Triangulation and Methods for Data Analysis

In this study, as it is very commonly seen in qualitative research, data analysis methods were not kept separate from the data gathering process.

Because of the wide selection of data gathering methods (participants’ feedback, unobtrusive observations, controlled observations, and application of artistic methods to collect reflective data) and the mix-method approach, the generated data needed to be analysed through multiple perspective method. According to Gray and Malins (2004), this type of data analysis requires the acceptance of pluralism and a

triangulation in evaluation. Triangulation, a term originally used in geography, gets its name from Gray’s method developed on the notion of three perspectives that are that of the student, of the lecturer concerning his own teaching and that of the researcher about learning and teaching. Initially a social sciences methodology for teaching styles in higher art education, this method proposes methodologies that are more visual, interactive and qualitative (Gray & Malins 2004).

Figure 3-8: Triangulation in analysis and use of multiple perspectives (developed from (Gray and Malins’s diagram (2004)

Every step of the practice element of this research was documented with photographs and/or videos in order to reflect on the process and evaluate my research behavior.

Visual images were used in communicating results, too. For instance the professional photographs of individual artworks of Tactual Explorations project were not only supplied as evidence to practice, but also as visual representations of final products.

Photographs of visitors engaging with artworks were also used following the same principle. “Traditional conceptions of validity and reliability, which developed out of positivism, are inappropriate for evaluating artistic inquiry” states Leavy (2009, p. 15).

Pointing out that visual images can form an effective communication tool with a great potential to “help us see things in new ways”, Leavy explains further that this is the major reason why creative researchers resort to using visuals, not only as a medium to represent data but also as to analyse it. She describes the intention behind this as

“confronting and challenging stereotypes and the prevailing ideology that normalizes them” (p. 263).

As well as recording my actions within this research, use of visual imagery helped analyzing theories of Tactual Explorations project, through the tests of Haptic Vision and Tangible Images project. I adapted photo elicitation, a common qualitative method, to Haptic Vision and Tangible Images project. The method usually involves use of images in interviews, and relies on the fact that images evoke stronger senses on humans due to a physical basis that the visual processing centre on the brain is

evolutionary older than the parts that processes the verbal information (Harper 2002).

In this particular project, twelve selected photographs were initially paired with authors to write about haptic stimulus they receive by looking at these images. As described earlier, this response was filtered through a systematic set of instructions that I provided as a creative brief. Their views were added to my views, and as the result of the project I gathered evidence of tactile responses to visual information.

At times, data collected through surveys produced numerical results. These results are presented in tables mainly to show levels of response to questions, as well as to validate numbers of participants. However use of this method does not, in any way, make the inquiry quantitative since the actual data analysis was interpretive and narrative. It was not my intention, at any point during this research, to refer to numbers with their numeric values to generate validity. In a way, surveys were not necessarily used for statistics in this research, but to approve and navigate assumptions.

I wrote this chapter in a linear form where analysis follows data collection. However at times, data collection and analysis actually occurred in a parallel. As Gray and Malins (2004) argue, analysis is never the last stage of the research process as it can occur simultaneously with data gathering. For example, one of the blind participants, Peter, at our visit to the British Museum, after I guided him to the exhibition room from the museum’s gate, pointed out to me that walking arm-in-arm with someone who does not have sight teaches me about the conditions of not being able to see. He suggested that this action gives me a better position as a researcher. At the time, my aim was to talk about the exhibit to gather data. However his views helped me analyse my actions then and there. As a result, I started to look for touch in every aspect of my research. I have then become more open to analysis during data collection instead of waiting for the write moment to come for analysing the information. For this reason, this chapter’s layout does not necessarily reflect the linear path that research followed. The chapters for individual projects serve a better purpose for seeing the actions in place.

Overall, I view my practice as a system of interactive experience art, regardless of the technology it employs. According to Candy et al. (2006b), there are four distinct types of viewpoints involved in working on interactive art systems. These are: 1) the artist’s, 2) the curator’s, 3) the researcher’s and 4) the audience’s point of view. Interpretive data analysis from all three viewpoints was applied to the research as well as to established theories to support these evaluations.

The evaluation took place with two notions in mind. First one is to test hypotheses and the second is to draw capabilities and limitations of the research through these

achievements. Both notions arrive to the same academic point which is to achieve valid and reliable results through methodical analysis of collected data. Both the Tactual Explorations artwork creation process and the collecting process of Haptic Vision &

Tangible Images project, as well as its call for essays tried to address the following common properties of tangibility¹¹:

… Vibration

11 As described in “McLinden, M. and McCall, S. (2002). Learning through Touch: Supporting Children with Visual Impairment and Additional Difficulties. David Fulton. London”

These properties formed the skeleton of the analysis of these projects also. Applying a comparative analysis, the hidden information was judged against these criteria. In the case of Tactual Explorations, each artwork not only proposed to reflect on one or more of these properties, but also provided an inquiry into the visitor interaction with the completed artworks. The main object of the exhibition was the Haptic Simulation of the Bronze Bust of Sophocles. The other artworks were created to provide the missing elements or enhance the existing ones through physical materials.

Along with reflection and action, comparative analysis also was applied to weighing Tactual Exploration exhibition against two other exhibitions.

On the whole the analysis of the data is reflective and interpretive based on the available evidence (Gray & Malins 2004). All relevant data can be found in the appendices and in the CD provided with this thesis.