Tag Archives: research project

Tutorial 14/11

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Last tutorial. I don’t know where the term has gone!

Aside from various troubleshooting questions, David said something that really stuck with me. He asked how I’ve kept my creativity alive, whilst studying this MA.

And to be completely honest, I haven’t. I’ve been so focused on doing well with the course that I’ve forgotten to create things just for me. My creative spark has kind of died recently and David asked how I’m going to get it back. The last time this happened I took self portraits every day for a year … and that got me thinking. It got me thinking about my BA dissertation on the use of self portraiture as a therapeutic tool, and maybe I can connect that to my project.
In thinking about the conclusion to my evaluative report and the research that I have conducted, I think there is an argument for using creative interventions to empower students. After all, my stakeholders are students in art schools! And what better use of creativity than to make people feel better and empowered. I know that I don’t have long left before my project is assessed but I think I can tie this into my project in time. Maybe one last intervention, testing whether this would work or not.

I also realised that I’ve been neglecting an element of my research – the arts education environments. I don’t know why I’ve forgotten to ask people about them so I’m going back to the people I’ve interviewed and asking about their experiences in arts based universities in the UK.

David and I spoke about my theory that art schools are weird – nowhere else in society will you be in a building full of thousands of creatives. There is an expectation of exploding out into the world when you graduate with a phone full of contacts and a successful career ahead of you. I think this expectation is even more when you’re a working class student – you’ve chosen to study a creative subject instead of the norm for people who are like you. So there is even more pressure to succeed and prove people wrong.

After the tutorial I took myself to a coffee shop and just tried to absorb everything that David and I had discussed. I realised how far I’ve come, even just in the last couple of months. And I realised that I’m far more capable that I ever would have imagined – I’ve taught myself video editing, and talked to people who scare me. I’ve put myself out there and been rejected. I’ve been vulnerable with my tutors and my stakeholders and I’ve not fallen apart. I’ve had failures and successes. But after everything, I’m still standing. And I’ve created a project that I’m proud of and one that I think has the potential to help a lot of people.

Action Points

  • Go back to people I’ve interviewed and ask about their experience of the art education environment that they studied in ✔️
  • Think about how creative interventions could be a solution moving forwards ✔️
  • Finish blog posts and actually publish them instead of keeping them in my drafts (sorry David, I know I said my blog would be up to date by now) ✔️
  • Rewrite evaluative report – finish it by Friday 25th November to leave time for last minute editing ✔️
  • Find my creative spark again

Tutorial 8/11

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Before my tutorial I had emailed David two questions :

  1. I’ve been asking in my interviews with male working class students about imposter syndrome and if they feel that they experience it. Mostly they have said no but then what they’ve said about the way they feel are symptoms of imposter syndrome. Research I’ve read says that this is something that women suffer from (I hate using the word suffer here but it fits for now) so I’ve found research that makes the case for keeping my question focused on female students but I’m confused. 
  2. Do you have any tips for keeping the report within the word limit?

The answer to the first one was simple when David explained it in a different way. I am a woman. Men are even less likely to open up to me than they are to other men. Working class men are stereotypically proud, and opening up about their feelings of being not good enough is very unlikely. David gave the example of men drinking in the pub – they don’t talk about their feelings until they are a few pints deep, and then it’s like a floodgate opens and they won’t stop talking about how they feel. He suggested a change of approach might be needed if I want honest answers from the men I’ve spoken to, eg. a Likert scale follow up survey. This would allow me to compare the answers I was given in person versus the answers given without my presence. I like this idea and I will be writing a Likert scale survey this afternoon.

The second question had a very nuanced answer. I have to admit that I have been rambling in the rewrite of my report and the introduction and methodology sections keep growing!! It wasn’t until David explained why it’s called an evaluative report that the penny finally dropped. Value is in the name of the report and that’s exactly what I need to demonstrate in my report – why does my research have value? Everything I write should be illustrating why my research has value and if it doesn’t show that, then it won’t be included.

Action Points

  • Start rewriting my report (again) with the aim of showing the value in my research ✔️
  • Write Likert scale survey and send to my male interviewees ✔️
  • Change my question to take ‘female’ out of it. The discussion about why male students are unlikely to open up to me has showed me just why they should be included in my research ✔️
  • Think of questions I have for David for our last tutorial. I don’t want to waste his time by not asking questions and regretting it later

Branching Out

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In my tutorial last week, David mentioned potentially including some male stakeholders. I had been conducting a few interviews with male working class students but it hadn’t really been my focus.

And then in class Zuleika gave us a refresher lesson on bias, and overcoming it. And I realised that although I had been conducting my research with the best of intentions, my bias had been showing. And it was holding me back, and potentially stunting my research. And whilst I doubt that many men will open up to me and admit to feeling any other way apart from confident, that doesn’t mean I shouldn’t include them in my research.
The majority of academic papers on imposter syndrome talk about women, however a study in Quartz says that actually men are experiencing imposter syndrome more than women.

“I first learned about this two years ago, when my editor at the time asked me to write on the subject. Instead of feeling understood or validated, I felt defensive. It had never occurred to me to look around my male dominated industry and worry that I didn’t belong; the notion that I should relate to imposter syndrome seemed to imply that I deserved to feel like a fraud. As I started to report the article, I worried that not suffering from imposter syndrome would be interpreted as a sign of arrogance. This concern, it turns out, is well-founded. Contrary to stereotypes, research suggests women are as confident as men—they are just penalized rather than rewarded for the same self-assured behavior.“

The article goes on to mention something called the Imposter Phenomenon Scale. I find it interesting that it is named after the original name for imposter syndrome and this supports the argument to stop pathologising it and calling it a ‘syndrome’.

“Overall, women self-reported more imposter syndrome according to the scale. But the researchers found that men experienced more stress both when getting negative feedback and when told their results would be shared with the professor. “Collectively, our findings suggest that male IPs [imposters] fair worse when confronted with performance cues than do female impostors,” the authors wrote. “Male IPs experienced greater anxiety after receiving negative feedback and under conditions of high accountability than did female IPs, and exhibited less effort and poorer performance on a task when held accountable to a higher authority.

Conversation around imposter syndrome has always been gendered. But its balance has been slowly shifting over the past few decades. The condition was first identified in 1978 by two clinical psychologists, whose study only focused on women. In the years since, gender-related data on the subject have been mixed. Some have found that women do experience more imposter syndrome, while others have found no correlation.“

I find this paragraph particularly interesting – in the course of my research I have searched for imposter syndrome numerous times, both on Google Scholar, in the library and just regular Google search. Every time, the top results mention women. Therefore I don’t think I agree with the statement about the discussion around imposter syndrome becoming less gendered. Hypothetically, if a male student was searching for information on imposter syndrome, and saw that the first 10 results were about women overcoming imposter syndrome, he might feel even more alienated or alone. However, that isn’t to say that men don’t feel like imposters in education or the workplace.

I also think there is a problem with women telling other women that they are suffering from imposter syndrome. But how do they actually know? In a room full of women, they are all going to have different feelings. And yes, there might be a big proportion of them who feel like imposters but you can’t assume. At a lot of conferences targeted at women, there generally is a class or a talk about overcoming imposter syndrome. I’ve not seen anything similar at conferences I’ve found that are aimed at men.

https://qz.com/1296783/it-turns-out-men-not-women-suffer-more-from-imposter-syndrome

Tutorial 24/10 and a new question

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I went into today’s tutorial knowing that my question had to change. I didn’t know how but I knew it had to happen.

So how did I go from ‘how can arts universities better support female students from working class backgrounds?’ to ‘How can female working class students be empowered to overcome their imposter syndrome in an arts education environment?’

We started our tutorial with me asking if I should flip my original question around, so that female working class students came first. We then discussed if the responsibility to solve the problem I’ve identified is solely resting on the shoulders of arts university. Which it isn’t. There needs to be a compromise with students and universities meeting each other halfway. I used the term empowered when talking about asking for support and David said that was an important term and that I should include it in my new question.

David asked me what loneliness, feeling out of place and alone are symptoms of. Eventually I got the answer right – imposter syndrome. So that got added into the question. My research project is essentially the same, I’ve just pivoted somewhat and I’m very happy I did so. I think that my previous question was expecting too much from arts universities and that was unfair. It’s unethical for universities to target a specific group of students and single them out for what could be perceived as extra support and whilst I had discovered that from my research, I think I didn’t take it on board quickly enough. I also think that it’s unfair to expect support to rain down on people who aren’t asking for it.

I think that my question is moving beyond the predictable now – my original question almost felt comfortable. Well maybe not comfortable, but it felt safe. Imposter syndrome is something that I have felt (a lot) but I don’t know a lot about it when it comes to theory or other people’s experiences.

Action points:

  • Ask about imposter syndrome in my interviews going forwards. Find out how it manifests in different students and how it makes them feel. ✔️
  • Research theories around imposter syndrome – does everyone think it exists? Are there people who argue that it isn’t a thing? ✔️
  • Read Steven D. Brookfield book – Becoming a Critically Reflective Teacher ✔️
  • Get blog up to date and email links to David
  • Write report draft and send it to David by 5pm on Thursday ✔️
  • Create another video from my interviews and hopefully have an in person event to show it

Tutorial 3/10

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First tutorial with David and I feel as though my mental block has disappeared! I think that I have been second guessing myself and my project too much, and focusing on the roadblocks I’m encountering rather than the successes I am having. We spoke about how CSM specifically has a reputation for it being difficult to get answers to questions and he suggested that I contact one or more of the other colleges that make up UAL such as CCW and LCC. Another conversation we had was about how in the UK, class is always the elephant in the room – it’s rarely spoken about but there’s always an undercurrent of it in the majority of situations.

Moving Forwards – Action points, ideas to research/think about etc

  • Show my academic argument for focusing on female working class students. Show why it is needed academically, rather than anecdotally. Illustrate why I’m focusing on what I am focusing on with the help of research and data, and pivot if needed. ✔️
  • Look at my project from the antithesis perspective. Potential arguments against my question, and also look at my question as less of a theory/idea. ✔️
  • Think about whether my stakeholder group has expanded to include potential applicants to universities for the next academic year. *If I am working on outreach as part of my research and interventions, then this would make sense, I think?* ✔️
  • Contact outreach at other institutions. How do other schools, not just art schools, entice students to study with them? What is working and not working? ✔️
  • Talk to educational policy officers at various universities, not just arts focused universities
  • Compare outreach at other arts universities – what are they doing that UAL are not? Compare and contrast and show the areas that UAL specifically are lacking, if any. ✔️
  • Contact the SU to work with them on a survey to work out how many female working class students there are – using re-enrolment figures potentially. They don’t have to disclose this under GDPR so I need to be inventive to get this data. ✔️
  • Offer to work directly with outreach teams. On a voluntary basis to collect data for my project. Kind of a quid pro quo situation. Have something to offer them in exchange for them helping me with my research – they are more likely to be receptive if this is the case.
  • Offer to volunteer with students who are potentially applying to university this year. Are they choosing an arts school? If not, why not? Have they thought about studying in London instead of staying where they currently are? *I have applied for a mentorship in this area at the Whitechapel Gallery which starts in November and I will look for other similar opportunities – this could lead into a paid role if successful* ✔️
  • Why are most HE teachers women? Did they go to an arts based university? Do they teach where they studied? *Look at the staff I see around me, as well as statistics if available. Maybe look at the ONS?*

The main takeaway from this tutorial for me, apart from all the advice, was David saying that the point of research isn’t to solve the problem. Research provides data and insight into what the problem is and presents possible solutions. I think up to this point, I’ve convinced myself that I’m going to make a huge change through my project. But really, that’s not what matters and that’s not how success is defined in the context of my project.

Further Feedback from Intervention

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As we approach a new semester, I have asked for further feedback from my intervention in the form of statements about participating and any suggestions my stakeholders have for moving forwards with my project.

“Taking part in this activity, I thought I wouldn’t gain anything from it and that it was pointless. But I was so wrong. I learnt that how I feel about being working class isn’t unique to just me. I learnt that I am not as alone as I feel when I’m at university and I’ve kept in contact with the other girls who attended this online event. Felicity made us feel comfortable and I could tell that she could relate to the terms that we were all sharing.” Jess

“I had never thought about what the word ‘working class’ meant to me before. I’ve always refered to myself as working class but had never thought about what it meant to me. Taking part in this gave me the opportunity to really think about it, and I came to realise that there’s not just one definition for it. I learnt a lot from taking part and I’m intrigued by where your project is going to go next.” Mary

“I don’t know how you would take this forwards but I do know that it was nice to meet other students who feel the same way I do. I wish that UAL knew how I feel and what it is like being poor and out of place here.” L

“I think it would be useful for you to research if you can the demographics of the working class students here. Eg how many of them are disabled, have multiple jobs, have children and see if there is a common denominator. Maybe even their gender identity or sexuality? I’m not sure if that would be too invasive. But I think it could be interesting and might redirect your research.” S

From this feedback, I think I have an idea of what direction I need to take my secondary research in order to inform further interventions. Especially the last quote, where she suggested things that I could research.

Swot Analysis

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I decided to create an updated SWOT analysis for my project, as the last one I did was for my previous question. I found this quite useful as it allowed me to think about my project from a different angle and really interrogate my question and methodologies that I am using.

I feel sure that I will update this as my research project evolves even more and I come across more obstacles.

Glossary of Terms

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Working class student – a student who is the first in their immediate family to wish to study at university. Someone who has upward mobility and who has the desire to have a better life than their parents. A student who has to had to sacrifice a lot of things to be at university and able to complete their course.

Saviourism – using research or interventions as a way of ‘saving’ working class students from being working class. Showing them off as though they’re rare and meant to be stared at as an illustration of diversity.

Upward Social Mobility – the goal of wanting a better life than the one that your parents have had, especially in terms of the career you choose to enter into.

LPN – Low Participation Neighbourhood. Students who come from an area that has the least number of students entering higher education are referred to as coming from a LPN.

Imposter phenomenon/syndrome – Imposter syndrome, originally called imposter phenomenon, is the persistent inability to believe that one’s success is deserved or has been legitimately achieved as a result of one’s own efforts or skills.

Arts education environment – a university which solely teaches creative subjects