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CHAPTER FOUR: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Second cycle: In the second cycle, based on the findings of the first cycle,
I investigated how the participants’ awareness of the artistic purpose and
knowledge of tools can help in consciously creating DEs, gaps in dominant
social narratives, in living through improvisations.
I discuss the findings that this research question is based on and
the question itself in detail as part of the data analysis in the next chapter.
As Iwas exploring a focused element, the impact of the participants’ awareness
of artistic purpose, the lessons implemented in this cycle depicted a more
direct development. I tested how I could offer participants the conscious use
of Bondian concepts and dramaturgical structures in the drama lessons.
In this cycle I worked with a different age-group, students between the age
of 15 and 20, and implemented the drama lessons in various situations,
ranging from timetabled secondary school lessons to youth theatre clubs.
The decision to work with a different age-group was made because I wanted
to explore complex ideas in this cycle without having to deal with the issues
arising from age that could diffuse the focus of the research.
I conducted drama lessons with seven different groups, four groups
participated in single session lessons and three groups took part in two
session drama lessons. Altogether I conducted ten drama lessons in this
cycle of research. The drama lessons were based on three different narratives,
I discuss these in detail in the data analysis chapter as the narrative itself is
an important subject of the research.
The groups participating in this cycle of research were identified and invited
by the researcher to participate in the investigation, so a variety of settings
could be tested. Three out of the seven groups participated in the research
in school settings; one of them was built into the timetable of the students;
another one was an after-school opportunity that anyone could volunteer for;
the third was a workshop offered in the framework of the ‘Cultural Day’ of
the school. Three of the four sessions conducted outside schools were offered
as part of a large theatre’s youth programme, while the fourth group was
a youth theatre group working in a cultural centre. I will present theses
details in the table below.
I was only able to inform the group which was a full class about the details
of the research personally, in all other cases I relied on online communication
and offering the details in writing. Consent to participate in the research
was received from all participants, and also from parents/guardians of
participants under the age of eighteen.
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