6b - Reflections on Inquiry Tools

I attempted two pilot methods that I may use when writing my inquiry. I found them both interesting but they both produced very different qualities of information and piloting the techniques have allowed me to learn from the experiences so I can produce better results when doing them for real. I may try other techniques later, but these are the two I have attempted so far.


Pilot Survey

I created a pilot survey in order to test techniques which I may use as part of my research for my inquiry, it allowed me to survey a wide range of people and the responses were kept anonymous. Firstly, one thing I noticed is that I did have minimal responses to my survey. This makes is harder as the statistics produced may not be accurate to a larger scale but barring that some my findings were interesting. Everyone who I surveyed had suffered a dance related however two thirds of these people did not seek medical attention from the first signs of injury which backs up statistics which I had found in my research. I found this method produced a lot of similar answers and not always were the most detailed responses.

Here are some quotes from my survey which were responses to questions regarding dancing with injury, pushing through pain and coping with injury;

• "It feels a failure to be taken off due to injury"
• "Fear of disappointing others"
• "I thought it wasn't worth being off for such a small injury"
• "I just used to grin and bear it"
• "Technique and overall happiness is going to suffer"

I found some of these responses pretty worrying. Although I hope all these dancers have recovered from their injuries it worries that mentalities like this will make dancers dance through injuries or push them until they are worse and this could lead to the injury becoming too severe to continue dancing. Responses like these make me determined to establish ways to help dancers find the right help and support physically and mentally.

Although this tool did help gather some interesting information I am not sure I will use it in my inquiry or I will devise more specific questions that ensure I gather the information I need. I just found that not many people have the time or patients to complete surveys which resulted in a lack of responses and I think I could get in precise responses in an interview. However, it may be more useful is I created very simple multiple choice questions. This would mean that it wouldn't take very long for people to complete and it would allow me to create statistics with the results. 

Pilot Interview

I found this a very useful technique as I could produce a higher quality of information. My plan for my final interviews is that I am going to interview two dancers that have suffered injuries which has stopped them dancing for a certain period of time, with the information gathered I am going to create case studies based on what they went through and then use these case studies to work with a psychologist and discuss how to go about supporting this person and what would be the best ways to help someone cope during a time of injury. 

Due to the nature of my inquiry I am asking a lot of personal questions about the persons emotions and feeling during the times of their injury so firstly I wanted to create a consent form to ensure they were comfortable with me studying their situation and I decided to keep them anonymous when sharing my information. I also decided that I would try to create a comfortable atmosphere where the person was in an environment they knew and felt relaxed. I also created key questions that I wanted to ask during the interview but as the person answered I tried to keep it relaxed so it was like a conversation, so that all the questions are covered but the person is comfortable to reveal their emotions. I also used a voice recorder as I wanted the person to remain anonymous and I also felt that some people might feel a bit uncomfortable in front of a camera. I found this technique very informative and I am definitely going to use it as a tool in my inquiry.