Using the information from Reader 6 'Tools of Professional Inquiry', including; the different methods of 'data collection' (their merits and limits), the ways in which to analyse and evaluate my data and the affects of being an 'insider researcher'; I have piloted 3 of the 4 tools of inquiry - an interview, a focus group and an observation.
Although I have not had time to personally create my own survey (the 4th tool of inquiry); I am however having to hand out and collect a survey created by the 'Learning South Leicestershire School Sports Partnership', who I am currently working for. This has given me the chance to evaluate that the quantitative data produced from a survey in the field/topic I am researching, would be very useful when collecting data from the children's parents in my inquiry.
Below is the link to my critical reflection on the 'tools of professional inquiry' I piloted:
Tools of Professional Inquiry - Merits and Limits
I know it's long!!! But I would really appreciate if you could take a look and let me know your thoughts. Did you have similisr experiences when conducting your pilot interviews, surveys, focus groups or observations? Is there anything I havn't included that you think I need to consider about using any of the tools of inquiry?
Hi Lizzie,
ReplyDeleteI found your reflection on the piloted tasks really interesting and it seems like you have been very busy!
I agree that perhaps your interview would be more benefitial to you if the questions were more specific. In this way you can really get the answers you want. Perhaps think about what it is you really want to find out and tailor the questions around this. After reading your reflection I am definitely going to use a dictaphone to record the interviews and then take notes after. In this way there is no pressure and you can use every single piece of information.
It sounds like the focus group raised new issues that you perhaps hadn't thought about which is brilliant. This could lead you to somewhere more specific within your inquiry. It is nice to have others to 'bounce off' and I assume that this is the case in a focus group? New ideas spur new thought processes and new issues!
I was really interested reading about the findings from your observation. I love to sometimes just sit and watch a situation and peolpe ask why you are being quiet? I'm just taking it all in and learning and obsorbing what is infront of me. I truly believe we can learn so much through observation and this will be a great tool for your inquiry with the children.
However, like you said it will be time consuming in order to see the progress, but perhaps you can use the summer term (when we have finished in May) to observe the progress? Perhaps April to July? This then gives you the summer to analyse the data from the observations.
It seems like you have everything under control and I'm really looking forward to hearing more on your inquiry :)
Hi Jo, thanks foe all you comments : )
DeleteYes - when I interview the teacher's of the children I'm definatly going to ask more specific questions and use a dictaphone. I think when interviewing Elaine I was so interested and caught up in the wealth of knowledge she was sharing with me, I didn't really concentrate on guiding tne interview to much - its was a brilliant oppotunity to gain so much information to help me with my inquiry though.
As you were saying about conducting my observations for my inquiry - I'm working from now until July teaching all the developmental moves I am focusing on for my inquiry so I will have lots of chance for observations.
Thanks for taking the time to read my lengthy task!
Take care x
Hi lizzie,
ReplyDeleteThis seems like such a fun inquiry! I can't wait to see what the outcome is.
when you were speaking to Elaine, did you have a set of questions to guide you? From your experience, would you prepare yourself more rigidly or do you think that the 'go with the flow' tactic worked well?
I was particularly interested in your focus group. I imagine there was so much to take in at once! I thought the way you did the limits and merits made things really clear and easy to read :-)
Sarah