CHAPTER 3 Design and Methods
3.11 Data collection
The first part of the data collection (Interaction Procedure A – Table 3.11) was conducted in Singapore and Canberra, and the second part (Interaction Procedure B – Table 3.12) was conducted online via the CLC site. Table 3.13 expands Table 3.2 to include details of the data collected.
Table 3.13 Research aims, data collection
Aims Questions Data
1.
a) To identify adolescents’ preferences and consumption habits in relation to art and technology
b) To compare these preferences and
consumption habits across different countries
What communication modes do adolescences prefer/use?
What are the dimensions of their artistic awareness?
What qualities in their self-expression do adolescents perceive or value as artistic?
What are the parameters of the mediated social/academic technological environment in which they operate? How do adolescents use technology as a platform or a tool for self-expression, especially their ‘artistic’ self?
To what extent do adolescents understand their role in a mediated social/academic technological environment?
Understanding of artistic expression (e.g. meaning of artistic, being artistic, artistic vs. creative)
Value placed on artistic representation
Source of artistic ideas and inspirations
Types of artistic experience
Preferred medium for creating artistic expressions
Levels of engagement in their social networking space
Feedback about their participation experience
Table 3.13 (Continued)
Aims Issues Data
2. To explore the ways in which adolescents from different cultures present themselves to their peers within a technologically mediated social/academic technological environment in relation to: i) their communicative behaviour
ii) their technological comfort zone iii) their ‘artistic’ negotiation
To what extent might there be cultural differences in the ways adolescents:
a) present themselves b) communicate their
feelings, thoughts and ideas negotiate differences
To what extent might the social networking space be preferred to face-to-face engagement?
To what extent might cross-cultural variances in the adolescents influence their communicative behaviour?
How do adolescents use technology as a platform or a tool to express
themselves artistically?
Is the social networking space constricting or liberating for adolescents?
Artworks posted on the designated site
Responses to the artworks of peers
Artists’ responses to their own artworks and artworks of their peers (comments/feedback)
Artists’ responses to the whole process of their artistic experience in the project and participation feedback
Table 3.14 presents the execution of the data collection procedures and deviations from the initial plan. Further details of the stages of the data collection, including the location, time frame and duration, can be found in Appendix N.
Table 3.14 Execution of data collection and deviations from the initial plan
Interaction Procedure A: invitation, consent, background survey, interview & art production (Stage 1) – conducted in the participating schools
Activity Status Deviations
Invitation to participate in research project (researcher/teacher-in-charge) to be present to answer students’ questions)
Complete consent to participate in research project
form
The teachers volunteered to handle the administration, including identifying participants for the project and completion of consent documents prior to the meeting
Complete background survey
Send official letter of confirmation to inform parent/guardian of those students who have agreed to take part in the research project
The teachers supported the administration process
Plan, design and create visual representations Artwork submission questionnaire used as
post-participation questionnaire (online exit
survey)
Write rationale for their visual representations
Complete an artwork submission questionnaire
Documenting art-making process and reflecting on personal experiences in journal entries (CLC)
D Most students only attempted the reflective
journal at the end of the project Conduct interviews (face-to-face) with individual
student participants to discuss interview questions (refer to Appendix)
D One-on-one interviews were changed to
small group interviews Pair the students with their international peers
Notify students of their working partners (via e-mail) D Researcher arranged the pairing but the teachers from the respective schools notify their own students
Set up the CLC network for the cross-cultural interaction
Melanie Bezear (Learning Technologies Officer from ACT DET) supported the CLC network (Blogs, Reflective Journal & Exit Survey)
() = executed as planned
() = not able to execute due to unforeseen circumstances
Table 3.14 Execution of data collection and deviations from the initial plan (Continued) Interaction Procedure B: Cross-cultural interactions & modification of artistic representations
(Stage 2) – conducted in the CLC network (online)
Activity Status: Derivations:
Communicate with the participating schools
Start cross-cultural interactions 1 (blog 1)
Students work in their designated pairs
Students exchange artwork
Students may operate in closed blog interaction when they are at home after school within specific timeframe
Revision 1 – if none, justify Students from both countries only posted
their artwork. There was no evidence of modifications
Personal reflections in journal entries D Most students only attempted the
reflective journal at the end of the project
Cross-cultural interactions 2 (blog 2)
Re-pairing (students work with a different partner from
the same group)
Students exchange artwork
Students may operate in closed blog interaction when they are at home after school within a specific timeframe
Revision 2 – if none, justify Students from both countries only posted
their artwork. There was no evidence of modifications
Start Cross-cultural interactions 3 (blog 3)
Students may upload their artwork on an opened blog Students may operate in opened blog interaction when they are at home or during school time within a specific timeframe (36–48 hours)
The time frame was extended to the first week of June (Please refer to Section 4.9.3 for further details)
Personal reflections in journal entries D Students only attempted the reflective
journal at the end of the project
Revision 3 – if none, justify Students from both countries only posted
their artwork. There was no evidence of modifications
Personal reflections in journal entries Collect and print journal entries and Exit
Survey responses from the CLC network
() = executed as planned
() = not able to execute deal to unforeseen circumstances
D = deviated from original plan
The deviations noted in the third column of Table 3.14 meant that:
it was not possible for the researcher to observe and document the students’ art- making process;
student participants were unable to complete the art submission questionnaire and write a rationale for their artwork. Subsequently, the art submission
questionnaire was used as the online post-participation questionnaire (exit online survey);
the researcher decided to post the questionnaire on the CLC network, so that the students could log on to complete it during their spare time; and
it was not possible for the researcher to conduct one-on-one interviews with the participants. With very limited time allocated to the project, the researcher decided to conduct small group interviews instead (the time frame and the venue for the small group interview sessions can be found in Appendixes L, O & P).
The following sections discuss issues arising from various aspects of the data collection.
3.11.1 Trial period and time frame extension for blog interactions
The blog interactions started with a trial period of five days to allow the student participants to sort out technical issues and become familiar with the CLC site. The initial ‘formal’ blog interactions began between 23th May 2011 and 29th May 2011 (seven days). This time frame was extended to June, due to disruptions such as the Singaporean college participants having to prepare for mid-term assessments, going on school camp and a mid-term school break, and the Australian participants striving to meet deadlines for assignments, assessment tasks, and projects. The extension allowed the student more time to interact and engage in the blog project.
3.11.2 Artwork requirement
The original plan was to conduct an in-class session with the participants in which the researcher could collect data relating to planning, design and execution, and the students could write rationales for their visual representations and complete artwork submission questionnaires. On the blogs, after each interaction with their international peers, student participants were encouraged to enhance or modify their artwork (if necessary) to increase the audience’s engagement and understanding of their intentions. However, after much negotiation with the teachers in charge of the project at the respective schools, this became impossible, because the students were already busy with their own art projects and had no time to embark on another. Teachers were also reluctant to give the researcher more time to conduct another class session on top of the time already allocated for the introduction and interview sessions. As a result, the researcher had to compromise, using the students’ existing art projects as the subject of interaction on the blog.
3.11.3 Online exit survey (post participation questionnaire)
The art submission questionnaire was administered as an online exit survey (post- participation questionnaire) to be completed after the blog interactions. The final questionnaire was slightly different to the initial one due to technical issues. For example, question 8, formerly a multiple-choice question, was changed to an open-ended question,
3.11.4 Reflective journal entries
Self-reflective journal entries were intended to be ongoing throughout the three blog interactions to allow participants to document the process of their artistic experience, including the artwork planning–research–creation process, cross-cultural interactions, feedback about the project, and transformation of artwork as a result of modification after negotiating their ideas and concepts on the blogs. However, students did not make journal entries until towards the end of blog three.
3.11.5 Other deviations
The initial plan was to include students with an arts and non-arts backgrounds. However, all the participating schools/college from both countries made the executive decision that this was an ‘art research project’, and therefore included only students taking visual arts as a subject, which had the added consequence that girls outnumbered boys.