Tutorial with Paula: Tuesday 14th March

Analysis - Furthering the Inquiry - Artefact

After sending over task 2 (i.e. Having a go at some analysis) and receiving tutor feedback, it was really useful to have a tutorial and talk things through with Paula. I told her how I'd actually gone to attempt the task several times and ended up just sitting there - lost. Therefore it was great for me to write anything and everything and for Paula to then hit me with it!



We spoke about structuring the analysis and this is how I now understand it:


What people said → My interpretation → Compare it to literature → Evaluate the information with SIG'S → Extend the meanings → Relate to my professional practice



We also spoke about 'thematic headings'. My inquiry is:

"Understanding interdisciplinary skills within a Musical Theatre Production."

And these are my themes so far:

Disciplinary, Interdisciplinary, Work habits, Character traits

The latter two came from researching key words such as teamwork, communication and creativity selected from the interviews I have undertaken so far (with the head of wigs, head of sound, head of carpentry, dance captain), in connection with skills required from any individual in the work place. 

"The term 21st century skills refers to a broad set of knowledge, skills, work habits, and character traits that are believed—by educators, school reformers, college professors, employers, and others—to be critically important to success in today’s world"

"In addition, a number of related terms—including applied skills, cross-curricular skills, cross-disciplinary skills, interdisciplinary skills, transferable skills, transversal skills, noncognitive skills, and soft skills, among others—are also widely used in reference to the general forms of knowledge and skill commonly associated with 21st century skills."

http://edglossary.org/21st-century-skills/

When researching how to analyse my qualitative data and words spoken,  I came across: SOCIAL NETWORK ANALYSIS. When interviewing participants about skills required within their roles, interpersonal skills were mentioned much more than specific skills specialised to their craft. Therefore, this form of analysis seems appropriate to use when tackling my data. 

"This form of analysis examines the links between individuals as a way of understanding what motivates behaviour."

"It has been used, for example, as a way of understanding why some people are more successful at work than others"

https://www.skillsyouneed.com/learn/analysing-qualitative-data.html

I intent to research further into this method and into SOCIAL NETWORKING THEORY i.e. 

"the study of how people, organizations or groups interact with others inside their network. Understanding the theory is easier when you examine the individual pieces starting with the largest element, which is networks, and working down to the smallest element, which is the actors."

http://socialnetworking.lovetoknow.com/What_is_Social_Network_Theory

I came across the image below which is also known as 'the kite network' - developed by David Krackhardt. I would like to do a similar diagram which represents my individual participants/departments and then from the information provided, draw lines connecting them to other participants/departments that they interact with.

Other pieces of advice from Paula in regards to analysis were:

"STATE THE OBVIOUS"

and

The metaphor of cooking or a recipe. 

It is important to intertwine the literature and the research rather than separating them. In other words, you wouldn't have spaghetti bolognese without the bolognese? I can apply this to my inquiry I regards to skills. Both disciplinary skills I.e. Specialised skills, and interdisciplinary skills I.e. Interpersonal skills/character traits FUNCTION TOGETHER.

We finished off by touching on the final artefact. I spoke to Paula about my ideas of a backstage/behind the scenes vlog including a section where I can give something back to my participants by engaging with them in a team activity and using my own area of expertise. It would also be a test and application of my own interpersonal skills gained and developed. 

I researched backstage vlogs and found that Broadway.com have a YouTube channel (https://www.youtube.com/user/Broadwaycom/featured) and do several of these. Check out their channel to find ones led by Sunset Boulevard's 'Michael Xavier' and Cats' 'Tim Hanes'. This shows that backstage vlogs are of interest and are a relevant means of presentation and artistic communication for today's, musical theatre audiences.