5C continued- Ethics and Professional Enquiry

Having gained an insightful understanding of ethics and its principles, with the help of Reader 5, I am now looking into how I can use this knowledge in my own practitioner research project.

The Reader asks about the motivation factor behind my inquiry- this is all explained in my ‘Light Bulb’ post. I wanted to know myself how to motivate myself (while injured), and how others cope to keep on going.

For a long time I have had the idea at the end to create a video footage/short documentary on ballet dancers and their experiences, thoughts, motives on why they keep dancing and what motivates them.

Like ethics, where they are there for an individual’s/party’s own benefit, this needs to be considered in any inquiry too. Deciding to focus just on ballet dancers as the main subject, I would like to create multiple benefits from my research and end product:

·      Motivation for dancers, and possibly others

·      The perspective from the dancer’s point of view

·      To portray to others (non-dancers/ballet dancers) the uniqueness of their life, to show how special it is

·      To express those wonderful inexplicable feelings as a dancer

There is responsibility that comes with researching and inquiring different practitioners to ensure confidentiality in any information, and ensure it to be valid. Relating to the guidelines of BERA (British Education Research Association), here are some of my thoughts on how I will lead an inquiry that I regard as ethical:

·      Create proposals that are ethical, and legal

·      Respect all people I will interview, treat them well

·      Stick to the topics of my inquiry when interviewing, finding out information, surveying

·      Inform participants what inquiry is about

·      Provide feedback

·      Get informed knowledge/permission to use certain info, video footage, recordings, names etc. (Use permission slips to sign?) From dancers and employers

·      Store data safely-in 1 folder +back-up, not to post online, keep all references

·      Manage time and finances efficiently- e.g. don’t go over time, respect each other’s space

·      Report project related problems to appropriate person- student and teacher

·      No plagiarism- use own words, references well, produce bibliography

After reading the last Case Study (5),I picked up stereotyping from certain groups of people which shows that you can’t be too judgmental. Secondly the various groups were obviously from different backgrounds and therefore had different opinions. This made me aware to keep an open mind, analyse their different situations and keep in mind what is suitable to inquire and research into.