Finalising questionnaires with the gatekeeper- Feedback

On Friday I had a really great experience meeting with the Head of Dance and my 'gatekeeper' to show a copy of the questionnaire which will be handed out next week in student tutorials.

I wanted to share the questionnaire and cover sheet with the school to receive their feedback, see if there were any questions which could cause ethical concern, and also to see if there were any additional questions they would like in the final copy of the questionnaire.

They were very happy with the questionnaire and commented on the professionalism of the cover sheet which was provided to explain what the inquiry was and why, what it involves for the student as participant, ethical concerns, confidentiality and definitions of terms used within the questionnaire. Pheww!
I can now appreciate all the feedback and interaction with peers and my tutor in what seemed like never ending road to the finalised questionnaire.

I made notes on the draft questionnaire and highlighted any changes, mainly enlarging comment boxes and a couple of questions which we collectively re-phrased.

One question I re-phrased was the final one which was designed to allow participants to express their own opinions/comments to further support some of the tick box questions. Originally it read 'What more (if anything) do you think could be done to support injured dancers whilst they are still in professional training?' Although not asking directly about the school they are training in, I had not intended for this question to allow negative comments about what is potentially NOT being done to support them in their current training. I expressed this to the Head of Dance as I did not want my questionnaire to look into what is not being done but instead into what more could be done to support injured dancers. We discussed this and decided to rephrase the question as 'If you were to provide vocational dance training how would you approach support for injured dancers in training? What support systems would you use?'. This way, the feedback and opinions are not directly aimed at the school itself.

Collaborating in this way, with peers and professionals from the workplace, has been undeniably beneficial to my inquiry and also my practice. I feel much more confident in my research and the support from my gatekeeper has been encouraging. I am very appreciative for their involvement in my inquiry research.

Since Friday, it has been a quick turn around especially as I have been teaching over the weekend. We agreed that I would get the finalised questionnaires to the Head of Dance on Monday morning so that she could hand them out personally in tutorials and collect them in again before the Easter break. We believe that if the questionnaires are given out formally I will achieve a much higher response rate. Fingers crossed!

I have prepared the cover sheet and questionnaires into an unsealed envelope so that they can be returned to their tutor or Head of Dance anonymously.

Now to look further into the analysis requirements of the inquiry and await questionnaire responses!