Taking the analysis of the data from the focus group forwards, I planned two workshops. One clothes swap on…, and one a mending workshop on…, as proposed to students within the focus group.
I advertised these through Moodle, through posters on the wall, and word of mouth in the costume studio, rather than the targeted, individual selection of the first action research cycle. This was to deliberately open up the research to target those who do not frequent costume so much, to speak to those issue which my literature review and focus group raised around a lack of confidence in skills and abilities (barriers to accessing technical support, and therefore sustainable practices support). The concept was that students would be motivated to come to the second workshop, having gained something form the first workshop that maybe needs a small alteration.
The cumulative aim of these two workshops was to gain data on how successfully students with little or no existing costuming skills could be drawn into the space, to become familiar with it, and initiate some “eco-somatic thinking” (Pantouvaki, 2021), and hopefully visit again soon.
Planning Workshop 1
For this workshop, students were asked to bring along unwanted, clean garments, to swap for other peoples unwanted garments. This activity does not require any specific costume skills, thus in theory removing the barrier of feeling as though a certain level of skill is required to use the space. It is also not attached to any specific curricular activity, so in theory also removes the association with a deadline, or pressure to perform.
I planned to use post-it notes on safety pins to collect thoughts and ideas about sustainable practices from students in a creative, open way, then use these to carry out themantic analysis as the the student perception of sustainability and garments. I planned to ask participants to fill a post-it note per garment, explaining where the garment came from, and what they hope for its future before they donate it. The idea here was to build in thought around circularity as an approach to costuming and garment use, in a way which gives participants a motivation (new ‘old’ clothes).
I was planning to do this alongside a short questionnaire, attached to the consent form, to provide more specific, narrow data to draw conclusions from in a similar way to my previous data synthesis.
I prepared a clothes rail with empty hangers, and a ’till’ area for data collection, much like a shop set-up. This was physically quite unlike the way in which I usually run a workshop – in this instance, no practical skills.
For this workshop, I planned to demonstrate and teach three different basic hand sewing mending techniques; how to sew on a button, how to hem a pair of trousers, and how to mend a hole or tear (see image of sampler made ahead of workshop, below). I had hoped that in planing this workshop to fall after the first one, students would be motivated to attend, brining their ‘new’ items along to alter or mend.
This session was planned out to run in a way which was similar to the way I usually deliver workshops – I set-up the space so that materials and additional resources were laid out and accessible alongside physical samples.
I created two sheets for students to voluntarily participate in with post-it notes, asking the questions; ‘what does sustainable practice mean to you?’ and ‘how could we help you work towards more sustainable (costume) practices?’ – taken from the start and end of the focus group questions. Ideally, students would organically take part in this element throughout the session – I deliberately set the space up so that students would be led to do so as and when they collected new materials etc.
On the day of the workshop, no students turned up, despite many students saying in passing that they were looking forward to it. One student even dropped by to tell me that she thought no one would turn up.
Execution, Workshop 2
On the day of the workshop, on 2 students turned up, despite again, many students saying that they were looking forwards to it in passing. However, I did run the workshop for them, and they did participate in both the questionnaire and the post-it note feedback.
References
Pantouvaki, S., Fossheim, I. and Suurla, S., 2021. Thinking with costume and material: A critical approach to (new) costume ecologies. Theatre and performance design, 7(3-4), pp.199-219.
I chose to firstly narrow the amount of data I am using, as the richness and quantity that this qualitative research method generated was, when I began by reading through the transcript, overwhelming (Curtis and Curtis, 2011), selecting just the section relating to the intervention designs themselves, from 14:34 – 31.33. Though there is lots of rich data in the first half of the focus group, I do not have capacity to process and synthesise this data in a meaningful way within the timeframe I have left.
To “focus, capture, and distill meaning” (Gray and Malins, 2007, pp.101) efficiently I am using a simple, deductive colour code (Linneberg and Korsgaard, 2019).
I always wanted to be able to:
draw comparisons between the response to each intervention design
distinguish how positively or negatively the students responded to an intervention design idea
utilise the data to develop the designs further
The participant to participant conversation within the focus group led to another type of remark which was distinctive from ‘a positive review’, ‘negative review’ or ‘idea’ about the intervention. This took the form of a discussion around the student’s feelings about an underlying issue.
As the aim of this project is related to creating the right conditions (or, environment) for students to practice costume more sustainably (or, flourish), I am using the analogy of a garden in order to visualise my coded data.
I combed through the selected section of the focus group transcript, highlighting one phrase per ‘remark’ or ‘comment’, and categorising it accordingly:
I have created a key, below, which will allow me to use my data to visualise an overall ‘garden’ landscape of responses to each intervention design, in order to evaluate, compare, and disseminate it.
SUN (Yellow)
The sun represents positive responses to the intervention designs. Each ray equates to one positive student response.
POLLUTING PARTICLES (Pink)
The polluting particles represent negative responses or barriers to the intervention designs.
SLUGS (Grey)
These represent responses which indicate underlying issues which may create barriers to students engagement with an intervention. They are part of the ecosystem, but must be addressed and managed in order to students to flourish towards sustainable practices.
CLOUDS (Blue)
These represent ideas or suggestions generated by the students, which do not directly respond to the intervention design presented, but could be used to further develop it.
A ‘healthy’ environment will have plenty of sunshine rays and clouds, no pollutants, and few or no slugs.
Evaluation
Here are the intervention design data gardens, below:
Salient data
The images clearly show that there is a student preference for intervention idea number one, and intervention design number two.
Contradictory Data
The ideas and suggestions generated within the discussion of intervention idea number two revealed ways in which the idea could be developed to be more engaging for students. The initial data shows that there are also lots of negative remarks about this idea – however, within the focus group, three separate ideas were discussed: handouts, posters, and digital downloads. When these are separated out, further, more specific evaluation and analysis could take place. Perhaps this idea could be investigated further in additional data collection.
Another interesting contradiction is that the students were not interested in the sustainability resource created by Maisie Bidwell for the Theatre Green Book, but they were interested in the suppliers map. This is interesting because these could be categorised int he same way – visual posters that aid students in working towards more sustainable practices. However, Maisie’s flow chart is perhaps less ‘practical’, and more about instigating deeper, broader thoughts about a project.
Stumble Data
The images also show that intervention idea number three brought up a disproportionate number of negative feelings about the underlying issues at play. It would be interesting to delve into this and collect further data on time management, confidence, skills, and some of the other themes that emerged from that discussion. Taking the literature into account, and my own experience, this might be best done through qualitative means, such as in-depth, unstructured interviews with students and both academic and technical staff, alongside some observational methodologies through some projects.
Within the time limitations of this project, this is not possible to do meaningfully. However, developing and further researching the specifics of the intervention ideas with more positive initial feedback would be pertinent and useful.
Findings
Students reported to prefer visual sustainable suppliers posters or displays that they can take photos of, over physical handouts or digital downloads via moodle.
Students reported to lack of confidence in their own skills and abilities, which may prevent them from entering the space, and/or accessing technical support in sustainable costume realisation processes
Students reported interest and enthusiasm for practical sustainability skills workshops
Students reported a lack of interested in visual poster displays of sustainable costume realisation processes
I would like to take intervention designs one and two forwards for actioning and investigation, as these should create meaningful data, but are plausible to action within the timeframe. I would have also been interested in taking tutorials and project planning forwards, because it brought up so many feelings and thoughts about confidence. There were no projects I could have managed to do this for within this time frame, however, this data can still be used in my overall analysis, and could be investigated further beyond the scope of this post grad.
References
Gray, C, & Malins, J (2007) ‘Interpreting the map: methods of evaluation and analysis’ in Visualizing Research : A Guide to the Research Process in Art and Design. Taylor & Francis Group, Abingdon, Oxon. pp.1349 – 158. Available from: ProQuest Ebook Central. [Downloaded: 05 December 2024]
Curtis, B. and Curtis, C. (2011) In-Depth Interviewing – the Interactive Base. In: Social Research: A Practical Introduction. 55 City Road, London: SAGE Publications, Inc. pp. 27-54 Available at: <https://doi.org/10.4135/9781526435415> [Accessed 06 December 2024].
Researchers must accepting and recognising their own bias
There are strata of engagement with data
Researchers must have an awareness of mode they are in (noticing/interpreting/enquiring)
Noticing as an active process of blocking out information rather than absorbing more
Embodied research – experience – sensorial – unconscious interpretation
Prompts for categorising data findings; salience, glow and stumble (experiences of data making)
Resonance, vividness, creativity
Gray and Malins (2004) – visual research analysis
Reflection in action
Poetry would be immersion approach (as would creative analysis and composite characters)
Funnel of data (primary/literature – selection)
Types of experiences that you bring into the research (existing knowledge, experience, reading).
Reading on semiotic analysis (Curtis and Curtis)
Reading on survey analysis (Curtis and Curtis)
Patterns of meaning- reflexive thematic analysis
Familiarising/coding/generating initial themes/developing and reviewing/refining, defining and naming/writing up
Idea of valid forms of knowledge
Be aware of what you are doing and why
PresentationAdvice from Workshop
Tell an engaging story, bringing it to life
(Take photos of materials used in research)
Leading to the Q&A (post-it notes)
Make a timeline or visual overview to start with (a summary)
Think about sense making through visual means – layering and shifting ideas
Think about what the one thing is that you want people to understand or see to end on
It doesn’t have to be a powerpoint!
Have a final slide with references
This workshop made me think about how I will collect data as well as process it:
Interviews and Focus Groups
I could use the poetry analysis for the general reflection on and thinking around sustainable practices, or some kind of more systematic coding, as I want to quickly pull out key elements which summarise these interactions. I could also do a spider diagram of key words used in relation to the different ideas presented per interview as broader thematic analysis.
“The richness of the resultant data (particularly in comparison to variable-centric methods such as the survey) may seem overwhelming for the beginning researcher, though this can be reduced by the adoption of good data management practices” (Curtis and Curtis, 2011)
Reading Kara’s Analysing Data (2015)
I found reading this article very helpful in establishing some ideas about how I will process data, and integrate it – particularly the qualitative data, which feels overwhelming and complex.
I am going to draw qualitative data from my interviews and focus group, using Microsoft Word’s transcription tool to initially transcribe data, to save time – but then go back through and check it manually. I will not use non-speech sounds, or body gestures, but just the key language used. I think that thematic analysis would be best for my focus group and interviews, and maybe phenomenological analysis.
I could use quantitative data in the analysis of my intervention. I would like to use a mixed method approach overall, depending on which interventions I take forwards. Elements of discourse analysis in interpreting interview and focus group transcripts will be useful, in that they speak to the localist, romantic approach I am taking in conducting them. I am seeking to understand participants attitudes, values, and feelings towards specific ideas and concepts.
In relation to the focus group, I could pull out themes, concepts and feelings about the different ideas proposed and visually analyse them/present them. Perhaps in a diagram, and/or using colour. Having already researched their creative benefits, a post-it note board of themes and ideas would be an interesting way to present them, and a creative way to synthesis and make connections.
Alternatively, I could use a visual metaphor – the obvious one being an eco-system, or soem kind of natural system, which I could parallel with the concept of creating the right environment for student to ‘blossom into sustainably conscientious practitioners’.
Reading Gray and Malins’ Interpreting the map : methods of evaluation and analysis (2007)
I found reading this article very useful in clarifying to me my own decision making, and creating a clearer plan for the specific ways in which I would like to process and evaluate the raw materials of data that I have collected.
“to ‘evaluate’ is to ascertain the value of something anf to judge or asses it’s worth” (pp.101, Gray and Malins, 2007)
“to ‘analyse’ is to examine something in detail in order to discover it’s meaning” (pp.101, Gray and Malins, 2007)
To “focus, capture, and distill meaning” (pp.101) I must have clear criteria with which to ‘sieve’ my data. I like the visual metaphor of filters, spectacles and sieves used in this essay:
Filters: to pull essential distillations (this can be applied to the four intervention designs)
Spectacles: new vision or shift in focus (this seems more holistic and reflective)
Sieves: capturing precious materials (this can be applied to the whole of each transcript, and is much more subjective, as I will be selecting these as I deem them to be ‘precious’).
In reading this article, I think that mixing my data from the focus group and the first interview, to review the potentiality of each design would be best, as a way of seeing the two perspectives side by side – which may produce some interesting outcomes. I could alternatively, discard the interview data, to focus the results down, and have less materials to process.
Given the limitations of this project in terms of time, I would be best of employing a quick and imaginative approach, rather than a slow and methodical one. On reflection, it may have been more sensible to collect less qualitative data, and more quantitive data for this reason. Although qualitative data of course provides depth and nuance, and I have established reasons for wanting to use this kind of data, this project is also a very short one.
I am furthermore going to focus in on the intervention designs themselves for this part of the project, with a view to utilise other parts of the data sets later on. Even if this data is not used, it was important in framing the intervention designs within the interview and focus groups.
The criteria I use to sieve the focus group and/or interview transcript data must be simplistic, but have some nuance. Perhaps, this could involve drawing out ‘positive remarks’, ‘negative remarks’, and ‘ideas’, in response to each intervention design presented, and quantifying them. These could each equate to a visual representation that draws on the analogy of a natural environment. For example, a ray of sun or a blade of grass. Each could be worth 1, 2, or 3 rays or blades, depending on how positive they are (or polluting particulates/dry grass). Within this, one essential word could be noted within the diagram, or elsewhere, so as to understand the what. This analogy could be quite generative – a raincloud could represent ‘ideas’ or ‘suggestions’ that emerge within the interview and focus group, later iterations of which could be represented by rain. This visual generative analogy would provide a way of comparing the technical and student views on each, visually and clearly.
Inspired by the section on Gray (1998) in Gray and Malins’ ‘Interpreting the map : methods of evaluation and analysis’ (2007, pp.137) I would also be very interested in utilising a triangulation method or ven diagram for the final analysis of ways of supporting students, in order to combine qualitative data sets from focus groups and interviews in a way that allows connections to be made. This also reminds me of a technique used in our introductory costume workshops, which are designed as an ice-breaker, whereby common skills related to costume are written in the middle.
Alternatively, I could utilise the concept of post-it notes as ways of making creative connections and problem solving (Ball et al 2021). This would work well as a reflective tool to understand and connect different perspectives and attitudes to sustainable practice, across my qualitative data sets, and is a familiar tool in my own practice.
Reading Linnedberg and Korsgaard (2019)
“with a limited amount of data, simple color coding with markers may suffice, with one color for each code” pp. 260
References
Gray, C, & Malins, J (2007) ‘Interpreting the map: methods of evaluation and analysis’ in Visualizing Research : A Guide to the Research Process in Art and Design. Taylor & Francis Group, Abingdon, Oxon. pp.1349 – 158. Available from: ProQuest Ebook Central. [Downloaded: 05 December 2024]
Linneberg, M.S. and Korsgaard, S. (2019). ‘Coding qualitative data: a synthesis guiding the novice’ in Qualitative Research Journal, 19(3), pp. 259-270. Available at: file:///Users/FlorenceMeredith/Library/Mobile%20Documents/com~apple~CloudDocs/Pg%20cert/Sustainable%20practcies%20transfer%20/Codign%20qualitative%20data%20.pdf (Accessed on 2 January 2025)
Kara, H (2015) ‘Analysing Data’ in Creative Research Methods in the Social Sciences : A Practical Guide‘, Policy Press, Bristol. pp.99 – 119. Available from: ProQuest Ebook Central. [05 December 2024].
Ball, Linden & Christensen, Bo & Halskov, Kim. (2021). Sticky Notes as a Kind of Design Material: How Sticky Notes Support Design Cognition and Design Collaboration. Design Studies. 76. 10.1016/j.destud.2021.101034.
Curtis, B. and Curtis, C. (2011) In-Depth Interviewing – the Interactive Base. In: Social Research: A Practical Introduction. 55 City Road, London: SAGE Publications, Inc. pp. 27-54 Available at: <https://doi.org/10.4135/9781526435415> [Accessed 06 December 2024].
Sticky notes are something which I use a lot in my own practice as a way of organising my thoughts and ideas. They are colourful, movable, and impermanent. The way they can be displayed, moved around, and taken away also appeals in finding clarity of thought and organisation.
Unrelated to the amount I use them in my own practice, they were suggested in my second group tutorial by Catherine as a way of collecting data within the planned clothes swap workshops.
Sticky notes as a kind of design material: How sticky notes support design cognition and design collaboration (Ball et al, 2021)
“We find that the affordances of sticky notes make them well-suited to supporting cognitive processes associated with visualising and understanding “part/whole” relationships in concept development. Furthermore, sticky notes facilitate design collaboration by enabling shared attention through material anchors and the modulation of turn-taking”. (pg 1)
This paper discusses the general use and valuing of sticky notes in design environments in its introduction and literature review. This includes a discussion around the intuition and accessibility of them as tools – they do not need explanation or prior knowledge. This makes them particularly suited to the situation in which I am hoping to use them, in which I am trying to pull in people who may not usually use the space, possibly due to feeling intimidated or not ‘expert’ enough for costume activities.
This suspicion was confirmed in the focus group with students, who agreed that although they do not feel that way, they know that others do.
There is talk in this paper of the sticky notes being useful for externalising, giving form to, and connecting ideas. They are a useful tool in relating seemingly unconnected ideas to one another, and are ideal in collaborative idea generation processes.
Usually they are used to write one to three word on, usually nouns. Perhaps, in order to gather an understanding of the students focus and ideas around sustainable practices, I could consider using quite an open question, on which they write an answer.
I would need to work out a system for this concept.
Perhaps, on entry, for every item you are given a post-it note/ card. You must label the item with where it came from (who/what shop/an anecdote/ ‘”how I got here?”) which could be answered in a drawing, or a few words (say, on a pink piece of card). The next part could be labelling what you like about this garment, and what you hope for the future of a new garment you are taking home. In order to take the garment home, you have to draw/write on the card, and give it to me at the ‘cashier desk’, where I would photograph both the labels, with the garment before it is taken. This second labelling is how you ‘pay’ for the garment’.
This would encourage wider thinking about life cycles. I would then also be able to gather these post it notes together, and display them somewhere, maybe as data presentation for my final presentation.
In the mending workshop, which maybe I should call a repair workshop, I could use post-it notes to look at types of repair, or perhaps some kind of ‘issue/diagnosis/prescription’ system. They may need to bring their item ahead of time, or I may need to enlist the help of someone else, or instructions, like a pharmacist system.
Or I could integrate the questionnaire into this, and ask everyone to participate throughout the evening.
The questions could be:
How often to do visit the costume studio?
How do you feel about the costume studio?
What brought you to this workshop?
Did you find it helpful or useful?
Would you like more workshops like this one?
What could be better or different about this workshop?
References
Ball, Linden & Christensen, Bo & Halskov, Kim. (2021). Sticky Notes as a Kind of Design Material: How Sticky Notes Support Design Cognition and Design Collaboration. Design Studies. 76. 10.1016/j.destud.2021.101034.
Intervention idea 4: the display of sustainable decision-making resources (such as those the theatre green book provides), and/or visual reminders of production dates (partly already instigated)
Visual resource 1 (sustainable decision-making poster – Maisie Bidwell via Theatre Green Book)
Drawing on the literature I have read, and my own observations within the costume studio, I have drawn up some initial intervention ideas, which I will present to the interviewee and focus group. I will then develop one or two of these ideas, and collect data on them to reflect on, as part of the research cycle.
Accessible suppliers lists
Many of our students are not from London, so do not know where addresses are on our suppliers lists. Many students read English as a second language too, so this wordy text based may be hard to understand, and therefore a little off putting. My micro intervention idea is to produce a leaflet of sustainable suppliers (charity shops), that can be handed out. Alternatively, a wall poster could be made.
Below is a Miro board, which could provide an alternative, interactive way of sharing this information. However, I would like to also explore the idea of a leaflet version, with a map on one side and the list of places and addresses on the back, and see what my interviewees and focus group thinks.
Clothes swap and mending workshop
Many students seem not to want to come to the room at all, and often work from home. This idea is to help them overcome the barrier of the space being only a place for students to come to when they are experts in costume already. This thought process was in part instigated by passing, one academic tutor telling me that they think the students are intimidated by the space, and another occasion where a student told me that they felt the space was overwhelming. I wondered if this would not only invite students into the space who don’t normally feel they ‘belong’ here, but will also frame their introduction to it with environmentally sustainability.
The mending element would further consolidate the relationship to the space, as well as introducing some every basic mending skills. There is something very unique about the process of sitting and mending and chatting, that is commonly discussed in relation to craft and the community. However, this does somewhat contradict the association of craft as being inherently feminine, which in relation to costume can be detrimental to its values as a practice, and therefore (not) prioritised, respected, or funded. Although, there is something to be said for understanding how much time and skill something a simple as mending a moth hole can be.
Project planning assistance
Visual planning aids/help with this in the form of tutorials, visible prod schedules etc. Some of this is already on the wall, but I would like to investigate whether or not this would be useful for students going forwards. We have already tried to offer help in the form of tutorials, but this doesn’t always work. I have already instigated a production schedule display space in the costume studio, which seems to already be being made use of (see below images). When I have asked in passing, students have been very positive about this new addition to the space its easy to see and reference. However, I would like to apply this specifically to costume realisation processes, and/or create visual charts which model a variety of way of planning – as these ones do not suit everyone (myself included!).
If possible, I would like to also show some other visual ways of planning a process to the students in the focus group, and discuss whether they think seeing plans on the way, or being assisted in planning would be helpful.
Another option would be to show students other resources, such as those offered by the theatre green book such as this poster, or adapting the document linked to below:
In preparation for staff interviews (Verity Cleary and Ali Kornicki – I have not received further contact from Peter Bond) I have started to design micro interventions which i will continue to collect data about, reflect on, and improve throughout this process.
In presenting them to my colleagues in this way, I will then be able to receive meaningful and valuable peer feedback. Both Verity and Ali are specialist costume technicians working with the performance programmes, so are very well placed to review these ideas. Both Verity and Ali’s practices hold sustainability in high regard, and they both have instigated many systems and interventions to help students to work towards this is the space we supervise.
This includes:
Open access support five days a week in the costume spaces, helping students to develop ideas, support them in planning, providing technical advice, materials advice, costume realisation guidance, showing them techniques and how to use the machinery correctly and efficiently
Basic sewing board resource as visual and tactile reminder of basic skills (designed and implemented by by Verity Cleary)
Basic sewing workshops (instigated by Verity Cleary)
Sign-up workshops for use of machinery and tools in the costume space (instigated by Ali Kornicki)
Fabric scraps library (instigated by Verity Cleary)
Offering (sustainable) suppliers lists on moodle, as physical handouts, and now via QR codes (instigated by Ali Kornicki)
Access to a well stocked costume store (longstanding resource)
Fabric recycling bins for small scraps (instigated by Verity Cleary)
Access to materials and haberdashery, collected from films, tv, and theatre productions. organised into navigable, labelled boxes around the studio (instigated by Verity Cleary)
Access to a pattern and block library (time saving)
