Methodology - Sunday Discussions

Sunday discussions went well – in the morning we talked about a range of topics converging on methodology – how we go about things. How we notice significant things - things at sparkle in our memory or imagination when we consider an idea. The conversation suggested that this was about ‘narrowing down’ ideas to better manage them. In other words not to be overwhelmed by the on-going growth or wonder of finding out more but to follow the trails of the things that compel you and inspire you as a starting point of finding out more.

We talked about the use of confidence to keep you moving forward and not second guessing yourself. Then we linked the points we were making in the conversation to positivist and non-positivist methodological approaches. We noted that a non-positivist approach is really the design model the course calls for. It does not involve certainly as a guiling principle so the uncertainty of the wealth of ideas people were experiencing (the feel of sometimes being lost) could be seen as part of the terrain of this kind of research approach. It is not about fixed facts it is about a process or journey to asking deep questions.

So maybe some of this is about shifting our perception of what research is and what it can do. We talked about it being like layers, or watercolour paints that bleed into each other rather than about finding out an answer to a fixed question.  It became clear reflection and reflectivity are key. Also how the past shapes our present perceptions of education and research.

We talked then about how a change of mind is not isolated to the mind but a shift in approach to everything because everything is connected. Research is about being sensitive to how even the smallest shift in experience reverberates across our understanding of everything.    

People in the conversation and who are posting on it also are:

Parimala

Raymond

Alice

Jo

Helen

In the afternoon we talked about objectivity, artistic v academic, learning through dancing. This conversation included talking about the low value dance has in some peoples hierarchy of learning. “wow you can do a degree in dance – I’ve heard you can do a degree in anything nower days.!!’ This returned us in many ways to the positivist non-postivist of the morning. The value of dance, or the academic-ness of the arts etc… are measured differently depending on what model for understanding what the world is you use (ontology). And what model for understanding what knowledge you use (epistemology). Whatever your area of scholarship you first need to have a theoretical framework (a sense of where you stand ontologically and/or epistemologically) this is because you do not want to spend all your time justifying what you are doing in some models your work will not be valuable. You want to know the framework you are working in order to make sure you keep moving forward and challenge yourself meaningfully. This awareness of where you stand is important because otherwise you are fighting the personal fight of your own study against gigantic models for research that have nothing to do with what you are doing. In other words, you cannot spend your time persuading yourself you are academic after a history of not feeling academic – you may very well not be in the terms you are setting out.  But you can shift what your perception of academic is to better understand the learning you have done. Then the question is not ‘artistic or academic?’ ‘It is artistic academia how and where do I fit in?’  Then you can spend you time finding the theory and thinking and frameworks that make sense for your embodied approach to the world.

We talked abit about the blog post on Theory, theoretical frameworks and ethics (see below posts) . It only has one comment please comment there too.

The pm discussion was with:

Davis

Michelle

Emma

Maite

Please have a look at each other’s posts on the two discussions, comment there and here.

Helen and I reminded you the Dancing and writing  Professional Practice Summer Intensive is fun and inspiring and helpful  and open for  registration now. See post below.

Adesola

Sunday Skype Chat

Our Group  Skype Chat went well this Sunday. We had Module Two-ers, Three-ers and were lucky to also have an alumni (Mary).

We talked about a number of points but as we talked we kept coming back to the importance of synthesis cross the course, across ideas, across actions.

We saw how important it is to move away from compartmentalizing. Instead seeing whole experiences that inform our learning and development and feed our reflective process. So for instance:

A pilot interview could inform you about how your theoretical framework (non- positivist approach) is forming.

Creating a consent form could make you think about how you will carry out interviews.

I feel that pilots, ethics, tool for data collection, and stance (positivist or non) are all interconnected. (Of course I do I come from a non-positivist  perspective!!).

We talked about not worrying over the minutia. This is also about seeing the big picture, and understanding that within it there will be times you feel lost.

We talked about field data tools like interviews. And seeing these as something you respond to as part of the analysis of the inquiry, rather than interviews or other tool as methods to get people to tells you the 'answer'  to your inquiry.

Lastly we talked about ethics. I always feel very strongly about the point that ethics is not about not hurting people. (The road to hell is paved with good intensions). How can you know you won't or aren't hurting someone? I feel ethics is about constant reflection on you actions: considering before you take action. That is why we call these ethical considerations. It's the consideration that is the important part.

Helen is going to post about tips for Turnitin - posting work for hand-in.

Ainsley  http://ainsleymsudds.blogspot.com

Suzanne  http://zsurcy.blogspot.com

Maria  http://mariaranden.blogspot.com

Sarah http://sarahsulemanji.blogspot.com

Rose  http://rosepaye3012.blogspot.com

Louise http://louisedubai.blogspot.com

What do you think?

Please comment below

Adesola

:)

Containers

I am trying to write something each week but time goes by so quickly and I sometimes feel I have not moved on from the last thoughts in the last blog post. So for this week I am going to share my notes from listening to a talk and watching some work on-line by Ralph Lemon.

The talk was loosely about two pieces

‘come on Charley Patton’ and ‘How can you stay in the house all day and not go anywhere?’

His process means that a work takes years to make.

He talked about a container: the puzzle that is the inquiry that holds to together a activity. You can’t solve it, it’s a thing you read about, think about explore but it is not to be solved. The container is what holds a dance; it is an opportunity.

I am thinking about the containers we are so used to we don’t notice them – the things we do because we just always do and the assumptions we no longer question. What Janet was saying on Hopal’s blog about considering yourself a certain way like seeing yourself as ‘good’ and how that container is so helpful in that it houses you safely but also so restricting in that it houses you safely. What Hopal was saying about time as a container. Thinking about paradigms such as positivism is about the kind of container you use to organise being xxxx but this is also about the container being the assumptions you are willing not to question. Things you will let slide. In terms of research the container is the framework the assumptions you are aligning yourself with the assumptions that will inform your questioning.

He spoke about self-exploration as ‘tourism of My Self’. He talked about the gap where you want to follow your own rules but can’t. I think this is the space artists are brave enough to face again and again. In dance we explore what we do once we have figured out how to balance by tilting ourselves off balance again.

It was amazing how in questions and answers people had talked about habits, impulse, inhabiting the body – all of this Dewey writes about and yet the world of dance and ontological theory very rarely meet and share ideas.

When asked how he manages to keep up the tiring task that all artists have of questioning yourself he mentioned the importance of coming to terms with your Self – being kind

“I am beholden to trying to be as kind to myself as possible”

My final notes to myself in terms of teaching technique are: I am teaching toward - being a good dancer is not about virtuosity it is about being true to yourself, your body and your intent, to the possibility of your practice. That is what I want my students to learn when I teach a technique class. To that end I try to set exercises that through up physical questions that can be answered with the integrity of technique – or that is what I am working on anyway.

So what are your containers as you look at your past experience, or plan an inquiry project or carry one out??

What do you think?

Adesola

Positivism

We have had some great conversations going on in Link-in. One strand explored positivism and non-positivism. But I found myself in an odd position. The idea of the conversations is that we are exchanging ideas with no value placed on who says it, just what is said. The whole point of the course is that we are all experts at least in our own lives. So when we talked about positivism and I felt we were limiting ourselves by the understanding of how large the idea is; I did not feel I could say any more in the conversation because I did not want to devalue what was being discussed or ‘pull rank’. But I also feel a responsibility to you as someone who advises on the course that you do not leave with ideas that I do not think are grounded in how most people understand a theory. So I decided my blog was the best place to talk about it.

Positivism is more than just a method, it is a methodology for understanding the world. It is understanding the world as pre-existing. That there is a truth that we are able to find regardless of what we do: it is there to be found. It is seeing objects are existing in their own right and that your see or note seeing of them, your experiences have no impact on what they are. They are fundamentally real. It sees us as having one reality of which we can be aware of or not but that does not change its existence. This is about the fundamental substance of the world, what it is made of and how it is in relation to us.

Non-positivism is also more than a method, it is a methodology for understanding the world. Here interaction has an impact on the substance of ‘things’. There can be more than one ‘truth’. In fact ‘truth’ does not represent the same thing, have the same meaning as it does in the above. Reality is not fixed. So theses two are about an ontological understanding of what reality is. They are more than about which research method to use. They are important in research not just to indicate appropriate tools but because as researchers we need to have a framework to describe the world we think we are in.

I often use dance metaphors or analogies because I think dance needs to have a voice beyond the studio mirrors but these things are not so often discussed in the context of dance. So the metaphors we use must be seen as that, window on to large ideas that are not limited by a particular subject. Also the dance examples are not comments on dance methodology – what dance is or should be etc… they are using the situation of dance to look at ideas. There are so many beautiful texts, and other work about this I really encourage you to take the ideas and explore rather than decide yet exactly what they mean in the detail of your own day-to-day teaching activity. I really hope my ambition to move away from the usual language to discuss these, into a language that references dance does not confuse or over simplify the beauty of these ideas.

I wonder if I come across ??

Adesola