Task 4)a Reviewing Part 4

Part 4 of the Module 2 handbook has encouraged me to see the process of research in a creative way.  I found that it was particularly important to identify my areas of competence and capability as this encouraged a consideration of how I can improve the work I am currently doing as a freelance ballet dancer. Please see the following link to my earlier blog: https://annwall95.blogspot.co.uk/2017/10/initial-thoughts-emerging-as-i-embark.html

Part 4 has also led me to purchase a very good book Researching Dance: Evolving Modes of inquiry edited by Horton Fraliegh and Hanstein which is on the BAPP reading list. Like Part 4 of the Module handbook it frequently compares the process of research to the choreographic process in dance and this is something that I find I can relate well to.

Below are some important quotations that I found.

All research begins with questions. The questions you ask reflect what interests you about the field of dance and how you see the world of dance.

(Horton Fraleigh and Hanstein 1999, p 27) 

Scholarly research is a visionary process and is guided by the researcher's ability to see and think about ideas in new ways. This creative and imaginative engagement with ideas in new ways. This creative and imaginative engagement with ideas is what initiates research and ultimately results in the researcher making a significant contribution of new knowledge to the field. Like dance making, initiating research is a cyclic and improvisational process that eventually spirals inward towards a specific research purpose, which is not unlike the artistic concept for a dance work.

(Horton Fraleigh and Hanstein 1999, p 28 )   

I have also just invested in the book Doing your Research Project by Judith Bell with Stephen Waters (also on the BAPP reading list). This book is great as it covers the whole research process providing advice on planning your project, ethics and integrity in research, reading, referencing and the Management of information, literature searching and the review of the literature as well as all the subsequent stages of a project. I feel this will help guide me as I lay down the basis for my research project.

 Bibliography

Bell, J and Waters S (2014) Doing your Research Project, first published 1987. England: Open University Press 

Horton Fraleigh S and Hanstein P (1999) Researching Dance: Evolving Modes of Inquiry, London: Dance Books
Module 2 Handbook (2017) BAPP Arts, Middlesex University, London: Middlesex University