Scheduled for Symposium: Research Design and Methodology Challenges in Dance, Thursday, April 10, 2008, 8:45 AM - 10:45 AM, Convention Center: 202C


Illuminating the Issues That Arise While Conducting Research With Children

Theresa Purcell Cone, Rowan University, Glassboro, NJ

Children's behaviors, perceptions, and ways of knowing provide rich resources for dance researchers seeking to increase their understanding of how children create, perform, and think about dance. These research studies contribute to expanding the knowledge base that informs teaching pedagogy. However, children's participation in research also presents unique issues and challenges that impact the research design, implementation, and analysis. This paper describes an analysis of three research studies that included six, seven and eight year old children who created dances, movement games, and movements integrated with mathematics concepts. All students who participated in the studies had parent/guardian written consent. The goal of the analysis was to identify the issues that enhanced and inhibited the research study or required research plan modifications. To illuminate the issues, video taped sessions, interview transcripts, and the researcher's fieldnotes were reviewed. In this analysis, the researcher looked for changes in the research plan that occurred as a result of a pilot study, unexpected actions and comments by the students, and how time and location influenced data collection. Also considered were identified delimitations and limitations noted in the final research documents which included a dissertation, written research plans, and published articles and chapters. The findings identified several issues that impact the planning, implementation, and analysis of the research study. One issue centered on interviewing children and how the researcher created an environment that is conducive to gathering student responses. This issue not only addressed the interview questions but it also considered the location, equipment, and length interview in an individual or group experience. Another issue highlighted how the researcher's philosophy influences the phenomenological occurrences that arise when conducting research with children. In all three research studies, the researcher's intent was to be open to student needs, feelings, concerns, and willingness to be engaged in the study; however, the researcher was cognizant of conducting the research according to submitted plans. A third issue looked at the researcher as participant/observer and how these two roles interacted with the children during the research sessions. Analysis of fieldnotes revealed the researcher's feelings, insights, and reactions in response to the children's actions and comments during the research sessions. The paper concludes with a summary and recommendations for planning, implementing, and analyzing research conducted with children as subjects.
Keyword(s): dance, research

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