6a/b - Review of Reader 6 and Inquiry Plan

This stage seems to have come around very quickly.  The time between considering lines of inquiry to actually conducting the research has been very short, but full of learning.  As Reader 6 states, this stage of the inquiry involves me capturing evidence from [my] workplace using social science research tools [and] methods.  After reading and reflecting on Reader 6 I have began to consider the tools that would be most beneficial for me to employ in my research to ensure I am using real-life experiences and phenomena in a systematic and ethical manner.  The following are my initial thoughts on how my inquiry should be designed and structure.  I am expecting these thoughts to change and develop but wanted to blog my initial thoughts along with the reasonings for them.

I have looked into the four main research methods; Observation, Surveys, Interviews and Focus Groups, and I am beginning to think that I will use Observation and Surveys as my main source of data/information, though I may also include Interviews and Focus Groups throughout the inquiry depending on the quality and specificity of the data/information gathered through my first two research method choices.

The main reason that I have chosen these two research methods is to ensure the validity of the information gathered.  Baxter states that it is important to consider whether your methods, approaches and techniques actually relate to, or measure, the issues you have been exploring.  The reason that I have chosen to include Observation in the design of my inquiry is because I have already began to observe the students, importantly their progress, since September, before I knew why I would be observing them.  The fact that I will using the data gathered through these observations, which have been taking place since before I understood the specifics of what I am looking for, means the data should be true to form and accurate, not manipulated to either fit of disrupt the line of inquiry, either consciously or unconsciously.  Though my observations will now follow a specific focus, I believe that this continuing of practice will work to secure validity in my data/information collected through subsequent observations of students and colleagues.  There are three main parts to observations: watching, recording and analysing events of interest.  Due to the nature of my inquiry involving me working as the teacher, or when not teaching, still being a 'member of teaching staff' I will continue to record my findings following the research, as recording throughout the observation may disrupt the process.  The most important features of using observation as an inquiry tool, as stated in Reader 6, are that I will need to ensure that [I am] able to respond sensitively and appropriately to issues of ethics, permission and confidentiality.  As stated previously, I will also be using Surveys to gather the data/information for my inquiry.  The reason that I have chosen to use surveys is that they can be completed anonymously and should therefore hold more validity, which again has been planned around Baxter's thoughts on the design of an inquiry.  A lot of my current line of inquiry focuses on and works around the opinions of different people.  Surveys are [...] associated with the idea of asking groups of people questions about [...] or what they ‘think’.  Using surveys will allow me to gather opinions and points of view from a wide range of respondents, respondents that I can select carefully to ensure the people answering the questions are the people I want to be asking.  I am currently considering using an attitudinal scale, popularised by Likert, with the main reason being that it allows for a greater range of responses [as apposed to] yes or no.  In Reader 6, Black describes an attitudinal scale as a method that allows attitudes to be ascertained by presenting a list of declarative statements and asking respondents to rate them in terms of agreement or disagreement.  Along side the attitudinal scale, I will also seek explanation by including the ability for my respondents to put their reasonings and thoughts alongside their answers.  

I am planning on performing a pilot inquiry to check that my initial design will work in the ways that I am expecting it to.  The pilot will run in the same way that I am planning to run the inquiry to ensure that it is a valid test.

As stated above, these are my initial thoughts as to how my inquiry should be structured and designed.  I still have a lot more thinking, reflecting and developing to do in relation to the structure and design.  I need to consider how I can use Interviews and Focus Groups to extend my data/information and understanding in relation to my inquiry.

5c - Reader 5 Professional Ethics

In education, many schools are continuously promoting and discussing their 'ethos'.  Reader 5 describes an ethos as 'how we do things around here', the way that a collective; be that a family, business or other organisation, decide to go about 'being' and interacting to reflect a positive and good image.  A school's ethos is very important as it is something that will be delivered to the parents of prospective students in a hope that their child is then sent to that school.  A few of the schools that I have worked in have an ethos which focuses on developing the individual.  Projecting this kind of ethos will encourage the parents of prospective students and they will then be assured that their child will not just be a number and will be able to develop as a individual with the attention focused solely on them.  However, it isn't uncommon to see a school with an ethos focusing on the development of the community and working as a community.  Here the parents of the prospective students will see that the school is working beyond its parameters and looking for the development of the child within the society that they are part of.  The most important part of an ethos is that it needs to be positive.  As an ethos is a message, delivering an idea of 'how we do things around here', that ethos needs to speak to everyone and tell them what they want to hear.

Ethics maintained and displayed by the staff working within the community need to meet and work to the main points of the ethos.  This ensures that all staff are working positively and working together, pushing the community forward in the same direction.  Without an overarching ethos for staff to work to the community's aims and ideas could be diminished and lose a focus.  Equally, without ethics promoted by the staff within the community, an ethos will be lost and not maintained or delivered.  Workplace ethics work best with an ethos and a professional ethos will struggle work without ethics.  

Within the professional world, personal ethics can sometimes be changed or altered to ensure professionalism is maintained.  This is quite a bizarre statement to make, especially from an teacher's perspective, but I will explain my statement further through the use of a case study.  The second case study presented in Reader 5 informed me about Kevin Carter, a documentary photographer who won awards for his photograph of a impoverished girl crawling towards water.  

The girl went on to die due to not getting to the water, though Carter could have intervened and helped the girl, which could have resulted in her not dying.  In this position, Carter was upholding the professional photographer's ethical role, which is to observe and not intervene.  This case study does however raise the question, at what point should professional ethics be dropped and personal ethics take over?  After debating this question with colleagues, peers and my friendship group I have come to the personal conclusion that ethics can never be dropped, as if they are able to be dropped then they are not ethics.  Ethics could be considered as rules to live, work or interact by.  If there is a point at which these rules should be broken, then the rules are not solid and lack in the most important quality of an ethic, positivity.  Ethics are for the good of the greater community.  I have taken the figure below from Reader 5 to help demonstrate this point.  As you can see, there is a ripple effect that streams from the personal into the further three areas, a personal action will result in a professional reaction, which will then cause reactions from the following two stages.  The initial personal action with result in the next three reactions and depending on the initial action, the reactions could be either positive or negative.

The idea of the ripple effect links with the idea acknowledged in Reader 5 as the consequentialism approach.  This approach basis the success of an action depending on whether the consequences (or reactions) are positive or negative.  The the consequence is positive then the approach would say that the initial action was also positive.  Within this section the Reader talks about how lying can be considered as a positive actions due to producing a positive consequence.  In her blog, Iona Holland suggested an interesting situation, where a singer may not achieve a performing job and is given the reason that they are too short, rather than the truth which would be that they cannot sing.  Consequentialism would suggest that this lie was a positive action as it would leave the singer wanting to try again as they may be the right height for the next job, however, personally and professionally, I would not be comfortable with this action and would argue that the consequence is not the most positive none possible.  The consequence here would result in the individual not being hurt and feeling confident in their ability ready to walk into another audition.  This is not a positive consequence as the individual may walk into the next audition and receive the truth rather than a lie, resulting in a crash from a higher point which takes into account the lengthened audition process the individual has committed to.  

Within my profession, initially I found find a point in which it is part of my professionalism to lie or bend the truth, however, after reflecting I have considered the following to partially fit into the consequentialism approach.  If I am meeting with a struggling parent who is finding it hard, even if this is clear, I would not fully admit to the fact that I can see this is the truth, instead I would use the positive/negative/positive sandwich.  This is where you, as the professional, would offer praise and congratulate something positive before offering the negative and then end on a positive that can be a way to move on from the negative aspect.  Whilst this i not lying in the same terms as cited from Iona's blog post, it is still not being completely truthful and I do question if I am not being completely truthful am I completely maintaining the community's ethos?  

My inquiry focuses on the place/point/validity of Drama within non-maintream educational establishments, working with students that have been removed from or cannot attend mainstream schools.  From reading Reader 5 and reflecting on both my inquiry topic and my professional practice I understand that ethics within professional practice are an extremely confusing topic.  What is ethical on a personal level may be unethical at a professional level, like in the example above regarding documentary photographer Kevin Carter.  With regards to my inquiry I need to ensure that whilst I am currently working from a personal level, I do not effect the professionalism of myself or my colleagues. At no point can my personal level of inquiry diminish my professionalism.  I will continue to ask questions, reflect and find the answers in the same way that I have done up until now but ensure I am careful with the materials I am sharing and the thoughts that I am displaying and, in some cases, promoting.

                                                                                                    

With a final thought back to Kevin Carter, I'm afraid to say that my personal opinion is that his actions were wrong.  Whilst it is his professional code as a photographer to observe and not intervene, I also think it is part of the code within that profession to preserve.  In this case to preserve would have been to help preserve the life of the little girl, which ultimately, would have preserved his own too.  This is a topic that I am really forward to debating with my Module 2 SIG.