Reviewing Feedback from Inquiry Plan

Having looked through the feedback I have received, and a quick conversation on the phone, I feel almost exactly as I did before starting to write my Inquiry Plan: a complete jumble of thoughts and ideas that need to be re-worked, investigated and organized!

Firstly, I should say that I am fairly pleased with my plan, and reassuringly seem to be going along the right path, however I have realized that I will need to find much more literature than first anticipated to complete Module 3 successfully. It has been advised that we should have an estimate of 10-20 sources of literature in the final critical review, so I better get cracking!

Looking Outside The Box!

Having chosen such a specific subject matter: ‘Commercial Dancers in the UK,’ I was looking too directly at this and not allowing my mind to explore other aspects that will relate to my inquiry. For example, I can begin to look at literature that focuses on:

-       How the recession in the UK has affected the arts community?

-       Why being a member of a union is particularly beneficial?

-       Other successful entrepreneurs within the entertainment industry.

-       Successful self-employed business plans.

-       Related campaigns: Intern Aware, Dancers United UK etc.

I understand that the literature I am looking for now should be more theoretical, rather than contextual, and should help to support the evidence and/or themes I may find from undertaking my research.

Tools of Inquiry

I discussed in my inquiry plan, conducting four separate interviews, each with a professional commercial dancer. I did not however, go into any detail as to how the interview participants would be selected! Having realised this, I would now like to explore the idea of interviewing two dancers that are at an early stage in their career (possibly having just left college) and four dancers that are in a more advanced stage of their career. This will allow me some comparison as to the differing opinions of those with more/less experience. I feel this will add more depth to my inquiry and allow me to gain more valuable data- especially in relation to one of my inquiry questions, which focuses on how the current situation can be improved for younger dancers.

The questionnaire I have constructed using Survey Monkey, needs a little work, as it has been highlighted to me that each question should aim to gather data that will answer my Inquiry questions. Some of the questions I have included are limited, for example, they are closed questions only allowing a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ answer. I will need to add a comment box to allow the participant to further discuss/reflect on their answer, giving me the researcher more insight into their thoughts.

Harvard Referencing

Wow this can really be confusing! I need to do some more research into how I can use this system successfully in my critical review. Some of the advice I received was:

Keep using ideas as quotes AND paraphrases – showing your understanding of citation as a method of showing sources and sharing within the text

For example

The negative statistics continue throughout the article: “Since November 2012, almost half said they had worked for no pay, while a further 51.9% were not reimbursed for expenses.”

Could be

Negative statistics continue throughout the article stating that around half of the participants to the survey were not paid (AUTHOR or if editorial organization so Guardian, DATE, PAGE number) and then the rest we go to the Bibliography.

This is something I have not yet discovered on my academic journey and so really just adds another level to my writing skills. I will look into how I can incorporate this when writing my final review.

Danielle xx

Love & Learning!

So here we are at Module Three, I am so relieved I made it! Just thought I would blog about the Campus Session I went to on Thursday! Seeing as it was Valentine's day this week, and everyone's feeling the LOVE- that was the theme of the day! 

First of all, we took the general idea of LOVE- what a an epic word! Who even knows what it means nowadays, there are so many ways of looking at it, its almost impossible to define in any way at all. It means something different to everybody! I have love for so many things, in so many different ways. It is a very beautiful, mysterious thing; everyone wants to love and be loved!

So back to the point.. We then brainstormed using this huge indescribable word as the centre point and branch off with as many ideas as possible... gestures of love, a place of love, love for you're job or you're partner, love in different cultures... the list was endless!

We then had a look at the page and tried to focus onto one or two main concepts of love. Something that interested us the most as a group, something we wanted to investigate further. We took the idea of Obsession, and entered the word into google to see what we found. Paula helped show us that the first hits on google weren't necessarily the best or most related searches. We went through and looked at the second, third page and found some much more interesting sources. We then tried to enter into Summon... entering different keywords to get the most relevant information was really useful and helped me to understand how I can get the most out of Summon when looking for sources for my literature review.

The session today helped to focus my thoughts and helped me to understand how you can take what seems like a huge idea or task and begin to concentrate and direct you're thoughts toward somewhere more specific. Using my study time wisely is so important and I feel that I have discovered new tools and ways of helping me to contain my thought process and gain a wider perspective on the topic at hand!!

Much Love xxxxx