Investigating practice and the research question

The context, that I am planning to investigate, is a higher school of interior design and more particularly the one-semester course of architectural drafting/ sketching. The course is obligatory, it is offered to first year students, while I am the instructor in one of those classes. Generally, these courses, like drafting, painting, sculpture, etc, have a ‘practical’ character, (the students have to ‘do’ something and not just to watch a presentation or a lecture), thus commonly they are called ‘studio courses’ or ‘workshops’.

The research question

The hypothesis is that each student has constructed a view about her/his abilities in relation to what she/he considers as valued abilities (socially or culturally) or how these abilities are acquired. For example some students assume that they are naturally gifted with drawing abilities, others that is a matter of practice and methodical guidance, etc, and these assumptions affect their participation.

Thus, one part of this research will try to explore these views (what the students think about their abilities in relation to what is socially valued) and the constraining or facilitating effects of these views have in their participation. The other part, will try to identify, ways to overcome these constraints in order to improve student’s learning (creativity, desire for experimentation, etc). 

The hypothesis is that each student has constructed a view about her/his abilities.

a) The type of data that I will need   

Under sociocultural ideas, all three curriculum levels (specified, enacted and experiential) are enmeshed and influenced by each other. Therefore, in order to address the research question, relevant data from all planes should be collected (for example investigate students’ views, their personal histories, the constraining and facilitating influences of the social order, etc).

The type of research will be qualitative and conducted by me (teacher) in my own classroom (practitioner researcher). Yet, the data and the methods of collecting these data might vary significantly.

SOCIAL ORDER Specified curriculum	What is valued as good skills/ abilities, in relation to drafting/sketching? -  Identify cultural beliefs and stereotypes - Analyzing official educational directives and policies
EXPERIENCED WORLD Enacted curriculum Experienced curriculum	What students bring into practice (in relation to drafting/sketching abilities)? - Personal histories, - Beliefs - Identities Ongoing activity - Observe participation (constraining and liberating factors)

 b) The methods that I will use to observe practice and the interaction

The selection of the most suitable method will depend from the type of data. In addition, the following criteria will be also taken into consideration:

-       Methods that do not conflict with institutional polices (for example videoing or tape recording are not allowed)

-       Methods that are available and easy to use

-       Methods that the researcher uses with confidence (for example I feel confident with field notes and sketches. I also prefer dialog  rather that structured interviews, etc).

	Data that the research might need	Method
Social order	- Identify cultural beliefs and stereotypes - Identify official educational directives and policies	-Research in newspaper archives, interviews’, bibliography, institutional policies -Internet searching.
Experienced World	- Personal histories, - Beliefs and identities - Other learning sources	- Interviews or questionnaires - Group discussions
	- Data from the ongoing activity	- Observation and field notes. -  Diary with personal reflections and observations - Group discussion
	-Evidences from assessment	- Formative portfolio
An initial approach of the methods that I am planning to use for my research

Assessment and criteria:

A method of assessment could be a formative portfolio (an individual and/or a collective) that could be either assessed/analyzed by the students or by the teacher.

Some assessment criteria could be:

• Degree of experimentation with several representational means
• Investigation for their personal style 
• Degree of active participation  

c) The sample: My class is rather small (15 students) thus I am planning to include all the participants in the research.

 d) Ethical issues

The issue of bias: Keeping field-notes can be highly selective since the observer can fall in the trap to record those facts and incidents that confirm his/her ideas or match to his/her own experience and expectations.

How can I investigate my own role in settings? Since, I am planning to make the observations and keep field notes (as a practitioner researcher) the difficulty to observe my own role is obvious.

What to tell people? On the one hand, I would like to allow the involvement of the students in research planning and take their consensus about their participation, but on the other their normal behavior might be influenced.

Conflicts with the institutional policies and curriculum:  The research might create conflicts with the curriculum scheduling or with institutional policies.