C REDIBILITY , L IMITATIONS & E THICS

In a keynote speech, whilst defining his five principles, Heikkinen makes a point of distinguishing between “ways for ensuring research quality through five principles for validation (not ‘validity’) of research” (2014, p.2). The difference lays claim to the ‘always-already valid’ nature of qualitative research in a postmodern view, the question is how to go about designing the validation process with transparency. I believe I have already spelled out this process by deploying six principles in Figure 11 as an organising structure. In terms of assessing the trustworthiness of the

findings, I refer to Bryman (2008 p.377) who, drawing on Lincoln and Guba (1985), writes that credibility, transferability, dependability and confirmability are the most

appropriate evaluation criteria for qualitative research of this nature, with transferability being the most salient to my account. If this thesis provokes a response from teachers and other researchers, and they are inspired to replicate aspects of it or adapt content or methodology for their own purposes, then I propose this constitutes further extension of Hall’s ‘conversation’.

Limitations

My aim is to produce a well-grounded narrative supported by aptly chosen and interpreted material, however as I have already stated, these are storied reflexive accounts of a small number of ethnographic studies, derived from subjective observations, and audiovisual artefacts and experiences. As such, my study is as a provocative, multi-method microdot to be judged on its potentially wide-reaching implications, rather than a ‘what works’ project, valued for its short-term replicable

‘workability’ at scale. This study is not instrumentally framed, nor does it test, prove or disprove a hypothesis. For this to be the case, a longitudinal approach would have been more appropriate, following the fortunes of participants and their subsequent media engagements, but the study was limited by the time available within the confines of the PhD process. Further, given the lack of appetite and funding for longitudinal research, and the primacy of positivist Randomised Controlled Tests in government sponsored educational research, it is at grassroots level that I believe my work to be most practicable.

It is the potency of a ‘concentrated’, experiential interpretation that matters, so that data are judged “by their aesthetic standard, their emotive force, their verisimilitude, and criteria of authenticity or integrity to the people they portray” (Bold 2012, p.144, drawing on Clough 2002). This said, and as Bold goes on to point out, my account does have a pragmatic edge, thus I would stretch the scope of my research to include the impact it might have on readers’ own professional practice - its practical

relevance to change-making in the present. In the end, the study represents one of several possible methodological constructs that attempt to represent understandings of ‘others’.

Ethics

Ethical considerations have informed all aspects of my study. The research was undertaken in accordance with the revised guidelines published by the British

Educational Research Association (BERA 2011). Moreover, research involving children and young people carries extra risks and sensitivities (Greig et al. 2013, p.6;

Cohen et al. 2007, p.374), as related in a previous section on negotiations with children in research. Measures were taken to build trust, minimise authoritarianism and to ensure junior participants’ safety and well-being at all times. For example, attention was paid to the register of language used, and to time allocation for general questions and responses. Participants and their guardians were informed in advance, of the nature of the research, the benefits, the risks, if any, their anticipated role, and their right to withdraw at any stage.

The fact that the research featured photos and a range of digital material for different purposes, meant scrupulous attention to informed consent. Appendix C contains an example of a Consent Form and Participant Information Sheet, adapted versions of which were given to all participants. Parental/carer consent was sought where necessary and all adult participants coming into contact with children had up-to-date DBS (Disclosure and Barring Service) checks. Some of the participants in The Clip Club were identified as vulnerable and/or as having behavioural issues, and these children were supported by a learning mentor at all times. Pseudonyms were used for all Clip Club members and anonymity was maintained for all participants apart from key commentators who agreed to be named. Overall, this study was conducted with an enthusiastic spirit of equity and frankness that was inclusive of young participants and sensitive to their interests.

E. Concluding Thoughts

Chapter III has offered a philosophical and practical exegesis of my research approach closely related to a baseline of research and educational values. I believe that a visual anthropological approach is well suited to probing school media production environments, to hazarding an informed interpretation and thence to arguing for newly envisaged educational experiences including digital media-making. I conclude with a passage from Hughes (1971), which resonates with my working practices and sets the tone for the next Chapter. Reprising Wright Mill’s (1959) encapsulation of social science’s main instrument - the ‘sociological imagination’ - Hughes describes it as inhabiting a kind of transitional hinterland:

[of] free association, guided but not hampered by a frame of reference

internalized not quite into the unconscious ... When people say of my work ...

that it shows insight, I cannot think what they could mean other than

whatever quality may have been produced by intensity of observation and a turning of the wheels to find a new combination of the old concepts, or even a new concept.

(Hughes 1971, p.vi, cited by Grady 2004, p.26)

As a creative digital media educator-practitioner since the turn of the century, the

‘wheels have been turning’ implicitly for some time. And so it is with an explicit and

“alert consciousness poised for insight” (Grady 2004, p.26) that I begin the presentation of my research materials.

Chapter IV – Interpretation of Material Part 1