Primary research
I have used a combination of interview and questionnaire. I have chosen to interview five member of staff and to send a questionnaire to five students (both alumni and current students), out of whom three responded.
In pinning down research methods, I have chosen to use one to one interviews for staff and interview like questionnaires for students. Please see my reflection post for further info on the decision.
The feedback I received was that there is quite a large number of questions which can be grouped into three main groups – understanding of decolonising ways of seeing, the Chelsea Fine Art teaching context and suggestions for seminars/club that serve this purpose. However, they are also comprehensive and give a good understanding of the contexts from which the questions are raised. So I kept them but also indicate in the interview that they may talk around them.
The questions for students follow the same vein that of the staff but focussed more on their learning experience. I have also allowed for leeway for incomprehension. It’s okay if they cannot answer or do not understand a question.
The below are summary of data analysis and one example of the transcripts as well as responses from questionnaire. All of which have been anonymised to scrubbed to ensure that identity cannot be traced back.
Primary data analysis – summary
Interview transcript with staff member 1
Questionnaire responses from students
Data Analysis Methods
For primary research data analysis, I have chosen content and narrative analysis as my analytical tools. This is because each interview is different and requires drawing out specific insights. It is time consuming but it’s the best way to obtain and not miss any valuable data. Each interview is also indicative of the interviewee’s personal background, education, age, political leanings, so each will have a slightly different approach to the questions. Since the data output is limited, there is less scope for thematic analysis.
Secondary Research
For Secondary research, I used primarily journal articles and books to increase my knowledge. The UAL Decolonising Arts Institutes produced a number of zines which were also very good resource. I have included the findings under project findings and in the reference doc.