This morning I had a Skype session with Adesola which has opened my eyes into my Inquiry. The session stemmed from me sending her a small drafted part of my inquiry proposal, and the Skype session was to discuss questions and feedback.
Adesola opened my eyes and by discussing the draft with her I was able to reflect on what I had written and look to see what I can improve on.
First and foremost I have decided to take a different approach to my inquiry looking into something I actually don't know anything about rather than looking for evidence to prove something. Not only will it mean I can now find out something new and exciting, I will also be engaged with the project, as reflecting on my previous inquiry subject which I knew a lot about this new subject will be completely new territory so anything I discover will be very interesting. I want to gather information that I don't know is out there, Adesola gave a great example of the fact If you want to find out that the sky is orange there's always someone out there who will tell you it is. So it's better to go into this Inquiry with my eyes and ears open to see what is there to be discovered.
We also discussed the fact that there is no such thing as an un biased question no matter how hard you try. You can't rely on the idea you can ask something pure and get an honest reply. First of all I will be asking the questions, also I have made them up. You have to consider how you will appear when asking questions, for example I would get a different response to that of a Middle Aged man asking the same question. Also the behaviour that I conduct with in the interview will have an impact on the responses I gain.
I found a piece of literature which sparked an interest with me. I have already analysed it as one of my literature reviews. It is a theory by Malcolm Gladwell who suggests that to become a successful professional in your chosen field you need to have practiced for 10,000 hours or more! I feel this could be a good basis for an interesting inquiry. As I don't know whether this is the case with dancers or not? It also brings to light the relationship between success and being a professional which is becoming more muddy in this day and age.
I would be really interested to hear your thoughts and comments.
Hi Hannah, I just looked up Malcolm Gladwell after reading your blog. What are your opinions on that? It sounds a little to me that he has just picked a random number out of the air, which in his 'biased' opinion constitutes a suitable amount of hours from which you may now call your self a 'professional'. I wonder at what point he began to consider himself a professional.. An English student who has been lucky enough to become a published writer within the first 2 years of writing , I imagine would call themselves a professional writer,,, that not to say they have been writing for 10,000 hours.. they may just have a nack and have been lucky. another suggestion,.. say the average future dancer dances during training for 4 hours a day, 5 days a week...times that by 300 days a year, (probably more, but just a rough guess with holidays, or possible injuries etc) that's 6000 hours in one year. so by his theory... a student dancer is a professional by the end of second year...?? I understand to be a professional there must be a considerable amount of experience. however for our industry I don't think you can put a number on the hours that it takes.. Do you?
ReplyDeleteHi Georgie, Thank for your comments. Its very interesting to hear your thoughts and opinions. I have read his book and analysed is as one of my literature reviews. So it may interest you to have a look at that. I am not sure whether I agree with his theory or not, especially when it comes to dancers. Hence why I may use it as my inquiry, as it would be interesting to see whether is applies to us or not. It also brings into play the relationship between success and professionalism as he states the 10,000 hours make you successful in your profession. So you could be a professional before the 10,000 hours but the extra hours ensure you are 'successful'. However this can be interpreted in many ways as how do you actually determine what being successful is?
ReplyDeleteThere are lots of angles and parts to this theory and I think it would be fascinating to see if it does apply to us? This article has shifted my thinking and I feel it would produce a more beneficial inquiry to myself as I don't know the answers? Where as with my previous inquiry I probably do. This new subject of whether Malcolm Gladwells Theory applies to Dancers, will allow me to find out something more rather than finding evidence to support a theory which I believed in (The importance of CPD after graduating)
Let me know any further thoughts??