'A guide for first-time researchers'

After feeling like I needed a bit of help and guidance towards my research project, I found this link to an e-book on Paula's blog.

Doing your research project: a guide for first-time researchers

Author: Judith Bell

http://readinglists.mdx.ac.uk/items/1ACCC0CC-EA73-1EB5-7632-7B8B7491EDBE.html?referrer=%2Flists%2F3A43FAE8-A845-F3C3-7263-DD2735E3448B.html%23item-1ACCC0CC-EA73-1EB5-7632-7B8B7491EDBE


The book starts with a diagram of a maze with different steps along the way. I found this really interesting because it basically summarises how I am feeling at the moment. in regards to my research project. I can't see where I am going and I don't know where I will end up. But after reading more I know that this is completely normal for this process. Along the way my topic will become clearer (hopefully) and by the end I will have focused on something that really interests me and can be used to benefit myself or others involved in my practice.

In the diagram there is a whole list of steps and these are the different chapters in the book so it was very good for me to see where I should be going in terms of research and future tasks.

I really recommend this piece of literature for others on the course who are feeling like they need a little more clarity.

Too many questions ...

Since I've begun developing some questions I seem to be answering my questions with more questions and have decided to blog them to show my thought development and progression! I feel like my thoughts are a bit all over the place at the moment so I think I will need to sit down and try to organise my ideas a bit more thoroughly but for the moment I am just brainstorming and getting my thoughts jotted down.

Rebecca Jones commented on my post and raised some really interesting points which led my line of thought down a different route. We seem to be interested in the same sort of topics so I would be interested in developing a SIG!

1) How do you think the lifestyle of a dancer can affect you socially?

2) What do you think is the optimum age to commence professional classical ballet training? Taking into account social and wellbeing factors.

3) Do you think dance and its lifestyle has played a part in moulding your personality?

This last question I began thinking about through discussion on Rebecca's blog:

4) Do you think that during your professional training you were given enough advice about life as a professional dancer?

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I have asked a few of my colleuges these questions and it has been interesting to hear their answers:

I have decided to keep their names anonymous and I recorded the short interview on our tour bus.

Person A) - When conducting this interview I was noting down the answers however, I found this difficult to capture all of the information.

1) Q: How do you think the lifestyle of a dancer can affect you socially? 
A: Miss out on a 'normal' childhood. Social difficulties - not meeting new people. On tour it is difficult. Competitive environment. Makes you a perfectionist.

1B) Q: How do you think the lifestyle of a dancer can affect your wellbeing?
A: Difficult to maintain a healthy balanced diet.

2) Q: What do you think is the optimum age to commence professional classical ballet training? Taking into account social and wellbeing factors.

A): 14/15 years old. Difficult balance. You have to pick. 

3) Q: 3) Do you think dance and its lifestyle has played a part in moulding your personality?

A: Yes. Made me more of a perfectionist. Affects self confidence and opinions about body image. Made me determined and hardworking. Through injury and recovering from operations I have developed perseverance. 

Person B) During this interview I used a dictaphone to record the interview and this is easier because it means that I can concentrate on listening to the answers rather than be thinking about writing them down. This also means that I don't miss out anything when typing up the interview afterwards!

1) Q: How do you think the lifestyle of a dancer can affect you socially? 

A: Make you a weirdo. The dance world is a bubble from normality. But there are both positive and negative sides to the affects. You are always with people who share the same passion as you which is good so you don't feel isolated. 

2) Q: What do you think is the optimum age to commence professional classical ballet training? Taking into account social and wellbeing factors.

A): 14/15 years old. Depends on the person though.

3) Q: 3) Do you think dance and its lifestyle has played a part in moulding your personality?

A): I do think it has. It's made me very disciplined. It's made me be a perfectionist. It's made me sociable because you always meet lots of different people. It's made me love a physical lifestyle I hate not exercising. 

I found the second interview much easier to type up afterwards so in future interviews I will continue to use the dictaphone. It was very interesting for me to see how they both reacted to the questions and their difference and similarities of opinion. I also noticed that I might have unintentionally asked the questions in a way that hinted about what my own opinions are and this may have had an influence on how they answered the questions. So in my future interviews I will think more about the way in which I will answer the questions to avoid having biased results! 

Initial Questions ...

So after some thought initially about what my practice is and what it involves I have come up with a set of relevant questions to ask myself and also others in the industry. I have looked at my task 2D in the previous module and reviewed which topics interested me then and it has been interesting to see how my opinions have changed and developed since. I had actually forgotten about my interest in Pilates and had disregarded this topic completely when drafting my inquiry questions until re-reading this post and this has highlighted the importance and helpfulness of blogging.

After at other people's blog posts about potential inquiry questions and it has really surprised how many have been interested in the topic of mental health surrounding the performance industry. This is actually a topic that intrigues me, and if I were to develop this line of inquiry it would be good to have many other people to bounce ideas off (SIG).

My main areas of interest:

- Tour life

- Performance

- Marketing 

- Mental affects 

So some questions I have come up with so far are:

1) How can performing benefit or hinder your life outside of dance?

Ie. make you more confident/more critical/ a perfectionist/

2) What can performing on tour teach you?

3) Has your attitude towards dance changed since your professional training commenced?

4) Do you find dance/performance alters your mood/emotions?

5) How do you think life on tour differs to a more stable timetable? Eg. rehearsal period in London? Do you think this affects you at all?

6) Do you think the marketing of a dance company/ production or musical has an impact on its success. 

7) Do you think that social media can help you progress/develop in your career and practice? 

These questions are very much a work in progress are just show my initial thoughts for a potential line of inquiry.

Identifying knowledge and skills within the workplace

What skills and knowledge are required in my workplace?

When reading through the reader this is another section that stood out to me that I wanted to think about before blogging about any potential line of inquiry questions. My professional practice is very specific and I found it initially quite difficult to pinpoint the skills and knowledge required for it. However, after a bit of thought I soon realised that my job in itself is a skill! 

I have attached below two spider diagrams I have created. One is identifying the skills and knowledge require within the workplace. The other is my personal competences and capabilities.

My professional inquiry ...

A professional inquiry is a unique method of learning that centralises the individual in the process of learning making everyone's experience different. Before I begin a new task I always like to take a look at other students blogs to see whether I am working on the right lines and it is clear from the outset of module 2 how personal each students work will be. After asking myself some questions about my practice in my previous post and reading through the Module 2 reader I have realised some key points I should keep in mind when developing my professional inquiry. I should consider a topic that:

- extends and clarifies my professional knowledge
- continues my learning in the future
- utilises the knowledge I have gained from module 1
- is based on my professional arts practice
- engages with scenarios relevant to my workplace

'The ultimate goal of the inquiry will be to explore a topic that will benefit your work and the work of colleagues and fellow professionals, including any work organisations with whom you are affiliated.' 

This quote from the reader really stood out to me and helped me narrow down my thoughts in regards to my line of professional inquiry. I now know that I should also choose a topic which will benefit my work and the work of my colleges. I have now managed to organise my thoughts and narrow down ideas I can begin to think about some potential inquiry questions. 

Professional inquiry related concepts:

Professional inquiry is a way to learn about what you are doing while you are doing it. 

Inquiry based learning (sometimes spelled enquiry-based learning) expects the adult learner to engage with relevant problems and scenarios, draw on existing knowledge, seek out new evidence, and analyse and present that evidence in appropriate ways (Kahn and O’Rourke, 2004). 

Work based learning related concepts: 

I am familiar with the work based learning style and it's benefits and concepts. I know that WBL strategies work well for problem solving and encourages education and work to benefit each other and coexist in a working environment.

“It promotes awareness of the workplace as a learning environment and uses this to extend the learner’s capability and individual effectiveness” (Durrant et al. 2009, p. 1).  

The WBL framework can also accommodate workforce development strategies where more than one learner in the workplace is involved in the educational experience. Even with small units at work, the professional inquiry is something that can affect a number of employees, so this is an aspect of the inquiry that needs to be considered. 

I found the quote above from the reader interesting because myself and my colleague from my ballet company Grace are both BAPP students so it will be interesting to see what different educational experiences we can draw from in the workplace.

Back to basics

When I received my feedback from my module 1 work I realised that I need to be more specific and focused when writing and keep referring back to my practice and making it clear what my practice is and what it entails. I've found that writing questions and answers is a good way to do this and helps me to organise my thoughts, so I am going to approach the next task by going back to basics and stripping things down to facts.

What is my practice?

Ballet dancer in professional ballet touring company - Vienna Festival Ballet

What do I enjoy about my practice? 

Fulfilling my ambitions. Performing everyday. Everyday is different and exciting. Being with friends and likeminded people everyday.

What do I find difficult about my practice?

Unsociable hours - working weekends and evening in other friends and family's time off. Little rest time and doing physical activity 6 days a week is sometimes tiring. Dealing with injuries. Time management. Staying healthy when on tour.

What a typical day entails:

Travelling on the tour bus. Arriving at theatre. Prepping for the show (applying make-up, styling hair, getting costumes ready). Doing ballet class as warm up. The show. Travelling back to London or going to hotel.

How can I improve my practice?

Writing corrections from shows. Working on technique in class. Going to the theatre to watch other dance works and performances to stay motivated and in the loop. Networking with other dancers/choreographers/teachers who may help me in the future.


After asking myself these questions and looking into what my practice involves I have realised it would be good for me to further my inquiry into something to do with life on tour. Now to start thinking of some questions for typical lines of inquiry ...

Group Skype Session

I found the group Skype session a great way to get back into the course after the long summer break and start reconnecting with other students. It was also nice to hear from some new people I hadn't spoken to before who were also going into module 2 and their thoughts about the upcoming semester. 

Adesola raised some interesting points about what to expect from module 2 and I was reassured when she mentioned that we didn't have to know what topic we were going to focus on in module 3 yet and the next module is all about our thought process. 

I feel a lot more confident in starting module 2 than I did module 1 and I feel as though I have learnt a lot and can use all of the learning methods I've previously used. I've realised that in module 1 I really stuck to doing the tasks and methodically worked through them, whereas now I am looking at them as more of a rough guideline. 

I finished the Skype feeling a lot more motivated and positive about the next module and after reading through the reader and handbook I now feel ready for the hard work to recommence!