Literature associated with my Inquiry

Links to pieces of literature I find interesting with reference to my line of inquiry can be found on my delicious account http://www.delicious.com/sykes_ellie

Critical Reflection on Pilot Focus Group

I conducted my pilot focus group with four dancers I am working with in the current production I am doing. I thought that it was good because I used a very free approach. I told them what I am looking into and they discussed the topic and experiences they have had with weight and diet throughout their training and careers. The positive side of the focus group was that the participants could bounce ideas off of one another. However, the downside was that two members talked a lot and the other two agreed with their opinions and didn't really contribute their own to the focus group. This is a problem because I couldn't tell whether they really agreed or whether they were just following the trend. Personally, I thought that this made the outcome bias and I have decided that individual interviews are better to find out people's true opinions on the subject I am looking into. I liked the freeness of the way I carried out the focus group though. I thought that this gave some of the participants opportunity to chose how they talked about the topic which resulted in some great feedback. I have decided to use a little more freedom int my interviews but not to do a focus group in my final inquiry.

Critical Reflection on Pilot Observation

I chose to do an observation on my first day of rehearsals for a show I am doing. This was my first time working for this company and out of the ten dancers in the production I know only one. This meant that it was a new experience for everybody and so a perfect setting for my observation. I informed all the dancers and choreographers that I was to do this before we started. During this observation my chosen topic was brought up by the choreographer to a dancer. The dancer was told she was too big and needed to lose weight. The instruction was given as directly as that and it was said in front of everybody which I thought was unprofessional and tactless. It just goes to show that it is not even considered a topic to be approached with care and understanding. The fact that I was a part of the group in the observation meant it had pros and cons. On the positive side it meant that I was feeling what the participants felt which gave me good understanding. However, on the downside it meant that it is hard to stay objective in this situation. The fact that this course is based on us being professional practitioners means that it is likely that observations would have to carried out this way. However, in order to look at how colleges may affect young dancers' with regard to diet and body image I have decided that I will go into dance schools and observe classes to see if the topics I am addressing get raised there.

Critical Reflection on Pilot Interview

I decided to use the format of a semi-structured interview. This meant that the interviewee had chance to expand on her answers to the questions in a way that wasn't possible when using a questionnaire. Many questions were the same as the questionnaire but the fact I had the interviewee had the opportunity to tell me more meant that I got a more explanatory response. I think I would have to aim to do at least 10 interviews during my inquiry in order for my results to be accurate. It would be good to get interviews from people at different stages of their careers and from both males and females because it will be interesting to see how these aspects affect the answers I get. I would also like to be able to interview somebody who worked professionally at least 10 years ago to see how things may have changed, or may not have changed. My focus has shifted slightly as I have been working through my pilot research methods from it being about pressures while training and teachers influence to health of dancers both in training and while working. I have just taken a job working in a show in Portugal. I am working for a company I have never worked for before and I only know one of the dancers in cast and it is apparent that the issues I have been discussing are extremely visible here. I have told all the people I am working with about  the research I am doing and they have all agreed that I can use them for pilot research.

**After looking back over the course reader, I realised my interview was too short. The idea is that I need to expand on my questionnaire and I felt that I could have asked more questions to make this happen. In my final inquiry I will add a lot more questions to my interview/make it so that the interviewee can expand more on their answers by asking more followup questions depending on what they say.