This document provides guidance for students on planning their practitioner inquiry for Module 2. It discusses developing inquiry questions, forming special interest groups, reviewing relevant literature, understanding appropriate research methods and ethics, and drafting an inquiry proposal. Students are advised to discuss topics of interest with peers and supervisors to refine their questions before searching literature and planning how and from whom they will collect information for their inquiry in Module 3. The goal is to thoughtfully prepare all aspects of the planned inquiry for approval before executing the research.

1. Paula Nottingham 22/2/17http://blog.kingarthurflour.com/2016/02/15/cherry-pie/
WBS 3630 (WBA) Module 2: Lines of Inquiry
Thinking of a focus for your inquiry – a piece of the pie.

2. M1 ideas
communication,
reflection,
networking
Arts
knowledge
with new ideas
M2 Planning
Rehearsal
planning for
change within
and after
inquiry
M3 Doing the
inquiry
Staging your
work
experience
knowledge
performance
applause (?)
BAPP Arts – planning inquiry

3. http://twistedsifter.com/2013/11/terrifyingly-beautiful-photos-of-storm-clouds/
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2567022/Seeing-rainbows-Its-time-eyes-checked.html
Preparation is key but do not become
overwhelmed!
Are there any images that relate to how
you feel about where you are now?

4. http://twistedsifter.com/2013/11/terrifyingly-beautiful-photos-of-storm-clouds/
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2567022/Seeing-rainbows-Its-time-eyes-checked.html
Are there any images that relate to how you feel about where you are now
in your studies – leading to some inquiry questions?
Try spidergrams or
mindmapping to
visualise your
work
Try spidergrams or
mindmapping to
visualise your
work
Try mood
boards to
understand
ideas
Try mood
boards to
understand
ideas
Try
images
from
work
Try
images
from
work
I use a picture of
seahorses to think bout
research - they come –
ponder – and move on
gracefully.
http://www.lovethesepics.com/2013/04/60-spectacular-seahorses-and-
seadragons-pics/
Thanks for the
suggestions
everyone –
great to see
people using
visual thinking.

5. http://www.getbucks.co.uk/whats-on/theatre/lesley-joseph-coming-bucks-next-11020401
Think about this inquiry proposal as the staging of a production. This image is
related to Megan’s production of Annie. Relate the inquiry to you practice and
what you know about your practice…
Annie

6. How can you position yourself in the inquiry
process?
Looking at sources will help you ‘place’
yourself…
Talking to other in you special interest
groups
Constructivism tells us that we learn by fitting new
understanding and knowledge into and with, extending and
supplanting, old understanding and knowledge. …
Mezirow (1991) says learning is to bring about change or
transformation

7. Compare your list with others and come up with some common themes about
what you know…. these might change and may not be value-free. Try to
relate your ‘assumptions’ and the power relationships in your particular context.
What are your assumptions about your practice?
Examples?
I think everyone knows that teenagers are always
hungry....
I think people who do not march in protest rallies
just don’t care....
Remember you will need to think ‘ethically’ about your area of interest.
Others might also have assumptions about what you do…

8. What do you want to know?
The inquiry process…
Finding K Explaining
and reporting
Using K to
inform
practice
Knowledge and understanding
that is informed by your context

9. What is knowledge?
Knowledge in the arts and humanities – not just skills and
competences but a structured series of engagement with a
body of knowledge or (in the case of the practical arts) a
body of practice… the ideas change with time
“[knowledge in] the arts and humanities change
continuously by virtue of their being elements of a
culture always in a condition of transformation. Thus
they transform through internal dispute, contestation,
revision of tastes and methods, discovery of recuperative
research, politics and philosophies. These subjects are
continuously in debate and discussion….”
Fry et al. A Handbook for Teaching and Learning in Higher Education ( 2003)

10. The changing nature of knowledge….
Lyotard(1984) knowledge is narrative and
performative – only true of the time being –
(value free?)
Foucault (1972) treated knowledge as
discourse – ideological – that which is
accepted as true usually discourse of the
powerful
Jarvis (2001) The Age f Learning education and the Knowledge Society

11. Research
literature for the
practitioner
inquiry tools
Research
literature for the
practitioner
inquiry tools
Arts (performance,
dance, acting, visual)
Creative industries
cultural
Trans-disciplinarity
Workplace
Professional practice
e.g. career transition
What areas of knowledge do
we use for BAPP Arts?
Society
Gender
Business
communication
Society
Gender
Business
communication

12. Nancy Osbaldeston – photo courtesy of Arnaud Stephenson.
A body of knowledge … what do you know?

13. What do you know and what do you want to
know about?
What I know
1
2
3
What I want to know
1
2
3
Compare your list with others and come up with some
common themes about what you know…. these might
change and may not be value-free. Try to relate your
‘assumptions’ and the power relationships in your particular
context.

14. Inquiry questions
1
2
3
What I want to know
1
2
3
Put into the form of questions to guide your inquiry
The inquiry questions can sometimes be quite broad at first –
then you can fine tune them.
Sometimes you can merge 2 different directions –
sometimes you will need to make a choice.

15. An extract from Bell on finding a topic about thinking about a topic
Use the research literature to help you think about your inquiry planning.

16. Networking
Professional Practice/Work based learning
•Acknowledges that learning is political and performative in
that learning based in work seeks not only a somewhat of
rigid ‘knowledge of’ but also seeks to change, improve or
subvert situated practice through reflection and research
•Asserts that learning should be emancipatory, in that it has
the potential to empower learners
https://www.uall.ac.uk/work-and-learning-network
Pitching what we do on BAPP Arts

17. LOOK at Research Literature on
Reading List for practitioner
research planning – it is on the
module site in My Learning or
directly from the library links
e.g. Bell
Fox et al.
Costley et al.
Blaxter Hughes and Tight
Scan these for what you need to
know about doing practitioner
research
LOOK at Arts-based Literature
on directly from the library links
like Summon
You can do more than 3 sources
– these sources of expertise will
help define your planning and
start the review of literature you
will need for the inquiry
Look at Online Shopping and
Laura’s (Library) suggestions
TRY Summon to search – works
like google
Reading and looking around your topics/area of
interest – identifying literature – expertise
You can also challenge what you know!

18. Planning (Module 2)
What kind of knowledge and
understanding will you be
gaining from this inquiry?
Learning objectives – gaining
from evaluating experience,
gathering data, and planning a
‘capstone project’ or inquiry?
What outcomes are you thinking
about (are these something your
can put in the planning?
At the beginning – lines of inquiry
You are asked to decide on an area of interest or
topic? And develop some inquiry questions – what do
you want to find out about?

19. Part 4 is about to
starting to develop
your inquiry question
– and to find out what
others beyond your
immediate circle think
– it is about exploring
the expertise from
those who ‘know’
about your area of
interest
1. You should have draft
inquiry questions that you
can later fine-tune for
your plan. Discuss these
with your adviser and
SIGs.
2. You should have some
literature that you have
read for its meaning and
informs your topic – this
literature will help you
start to plan a literature
review for Module 3

20. 1. You need to understand your
professional context and get
permission from any
gatekeepers in your workplace.
You need to fill out an
Employer/Professional Support
form (there are 2 of these forms
to choose form up on the
MyLearning Module site)
choose 1 of these depending on
what your inquiry is about (1
works for 1 main organisation 2
works well for Community based
freelancers using a mentor)
2. You need to plan how to gain
people’s permission to ask them
questions, using consent forms
and filling out an Ethics Form for
the university - the actual
activity for the inquiry will be in
Module 3.
Part 5 is about your
professional ethics and
understanding
informed consent…
Your professional
practice is in the arts –
here you will be a
practitioner-researcher

21. Part 6 is about
understanding the
tools/methods to
carry out practitioner
research – using
ethical practice from
Part 5…
As a part of your inquiry
you will probably do some
practitioner research - so
you need to plan this for
Module 3.
Module 2 is about
understanding the tools in
order propose how you
will use them in Module 3
– you will get ethical
permission from the
university to carry out your
practitioner research.

22. You are not doing your research in this module – but to plan the
research you will want to informally discuss your topic/area of
interest and inquiry questions with others on the course and co-
workers in your professional field
A special interest group is a peer group – a kind of a study group - you
can start on or join one – you talk to anyone on any module
This doe not replace your blogs – in fact comments are a good way of
supporting your fellow students – but you might want to talk on FB or
Linked In, Skype, or in person – getting together to support and
challenge your peer
What you have in common might be the topic or the type of inquiry
e.g. interviews. Pilots of the research (Part 6) can be done with the
others on the course.
Like the portfolio in Module 1 – you can use extracts of your
conversations in your reflection and in the rationale for planning
The role of the special interest group (SIG)

23. You will be using what you have learned during the
Module to draft a plan – send the draft to your adviser for
feedback.
Preparing to write the plan/proposal – for the end
of the module – send draft to your tutor
Outline of the Inquiry Plan (in your Handbook)
Use the following headings in bold for your inquiry plan and
discuss:
Title of the Professional Inquiry
Context of the Inquiry Rationale and Inquiry Question(s)
Aims / Objectives
Literature, art work and Ideas
Inquiry tools & Ethical consent/permissions
Approach to analysis
Resources
Schedule of activities
Conclusion
Full explanations are in your module handbook.

24. 4a Review Reader 4 on Professional Inquiry and develop a set of
questions that are relevant to your practice….
4b Develop your own ‘Special Interest Group (s)’ (SIG) on the programme
by identifying within the programme other students who have similar
interests…
4c Develop your questions with your own professional community beyond
the programme, with special reference to your employer(s) or professional
associate(s). You should gain the support from your employer or
professional associate(s) either with their authority as your employer, or
their support as a professional associate (refer to employer support form
in Task 5d).
4d Using the section in Reader 4 about literature, search out and identify
three important pieces of literature related to your topic/inquiry interests.
Conduct a brief review of this literature stating what it says (include
theories or practice
Tasks for Lines of Inquiry Module 2

25. Planning the questions
Where are you in the process?
•What literature have you looked at so far?
•What is your disciplinary knowledge?
•What sector will you use for your inquiry?
•As an insider-researcher – how will you position yourself
within your workplace?
•Referring to 2d/3d– what have been your interests – will
these relate to your planning?
•Have you formed a special interest group with your peers to
discuss your questions?

26. Q&A
What if you have 2 different topics in
mind?
As you fine-tune you area of interest –
the questions that arise might merge
or you might have to make a choice
about the area you want to explore.
Your tutor can advise on this.
Q&A
I want to prove that knowledge of the
arts is more important that maths
education.
BAPP Arts inquiries are more about
exploring a topic than trying to
prove something - there are different
types of research and as we are suing
the constructivist positioning - so we
don’t do ‘experiments’ and we don’t
do a scientific type of research that is
trying to prove cause and effect by
looking at random variable (using
probability) – however – you might
want to look at this type of research
for your literature

27. Q&A
How do I ‘pitch’ my inquiry questions? I
want to prove that knowledge of the arts
is more important to society than
gardening?
BAPP Arts inquiries are more about
exploring a topic than trying to prove
something - there are different types of
research - we are using a constructivist
positioning - so we don’t do ‘experiments’
or ‘scientific’ research that is trying to
prove ‘cause; & ‘effect’ by looking at
random variables (probability) – however
– you might want to look at this type of
research for your literature.
So focus the question - what kinds of arts
and what type of society (a school? dance
company?) e.g.
How does my performance company
provide/educate/influence/ its community
of practice? Why is that important to the
members of my company?
Q&A
I want to look at mental health?
I want to look at practice for Special
Needs Children.
The university says that research
with or on children and vulnerable
adults is at higher risk that
research with adults 18+ (note the
age change from the Module 2
documents) so it will most likely be the
case that you look at this topic by
talking with professionals in the field
and not do research with these groups
– however it depends on your
professional role and what it is your
are exploring – this is discussed
during the ethics section and with your
tutor.

28. Q&A
What is the word count?
In Module 1 you had a 1000 word
count that has a 10% above or below
as standard academic practice. In
Module 2 we have and an ‘indicated’
word count – so you are not confined
to this 10% - but this let’s you know
the size of work – so 3000 words
approximately but we also encourage
people to use images, diagrammes
etc. where appropriate
Q&A
Am I doing the real research for the
inquiry now in Module 2?
No – this is the preparation for the
inquiry
the forms…
There are 3 main forms
and 2 suggested to prepare (the
BAPP Arts Informed Consent form
+ the BAPP Arts Information Sheet
These are telling the university who
you plan to talk with and the that
you will take care with the
process…

29. Look at example from others of Module 2
e.g. blogs to help with Module 2
http://mrahmet.blogspot.co.uk/2012_12_01_archive.html
http://adesolaa.blogspot.co.uk/2016/02/module-two-past-and-
present.html
http://adesolaa.blogspot.co.uk/2016/10/module-three-october-2016-
session.html considering assumptions
https://paulanottingham.blogspot.co.uk/2014/02/campus-session-1-
continued-what-we-did.html - looking for love - search and review of
literature