on BAPP Arts today. 

We had an opportunity to think about our future discussions and our future careers and how we can use the opportunity afforded by BAPP Arts to think about our developing professional practice.

Today, I took away some ideas ... about independence, critical thinking and self-discovery. These seem to me to underpin professional practice and are attributes that those professionals that we most admire seem to have as innate abilities. They seem confident in what they know; they are comfortable with not knowing; they find different ways to explore and develop their own knowledge and insights; they can work with complexity and they try to think and act ethically. They access and use the capabilities of others and contribute in kind. They can sit back from situations and make sense of them.

The trick is to emulate them and to hone the self-reflective skills and attributes that they demonstrate.

NOT feedback .... but some observations

One of the most interesting aspects of BAPP is to be able to listen to people’s stories and the sense we make of the stories of our lives. You may be interested in a recent post of mine on the topic of memory making and the seminal research and work of Daniel Kahneman

Like most people, I tend to follow more than post, and I go in fits and starts! Following the Blogs from BAPP I’m really impressed by the energy and focus so many bloggers are bringing to the examination of our collective professional practices. I wanted to just talk through some of the posts that struck me as interesting. This is by no means to imply these are the best, or that there are not excellent posts elsewhere, its just these resonated for me in this moment.

I would strongly urge you to look across the BAPP Blogs (current and past) and identify the posts that bring value or insight to you.

So onto some posts of interest to me …

Firstly,  I was struck by Jo’s honest appraisal of his Network and his Motivations. We inevitably bring our prior experiences to the ways we view the world, and I think Jo captures succinctly the tension between why we perceive we need to engage our networks, and the realities of what we are willing and able to do. This sentiment is reflected in a number of posts from others. Carla further explores this sentiment on her blog on the Networked Professional and restates Jo’s questions about the authenticity of so much of our engagement with our networks. 

I liked the way Bernadette Maps out her Network. I really like the use of mapping for networks, the analogy with mapping terrain and territories is so very strong in my mind, and some other really good maps can be found at More Network Maps and Even More Network Maps.

While on the subject of drawings, I really liked Kate’s little sketch on her Sources of Professional Information. Such a small thing, but such a useful way to think outside of lists and the use of text.

Lauren works through both the Range and importantly the Value of her Current Networks. The range is one thing, but we need to be able to say why they are valuable to us.

Turning to theories that might give us useful perspectives on the Networked Professional, I though both Anna and Kym gave us extensive and worthwhile views on the topic. These two accounts are nuanced differently for a different effect. Do check out Anna’s post and Kym’s post.

Thinking about Reflection I really liked Elizabeth’s post ‘Mirror,mirror on the wall....

Lizzie says … ‘I like the idea that reflection is one taking everything out from their mind, being able to look at it and piece it back together in different ways’. I just thought this was so beautifully phrased and conveys so simply the reality of what reflection is … the shaping of an account of what happened that we can take forward and use.

Another view comes from Ellen who came up with a very original way of Reflecting on the Experiences of 'Her' Day…‘I wrote about my day from the perspective as my husband’. I thought this was such an interesting way to think outside the limitations of our own experiences … to use our imaginations to think things differently.

So that's the end of my little tour around BAPP Blog posts. Do go and check them out and form your own view.

Professional Ethics Session

I attach the work sheets from our campus session on Ethics 12th March 2013. I am happy to communicate on any of the issues, but you can also follow the Blog's of students who attended the session and who have posted on the discussions.

You need to look at students on the Module 2 list

More on Kahneman ... and on Reflection

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According to David Kahneman, there are two ‘self’s’, the experiencing self and the remembering self.

Our ‘Experiencing Self’ apprehends the moment-to-moment experiences. It is the remembering self that creates the story of our lives. Our remembering self is the storyteller. All of our experiences are forgotten. According to Kahneman it is our remembering Self that forms the memory ‘based on’ the experience, i.e. we don’t remember the experience, we remember a highly selective representation of the experience.

Interesting, Kahneman identifies the paramount importance of endings in our experiences. According to Kahneman our memories are strongly influenced by the ending of specific experiences. Bear in mind as best as we can tell, our experiences (in the moment) last as a mental formation for around 3 seconds.

Research has shown that the duration of our experiences matters very little. Whether this is of a painful surgical procedure, or a holiday. So if we go on holiday for 1 week or two weeks, it does not affect the overall memory of the experience.  The duration of our experience-events barely impacts on the memory. How the experience ends plays a far greater influence on the memory that is formed.

So we can think of our experiences ads being ‘voiceless (Kahneman). It is the Remembering Self that dictates what we make of our experiences.

Finally, Kahneman slips between the definition of memory as the ‘Remembering Self’ and the ‘Reflective Self’. The implications of this are that we can construct, intentionally, a memory of our experiences that can add positively to our professional practice. I urge you to look at Kahneman’s TED lecture.

 

You might also like to view some concluding thoughts from a discussion with students on the topic of reflection.

What we experience versus what we remember …. The two ‘Selfs’

I have Blogged often on reflection, but one aspect continually intrigued me … the relationship between the experiences we have, and the account or story we construct that explains the experience. This is a question about the ‘memory’ that we hold of the experience that then informs our choices and understanding of the world.

We ‘know’ that we have experiences, and we are pretty sure that we process and use those experiences to learn about the world. For example, early in our lives, we learn what is hot and therefore dangerous, and later, more sophisticated self-constructed understanding of more complex knowledge.

But how does experience relate to the memory we construct through the process of reflection?

Nobel laureate and founder of behavioural economics Daniel Kahneman tackles this question in The Riddle of Experience versus Memory.

Google Reader - using feeds to have content sent to you

Found something interesting you want to follow? For example a student Blog? Then use an Aggregator like Google Reader. If you Bookmark Google Reader, then you can simply click on it to open Google Reader and view all the sites you have told Google Reader you want to follow (called feeds). This can include Student Blogs but also any site that produces content that you are intersted in keeping up to date with (e.g. BBC news).

This is one of a good number of helpful video clips that will help you be effective in the use of this powerful tool:

Google Reader YouTube Clip

Not what is, but what else?

A dominant perspective on practice is that of the discipline. The discipline establishes the conventional ways in which particular practices operate. For example, the discipline of dance delineates both what dance practice ’is’ and ‘is not’. For example, dance is not Quantum Physics … 

.... or is it?

What if dance was accepted as many things? If you like a ‘non-disciplinary’ recognition of its power and value?

For me this idea opens up new opportunities for practitioners and the latent capabilities of any practice, not last, dance. The opportunities exist to reconsider ‘what is’ the immutable qualities of the discipline, and to explore ‘what else’ could the disciplinary qualities could be applied to; for learning, to foster understanding, to gain new insights and to do many other things.

Take a look at John Bohannon: Dance vs. PowerPoint, a modest proposal and let me know what you think.