Methodological lessons learned

The topic chosen for this study has not been studied before and in the context of continuing and rapid change in the Higher Education sector and associated demands on academic and professional staff, it would appear to be timely. The research design and methodological approach selected yielded rich data and were concerned with assuring rigour and achieving persuasiveness in the arguments presented. I sought to ensure credibility in the phenomenographic approach to the research and as an insider-researcher, to the interpretative analysis of the data. I endeavoured to achieve resonance for other practitioners in the presentation of the findings.

This study has taken place over a number of years and has drawn on a wide range of literature from the fields of educational research and academic librarianship. This research has increased my understanding of my own role and the relationship of my professional work to the discipline of art and design. It has illuminated tacit

understandings and has enabled me to reflect on and change my own practice as a Director of converged library and student services. I believe that this research has demonstrated that a small-scale systematic study in a specific disciplinary area can provide helpful information about staff perceptions of students and increase awareness of the approaches staff employ to enable students to learn. Whilst it is acknowledged that such information may not be universally transferable, it has contributed new knowledge and understanding which could lead to improved and potentially transformed, practice and approaches to facilitating arts student learning.

I had not undertaken any phenomenographic research until commencing this study and was apprehensive about ‗getting it wrong‘. I have learned however that

phenomenography is a useful tool which can provide a structured approach to data collection and analysis as well as offering a theoretical underpinning and consistent focus on the phenomenon at the heart of the research. In taking a developmental phenomenographic approach I have been able to maintain a highly reflexive and interpretative stance to this study which has ensured it will have meaning for my own

and others‘ practice. I found the emphasis that phenomenography places on

understanding collective rather than individual experiences helpful. It required me to ensure that the focus of the research was sustained and centred on the phenomenon.

Developing an interview schedule which would enable the collection of rich data was challenging and I am glad that I piloted the interview process a number of times before commencing on the final study. Sharing drafts of the categories of variation with my Supervisor and my peers was also helpful to my own criticality and my awareness of my ‗insiderness‘ and tested the persuasiveness of the arguments and interpretation derived from the interview narratives.

There is little doubt that phenomenography has its limitations and it has been critiqued for a tendency to equate categorical hierarchies as developing towards a ‗correct‘ conception (Webb, 1997; Cousins, 2009) and also for its focus on groups and not individuals (Säljö, 1996). Phenomenographic methods have also been challenged for appearing to pay insufficient attention to what is ‗unsaid‘ and underplaying the emotional dimensions of teaching and learning interactions (Bowden, 1996; Ashworth and Lucas, 2000; Cousins, 2009), whilst Alsop and

Tompsett (2006) have queried the generalisability of findings, given the small-scale of much of phenomenographic research. However it remains a method which is still widely applied in Higher Education and is strongly connected to research which is seeking to improve the student experience (Tight, 2016).

The continued application of phenomenographic approaches to educational research may derive from the strengths it offers researchers, particularly in relation to research design and methodological approach. Phenomenographic principles provide a robust methodological framework and offer a tried and tested approach to undertaking research. Phenomenography requires researchers to ‗bracket‘ their own experiences and ensures that they foster iterative and reflexive approaches to data analysis. It offers a methodological approach for mitigating some of the behavioural impacts on the research setting and builds researcher consciousness of their own ‗pre-

knowledge‘.

The use of phenomenography in this study enabled a sustained focus to be maintained on the phenomenon being researched and also offered a highly structured approach for identifying variation and commonality across and within the pool of data. The phenomenographic methods applied, particularly in relation to the participant

as a method for uncovering ‗variation‘ also enables the researcher to ‗think apart‘ significant distinctions between the perceptions which are surfaced through the long and highly iterative process of analysis (Harris, 2011).

Bruce (1999) in her examination of the strengths and limitations of phenomenography as a research approach contends that it has the potential to advance ‗the application of phenomenological and hermeneutic frameworks to LIS theory, research and practice‘ (Bruce, 1999, p. 31). This view supports the argument that phenomenography

provides a research tool which through its focus on variation, builds understanding of specific phenomena and by so doing, uncovers information which is highly relevant to practice.

Whilst the phenomenographic approach certainly provided an effective and appropriate method for the collection and analysis of data through semi-structured interviews and enabled the primary research question which guided the research to be addressed, it could not enable a deep and extensive exploration of the social practices aspects of the study. Therefore I undertook a further analysis of the discourse

employed in the narratives offered by these academic art librarians. This decision derived from a belief that the way we talk about students and disciplines is important. I believed that the discourse used by the research participants to describe what they perceived and what they did, would be significant. Their statements might prove indicative of their view of the world and could reveal their opinions of learning and teaching in the creative arts.

The interpretative stance adopted for the final analysis of the identified categories and aspects of the discourse which permeated the narratives, was based on an acceptance of the notion of multiple realities which are fluid and not fixed (Green, 2006a, p.34). Social-constructivist and interpretative paradigms also allowed for the recognition of contextual factors. I believe that this was important to ensure the meaningful

coherence, persuasiveness and resonance of the findings of this research for academic arts librarians and to ensure the outcomes were relevant to their professional practice.

The decision to employ an additional method of analysis and to consider the meta- category or meta-finding from the phenomenographically derived data, was a difficult one. I was concerned that the use of interpretative analysis could overlay the

utterances of the participants too greatly with my own conceptions, assumptions and understandings. I was also anxious I might lose focus on the experiences of the group. However I felt it was important to take this additional step and to continue to focus on

the described experiences (and not my own) to ensure a more complete analysis of the social and material contexts which may have a bearing on the activities of this

professional group of staff. I suggest that this approach has enabled a further examination of the contextual factors which may have influenced the described experiences. The intention to ensure that the findings were relevant and meaningful to practitioners seeking to inform and enhance their practice, has I hope, at least in part, been achieved.

Insider research is sometimes described as inherently problematic and whilst there are obvious drawbacks regarding potential bias, problematic power-relations between researcher and research subjects and concerns about ‗taken for granted‘ knowledge in the analysis process, it also offers opportunities for insightful interpretation of

meanings and experiences. Insider research also offers a methodological approach which can be informed by a deep understanding of a particular community of practice and a shared discourse. Awareness of social practices and identities is important if change is to occur and insider research can offer other practitioners accounts of

practice which are recognisable to the practitioner group and which may resonate with their own interests and concerns.