Well hello readers of the blog.
Surveys have been returned. Interviews conducted and analysis very nearly completed. I thought I'd fill you in!!
I'm fairly pleased so far as the process has gone according to plan. Any changes that had to be made were minimal. Originally the plan had been to interview face to face but arranging a convenient time and place for it to take place proved harder than anticipated so I had to settle for telephone conversations.
The subject up for discussion was rejection so being able to call upon ex-colleagues proved a distinct advantage because they were very open and honest providing me with good material to analyse. I had a series of questions prepared but found once we'd started the majority of them were answered in the conversation. Us 'artists' do like to talk about ourselves!!
I got to thinking that I was fortunate to have a relaxed atmosphere during the interviews but I wondered how many fellow students interviewed strangers and it proved to be difficult. Was the relevant data collected? Did you have to literally force it out of them? Or maybe they were a modern professional and were really helpful.
The statistics on percentages of surveys returned was accurate from my experience. 25-30%. Advice from Alan on a couple of question changes helped immensely. I'm glad I put the time in creating suitable questions as the data gathered was helpful and tied in with the interviews. Did others get many responses from their surveys? I would have obviously liked more but I would never have got to the magic 1000 mark which one requires to prove an absolute. (As told by Ms P. Nottingham)!
Analysing the data collected was fairly straight forward. My difficulty will come when drawing conclusions as when dealing with people's emotions it all becomes very apparent to personalities and the situation at that moment in time. All will be explained in the report!
Leon on the issue of subjectivity in qualitative research - the people side - these are people's interpretations - and evidence - so emotional responses are like any others - were they there? how strongly did people feel about issues/concerns? you are a research tool in this methodology - respecting there point of view - look at a couple of research sources (the ones by Bell and Costley Elliot and Gibbs are digital - others are in Reader 6 and 7 and the Bibliographies of these resources - but also don't overcomplicate the process of looking for emerging themes form the evidence - what did people say - what did it mean - these are your 'findings' then how do these compare with the literature (experts) and your own experience as a practitioner?
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