6b) Inquiry Tools

When beginning to plan my approach to research for my professional inquiry, it is important to consider all the possible methods that can be used within research. In order to gain the most reliable and useful responses to my inquiry questions, I will need to use the appropriate form of data collection. Reader 6 gives great insight into the possible data collecting tools that I can use with during my research. Upon reading about each method, I compared the upsides and downsides of each as well as how I could possibly use it with my inquiry research and came to the conclusion that the following research tools would be best for my inquiry

Observation

Observation opens up a large amount of possibilities when it comes to inquiry research as it can be used through many forms. Throughout this course I have been made more aware of the importance of observing my own actions and findings as well as analysing them appropriately to come to certain conclusions about my journey within the course. One of the biggest positives with observation, in my opinion, is that I will be able to observe myself within my profession as well as others. My inquiry, being about dancers nutritional needs in their career, is very suited to the use of observation and has great potential for accumulating a large amount of data. Observations, as well as the ability to be constant, can also be specifically structured around a particular scenario, such as a rehearsal, so that I can vary the ways in which I monitor the behaviour of myself and others dancers within the situation. I will also be able to create a journal of my thoughts and findings within the topic, in terms of dance ability in relation to my meals, alongside any other data I am collecting. The Setbacks that come with observation, however, are that not only can it be extremely time consuming, especially given the fact that data is not necessarily guaranteed at specific times, but also it can be open to some unreliability. I will have to make sure that my observations throughout are true to the situation and no bias of my own personal beliefs guide and therefore spoil my data.

Interviews

The method of interviewing will most likely be my most used source of research within the Inquiry. This qualitative approach contains the ability to "...follow up on ideas, probe responses and investigate motives and feelings" (Bell, 2005.Reader 6, page 16) of which will be most beneficial for the development of my inquiry. My interviews will consist of both the formal and informal approach, depending on the particular professional I am speaking to and my desired results. Research for my inquiry will require interviews with mature dancers within training and professional performers for which my interviewing style would remain informal. This is to create a relaxed atmosphere with those involved in order to understand their true emotions and opinions on their knowledge and experiences with my inquiry subject. When interviewing professional nutritional therapists and  vocational teachers, however, I will be remaining formal with my approach. The reasoning for this is I wish to collect only specific data from these people rather than personal opinions. Of course there will be a certain amount of bias from each interviewee which is why I will need to have a range of responses for analysis. Interviews will be used to collect more detail about the subject rather than "yes/no" answers which will be collected mainly within surveys.

Within Reader 6 we are given a series of questions to consider when approaching an interview. I went through each question and roughly answered them specifically thinking about my professional inquiry.

Who do you need to interview and why?

• Nutritional Therapists - Qualified in nutrition. Able to confirm or correct any opinions and queries I have.
• Mature Dance Students - The results of my inquiry could affect or benefit them directly and so they're contribution to my need of research is vital. Mature as they are more likely to continue into a professional dance career.
• Professional Dancers - Same as Mature Dance Students. For examples of professional schedules, daily routines, tour expectations, nutritional options.
• Vocational Dance Teachers - To communicate how/what they teach students on nutrition in order to determine what is lacking.

Where would most appropriate to hold the interview - neutral ground or 'home' ground?

• Home Ground - The interviewee's home ground they feel most comfortable for informal interviews.
• Neutral Ground - For formal interviews. To keep up a professional level/ standard.

At what point in the research process would it be best to interview?

• Beginning Research - Professional dancers, Students and Teachers in the beginning stage of researching in order to establish the starting points of my further research.
• Nutritional Therapists - After establishing basic knowledge and aspects of my inquiry. For further detail into my inquiry questions.

What questions need to be asked?

• Nutritional Therapists - their opinions and findings during their career on dancers nutritional needs, the effect or correct/incorrect nutrition, nutritional advice.
• Mature Dance Students - their past/current education on nutrition. What they feel they are lacking. The importance of correct nutrition in their opinion.
• Professional Dancers - Same as questions for Mature Dance Students.What a working season/day consists of. Emotions and physical abilities throughout various aspects of work.  What struggles they have found with nutrition in their career. 
• Vocational Dance Teachers - What nutritional education is given to their students within their organisation.

The degree of structure in the interview - structured, semi-structured or unstructured?

Differently structured depending on the interviewee.

How are you going to record the interview - whether to make notes during the interview or use a tape recorder and transcribe notes afterwards?

Mainly the use of a tape recorder. This will be to keep the flow of the interview and ensure the full answers are available for later transcribing and analysis. 

How will you ensure that you comply with ethical and confidentiality issues and relevant legislation such as the Data Protection Act? What is the status of what is said, i.e is everything on record?

All research data collected whether in written or media form will be kept in an external hard drive of which access is only available to myself. An agreement of consent of data distribution and use will be made with each interviewee. Any quote taken from data will be referenced appropriately.


The analysis of the responses collected in interviews will be the most time consuming and difficult. It is important to decide how I wish to categories the data for clear and understandable comparison. All interviews will be the same for each professional so that the differences can be easily determined. With each response I will

Reader 6 also suggests that before conducted an interview the interviewee must be informed of my research purpose. Interestingly it also suggest that it may be beneficial to limit the amount of information given to the interviewee about my inquiry in the aim to keep their responses 'clean' and unchanged by my own goals. I will create a front page or brief description that will be read or sent for the beginning of each interview I take to achieve this.

The ethical considerations of interviewing include the necessity of clear communication with the interviewee about my intentions with the data, and their resulting consent, and the importance of safe keeping of all data collected whether in written, audio or video form.


Surveys/Questionnaires

In task 6a I created a survey as trial of a possible research method for my inquiry, I have since collected the data I have received so far in order to analyse the resourcefulness of this inquiry tool.

As this is a pilot survey in preparation for future research into my inquiry in the final module, I was only able to send the survey to the small amount of people within my SIG group. This also being made smaller by the necessity of only having dancers responses. The amount of responses I received are minimal compared to what I would expect to be collection during my inquiry research. I was, however, able to receive enough data to see where the patterns lie within the responses. Many of which were able to confirm my own opinion on the lack of nutritional education opportunities given to dancers and the agreement of its undervalued importance. Therefore also given more reason to my wish to investigate further into the subject. Some of the responses I found particularly interesting were:

"Having the time to eat properly (if a show is at 7:30 then you don't want to be bloated) and also the resources for example if you are on tour then you can not always get the food you want."

"There is pressure to look a certain way."

"...there are too many opinions from people 'eat this, don't eat that' etc...really you need to have basic knowledge of NATURAL whole foods and then listen to your own body"

As well as the resounding positive response to the following questions:

"Do you often feel tired or unmotivated when dancing?"

"Do you find it difficult to stay focused whilst rehearsing/performing?"

"If given the opportunity, would you wish to learn more about your nutritional requirements?"

From this pilot survey I was able to decide that I will use surveys more for definite answers i.e YES/NO questions, rather than question that require more detail. This is because it is harder to analyse the responses if all completely different in answering approach. Also meaning I would be able to turn the results of the surveys into graphs with would should the statistics of the answers/ I would then be able to pinpoint areas that I feel need further research by using other inquiry tools.

6c) Award Title

I was slightly concerned when beginning my draft for my award title rationale that I would not be able to decide upon the correct title for my professional inquiry. Thankfully upon speaking to those who had completed this course in previous years it became clear that the aim of the rationale is to clarify the knowledge I have already gained throughout my training and career as a dancer, my future aims within my career, and therefore the reasoning behind my chosen subject for my professional inquiry.

My chosen award title is: BA(Hons) Professional Practice (Dance)

The subject of my inquiry is the necessary nutritional needs for dancers to be able to excel throughout the range of expectations within their work. I will analyse the importance of nutritional knowledge throughout a dancing career, developing specifically designed diets and producing beneficial guidelines for future dancers and organisations. This would be solely for the benefit of dancers' development, whether in training or professional career. My motivation for investigating this topic comes from my future goal to be a nutritionist once my own performing career has ceased.

My proposal for this award title is due to my overwhelming and continuing passion for dance and my professional experience. Having spent the maximum eight years in vocational training, I succeeded in acquiring a Level 6 National Diploma in Professional Dance and proceeded to join a professional touring ballet company of which I am presently a member. The concise nature of my current company and its continuous travelling throughout the United Kingdom has forced me to undergo various challenges with the upkeep of energy and my body's well-being. I believe these experiences have highlighted the ignored and under-rated importance of nutrition within dance education, which my inquiry will address. 

I felt as though the rationale needed to be concise and to the point so that it is clear although I still wished to include as much as possible about my knowledge, experience and reasoning.

Any advice about how this could be improved would be greatly appreciated.

6a) Informal Trial

In order for my to collect information for my professional inquiry I will need to use a variety of methods. This is due to the fact that as my inquiry is based on nutrition for dancers, and therefore the immediate effects on humans, quite a range will be needed in order to collect information that will be reliable.

Within Reader 6 a quote that I felt a particular connection with was Black's "quantitative research is quite good at telling us what is happening, and often qualitative studies are better at determining why events occur". The interesting argument that although quantitative research mainly referred to for data results, which would largely not be appropriate for my particular line of inquiry, is sometimes necessary to get a solid base for the inquiry, is one I related to for my own. With the ideology that then using qualitative research prior to the data in order to elaborate upon the inquiry and therefore make the results more reliable. For this reason I decided to make my informal trial a survey for others partaking in this course based on the series of original inquiry questions I had designed at the beginning of the module.

I was able to create the survey and then share amongst peers using the popular website:
www.surveymonkey.com
This website has enabled to me to make many surveys in the past and shows the responses clearly for analyses.

How much knowledge do you believe you have about nutrition? 

Where did you learn this?

Is it an aspect of your profession you find important? Why? 

Are you always able to fill your dietary requirements? 

What do you find most difficult about keeping to your dietary needs?

Does your profession affect your opinion about your dietary requirements? 

Were you advised about nutrition during training? 

How helpful did you find it? 

Do certain foods seem to affect your dancing abilities? 

Have you been injured during your training/career? 

What was the injury? 

What do you believe caused the injury? 

Do you often feel tired or unmotivated when dancing? 

Do you find it difficult to stay focused whilst rehearsing/performing? 

If given the opportunity, would you wish to learn more about your nutritional requirements? 

I would greatly appreciate any more responses, although this survey is aimed at dancers only, using the link below:

https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/S367K2K

Inquiry Title Brainstorm

I am currently trying to decide upon the title for my Inquiry. I feel it is quite difficult to create a short title that contains the correct amount of information on my chosen topic.

I have been brainstorming various ideas in the process of my final title decision.

• Dancers Nutritional Needs and Resulting Benefits
• Dancers Nutritional Education and Injury Prevention
• Dancers Nutritional Education and Resulting Injury Prevention Effectiveness
• The Role of Nutrition for Dancers and Injury Prevention Effectiveness

Any critic of the above ideas would be helpful.

5c) Ethical approach to Professional Inquiry Research

When beginning to think about the ethical challenges I may face when researching into my professional inquiry, I found it very difficult to differentiate between what would be considered the correct ethical conduct of research to others and what I believe to be ethically correct within my own actions. Also not knowing whether I should be trying to separate the two at all. What I do understand, however, is that creating an ethical foundation for my research is greatly important for the success of the Inquiry for myself and others involved.

Upon working through Reader 5, my knowledge of the differences of opinion throughout society of what is ethically correct, particularly when making possible life changing decisions, grew through the use various examples of ethical decisions made in the past and the repercussions by the way of public responses. What interested me most was the difference in opinion about what is ethically or morally correct between the years 1779 with Immanuel Kant's opinion and that of JS Mill in 1861. These two approaches to ethics are described as "Deontology" and "Consequentialism".

Deontology (Kant)

The belief that morals and  ethics are set in stone in terms of what is correct. This means that no matter the potential consequence, there is an absolute correct answer of what is right or good and this doesn't change no matter the situation.

Consequentialism (Mill)

A Complete Opposite belief to deontology. Ethical considerations have to be made and adjusted depending on what the consequences may be. If the end result of what would originally be called unethical actions is in fact to a greater benefit of society then it would actually be the correct moral decision.

What interested me most about these comparisons is the fact I could relate so easily to the difficulty of choosing between them. It is extremely difficult to know, in many cases, whether your ethical decision is correct because of the consequence and still consider yourself to have a strong ethical structure or it is impossible to bend your morals for different situations. This is also an argument that has followed society throughout history and will continue to with every ethical argument that comes our way.

Within the reader, I was very glad to see that there was a list of expected responsibilities I must uphold when conducted my research so as not to stray from the correct ethical practice. I was also recommended that I update and renew the list into a personal checklist for my research. Upon thinking about how I am going to approach my Inquiry research I designed the checklist using my own ideas as well those provided in the reader:

• The research proposal must comply with ethical standards and be approved by the Research Ethics Committee.
• To conduct research to the agreed protocol and codes of practice.
• The research data collected must be true to results.
• Those involved in the study must be fully aware of their input and be respected throughout.
• Attention to the confidentially of the results and those involved must be paid.
• The integrity and professional security of those I will be working with must be considered throughout.
• To remain in contact with those that have been involved so as to have clear communication about my intentions with the results for their consent.
• The information given by my the nutritional experts in various interviews must be used to their consent.
• All personal findings from the dancers must be used to their consent.
• During my nutritional experiments, the health of those partaking is of the highest importance.
• To keep my mentor up to date with my findings and research ideas so as to remain compliant with the ethical protocol.
• To be ethically critical about what information is used in terms of their reliability and accuracy.
• To reference the research of others appropriately to avoid plagiarism.

Throughout the work of this course so far, we have been reminded of the importance of ethics in terms of producing work. In Module 1 we were asked to think about the integrity of what we post on to open networks such as social websites and how we approach maintaining the safety and security of our own posts as well as those potentially mentioned within. Plagiarism was also mentioned as it is extremely important that any finding or research that will be used for the benefit of my professional inquiry, that is not my own, is referenced appropriately. Failure to do so can lead to massive conflict which is shown within Case 4 of the reader.

The issue of how we present ourselves throughout our research came up in Reader 5, and was a citerea within my inquiry I had not yet considered. Conducting oneself with professionalism throughout the stages of our work is important not only for the amount of respect will we be given when approaching our research but also for the maybe vital relationships that we will be created throughout. During my research, I am planning to speak to professional nutritionists, dancers, teachers and trainers in order to reach my goal and if I do not approach this in the correct manner I may not be given the help I need. Also how I then use my findings will be critical in terms of the ethically correct manner. Speaking and referring to others in the most polite and politically correct way throughout my research is vital for accurate result of my inquiry. Using my own bias or informal opinions rather than pure fact and findings would make my report invalid.

I do believe that I have began to understand what ethical considerations and measures I need to take when embarking upon my professional inquiry and I have no doubt that as I work through it, further knowledge on that subject will come with any issues that may arise within the research. Although now having this foundation should make it easier to know the ethically appropriate way of dealing with it.

5c) Case Study 1: Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust Public Inquiry

Ethics, whether personal, professional, or within society, is and will forever be argued within every issue that we come across. The media highlights and expresses their opinions on most scandals that surface and from this we are expected to use our personal ethics to make our own conclusions on the subject. Of course it is important to remember that those working within the media will have their own opinions and marketing interests within their publishings. This being another ethical factor that has to be taken when deciding what goes wrong within societies ethical standards.

Reader 5 introduces us to examples of this. Case Study 1 discusses a scandal within a hospital where an argued unnecessary amount of patients died due to severe malpractice. The amount of ethical issues within this case is vast as not only the morals of the hospital staff needed to be addressed but also the higher management within the organisation who appeared to have overlooked the mistreatment of the patients.

After reading the case study I wanted to find more about the case and came accross the official website of the inquiry:

http://www.midstaffspublicinquiry.com/

Within this website you are able to research the full case including the evidence given, the inquiries costs, the series of reports that were made throughout the case and the final report which was published in 2013. From reading through some of the final report I was able to get more insight into what had been brought up in the case and the repercussions. I made note of key facts of the case so it was easier to analyse. From what I read in Robert Francis' report the reasons to blame for the misconduct were the following:

• Trust board didn't listen to patients or staffs needs or concerns.
• Managerial or Leadership Issues were not addressed.
• Misplaced focus of reaching national and financial targets were in the place of correct treatment of patients.
• Agencies, Commissioners and Regulators did not detect or turned a blind eye to the arising issues within the organisation.
• The NHS checking systems to avoid such incidents within the organisation were not followed.

Below I also took the List of warning signs and the personal stories from patients families from the final report to concentrate on the key facts of the case.

Warning Signs

• A culture focused on doing the system’s business – not that of the patients;
• An institutional culture which ascribed more weight to positive information about the service than to information capable of implying cause for concern;
• Standards and methods of measuring compliance which did not focus on the effect ofa service on patients;
• Too great a degree of tolerance of poor standards and of risk to patients;
•  A failure of communication between the many agencies to share their knowledge of concerns;
•  Assumptions that monitoring, performance management or intervention was the responsibility of someone else;
• A failure to tackle challenges to the building up of a positive culture, in nursing in particular but also within the medical profession;
• A failure to appreciate until recently the risk of disruptive loss of corporate memory and focus resulting from repeated, multi-level reorganisation

Patient and Families Stories

•  Patients were left in excrement in soiled bed clothes for lengthy periods;
•  Assistance was not provided with feeding for patients who could not eat without help;
•  Water was left out of reach;
•  In spite of persistent requests for help, patients were not assisted in their toileting;
•  Wards and toilet facilities were left in a filthy condition;
•  Privacy and dignity, even in death, were denied;
•  Triage in A&E was undertaken by untrained staff;
•  Staff treated patients and those close to them with what appeared to be callous indifference.

The above examples of how the patients were mistreated already raises a huge amount of ethical arguments. When speaking to peers about this case, the opinion that each of our personal ethics or morals should not allow the sort of abuse these patients had been exposed to, without even needing any organisational ethical structure or guidance (which I discuss in a previous blog). In further discussion with others about the case I provided them with a brief amount of information, such as above, and asked them the series of questions recommended within Reader 5 about the case.

1. At Whose door do ethical principles lie?
2. Where do the limits for responsibility lie?
3. Are there any overlaps?
4. Wheres are the tensions?
5. How would these be resolved?

A few of the responses I got about the case during the discussion are as follows:

"Ethical principles lie with everyone. I think that as much as you can blame an organisation for failing, it is the individuals that should have the focus because at the end of the day, that can be the root of the problem which can spread even more widely. As long as individuals take responsibility for their own ethical actions, a lot of bad can be avoided."

"The responsibility lie with all of the above and the government. We should go back to having Matrons on every ward who oversee the running and patient care. These Matrons should then report back and what they say should be heeded to. No one should be left in this state of affairs, no human being. Everyone should have great  care and dignity given to them from entering to leaving the hospital. This is a humans moral and ethical right."

"Ethical principles lie with both higher authoritative figures and organisations but also with each individual. Although much blame can and should be placed on the organisations and agencies themselves it is the individuals within these systems that could have prevented such a tragic turn of events. As individuals we hold our own personal responsibilities and these should be considered and explored during the application process for these kinds of jobs. It is the higher authoritative figures responsibility to make sure the right kinds of people are employed for these roles to avoid mistreatment. Responsibility, therefore, lies with both the broader agencies and companies but also with each individual. There are slight overlaps here of course as although we can blame companies for employing the wrong people, the individuals themselves had a choice to make and they were in control of their own actions. Tensions will clearly lie between the employees and the companys higher figures, as much blame can and will be passed from all areas. These can be resolved by reviewing the overall outlook of the business and making sure the right people are employed for all the right ethical reasons at all levels within the corporate structure.

The final inquiry report published in 2013, condemning the actions of many involved has resulted in many resignations and the potential shutdown of the hospital which is still currently being protested against. This interesting result of people wanting a hospital that has been responsible for the deaths of many without need to be kept open because of importance of having local hospitals raises yet another ethical question. At what point is it acceptable for the standards of a person's medical needs to be lowered because of hospitals capabilities? And are we fully aware of the possible consequences such as this case?

5b (continued) Ethics in the Workplace

When doing research into what ethics in the workplace entails so that I could establish my own within my professional practice, I came across a very interesting article that discusses what the benefits are within any organisation to having strong ethical conduct throughout.

Article Link:
http://www.asaecenter.org/Resources/articledetail.cfm?ItemNumber=13073
"Ethics in the Workplace"
By; Joshua Joseph
Published: October 2000

The article argues the importance of everyone within an organisation having the knowledge and guidance within their profession of its ethical standards in order to create a strong company. When looking at my own professional practice I can agree that finding and ethical common ground within my ballet company is beneficial to the improvement of the company, and although not all colleagues will agree with every issue that arises, having a strong ethical base makes the company work much better as a team. I believe teamwork is an important aspect within every organisation which is expressed throughout this article;"...leaders who want to establish practice of positive workplace ethics within their organizations should develop written ethics standards, provide ethics training, and ensure resources are available for employees in need of ethics advice."

Although this article was written in the year 2000, and therefore slightly outdated, particularly because of the constant evolving of the professional world and all the boundaries within, it seems to be that this article shows the rising attention that is given to ethical conduct in the workplace that is now of the highest importance. I do not believe that every organisation has the correct amount of guidance given as with my own. I explained in a previous blog that many of the ethical standards I have for my profession have come from my own upbringing and experiences which is more related to personal ethics that professional. However, I do not necessarily blame my company for this but more I feel this is how many other within my profession have also come to their ethical conclusions, as it is the nature of the profession to take the relatively small amount of guidance given and developing it throughout our career.

What I particularly like about this article is it defines organisational ethics in a very straight forward way that would apply to every professional practice:

"Organizational ethics: Sets of formal and informal standards of conduct that people use to guide their behavior at work. These standards are partly based on core values such as honesty, respect, and trust, but they also can be directly from the actions of others. For example, what people see their organizational leaders, managers, and coworkers do on the job can influence their own views of what is acceptable or unacceptable behavior.

Throughout my research of ethics during this module, I have found the above definition to be the most appropriate when referring to my own professional practice in terms of how I have created my ethics standards so far far and how they will develop in the future.

Task 5a) Ethics in the Workplace

With every profession, especially now when being correct and respectful in the workplace is  of high importance, certain ethics are called for. As a professional ballet dancer, I have been taught throughout my training and professional life about what are the ethical standards expected when working within a professional ballet company. Also developing my moral understanding of my profession throughout my career so far.I have thought about what these ethics are .


Respectful

It is important when in a company to remain respectful to your colleagues as well as following the instruction given by my director and ballet mistress. During the rehearsal period,our ballet mistress is responsible for organising the rehearsals schedule. It is my responsibility to be on time and prepared for what I am needed for. It is also important to be respectful of my colleagues needs within the studio time and space as we have the same goal to produce the best production  possible for when tour begins.

In the past I have worked with choreographers who will have certain ideas or visuals that have to be considered in my movement of their pieces.

When the company is on tour, we work with a range of staff from the varied theaters, and it is important that a mutual respect is found with them , as well as with colleagues, in order for the performance to run smoothly. Sometimes it is difficult to agree with technicians, who have their own goals and priorities for the performance, of what is important to the dancers and so respectful discussion and compromise is constantly being made.

During a performance, it is very important to be aware that a paying audience is in the auditorium, remaining quiet and professional at all time throughout a performance can make a difference to an audience members experience and impression of the production or company and so must be taken seriously.

On rare occasions, the company I work with also work with small children for the performance. The ethics of working of children therefore changes your attitude to how you may speak or present yourself even in an informal situation so not to offend or make them feel uncomfortable.

Working together with other company members in order to create a productive environment can make a difference to a tours atmosphere and therefore improvement. Is it a company members responsibility, to help other members where possible. this can be with costume, emotional support or even just medical supplies for a performance, however I am of the opinion that this ethical approach is of high importance.

Proactive

It is, in my opinion, expected of all dancers to be proactive about their profession. Due to limited time and space in order to create and improve and choreography, it is within my ethics that I must continue to work on my set pieces when I am away from the studio or theatre. This has the same importance when I am off season as I must keep shape, stamina and strength ready for the following season (this is an example of ethics that wouldn't be necessary in many other professions).

In order to improve within my career, being proactive in how I approach my work can make all the difference for how reliable or promising a dancer you are, and therefore your hiring qualities. My ethical opinion is that as a dancer, a lot more is required of us than we are contracted if we wish to improve. This can be simple things like taking extra care if your costume or shoes and taking the time to educate yourself with the background of my company or production.

This is quite probably a small amount of ethics within my profession that I find most important. I will be speaking to my colleagues and ballet mistress about their opinions of ethics. I will interested to learn about everyones difference in opinion.

5b) Ethics of Professional Practice

When looking further into the ethics of my professional practice, it became clear that within my profession ones ethics are determined by the dancers own opinion. This was confirmed when I asked my colleagues in my ballet company what they felt the ethics are. All answered with the same thoughts that I expressed in my previous blog and agreed that this had come about through their own opinions and what they have learnt throughout their career rather than with legislation as some professions would have.

I also wrote in a previous blog about what is expected of me within my profession, consulting my contract for reference of how i know what is expected of me. This is the only written  form of information many dancers given and so in terms of what is ethically correct, personal input is extremely important. whilst during my time in training, however, a small booklet called "The Dancers Dozen" was given to all students at the young age of eleven, which was the beginning of the ethical shaping that I brought forward into my career.

Upon speaking to the ballet mistress of the company I currently work with, the discussion turned into what are the ethical values of the company as a whole, rather just with each individual dancer. this is of course an important aspect for the companys ability and will  greatly affect the ballet mistress' own professional goals in incorrectly conducted. With further discussion an ethos for the company was created.

"To give every member of (company name) a secure and complete understanding of their professional roles. Thus allowing all performances to be the highest standard possible."

Within Module 1 we were encouraged to think about the ethics of our profession in terms of when using social media. I have always been of the opinion that whilst social media can be helpful within a profession for such things as networking, it is not wise to include personal information on open databases i.e your home address on a blog such as this one. I have therefore also left out the name of my current ballet company and ballet mistress in the interest of integrity. This is another example of what is correct ethical conduct in my opinion.

I would be interested to know if readers agree with this choice? And therefore in fact within my professional practice where the line should be drawn on these matters?

4d(continued) Finding Literature

As I have been turning to various pieces of literature, whether online or within books, for references and information that will help with my professional inquiry. It has been increasingly difficult find different sources of information. It was brought to my attention that "Google" had a page to their website called "Google Scholar". This page enable you to search whatever you wish and produces a wide range of articles, reports and literature related to your search. My first search was "Healthy Dancer" and many weblinks were listed.

I was able to find an article named "The Dancer as a performing athlete" which referred to my line of inquiry. In particular the article referred to professional ballet dancers and their diets;

"The Dancer as a Performing Athlete", Sports Medicine, August 2004, Volume 34, Issue 10
Prof. Yiannis Koutedakis and Athanasios Jamurtas

 "...body weight targets are normally met by low energy intakes, with female dance students and professional ballerinas reported to consume below 70% and 80% of the recommended daily allowance of energy intake, respectively, while the female athlete 'triad' of disordered eating, amenorrhoea and osteoporosis is now recognized and is seen just as commonly in dancers.

An awareness of these factors will assist dancers and their teachers to improve training techniques to employ effective injury prevention strategies and to determine better physical conditioning."

This quote recognises the same need of more nutritional education for dancers that has inspired my wish to research it for my professional inquiry. It confirms my belief that I am not the only dancer who struggles as a result of my lack of knowledge but shows that malnutrition within dancers is a common and very effective problem.

4a (Continued) Inquiry Questions

Following my initial inquiry ideas, I have created a list of questions for the research line of my professional inquiry:

• What does Nutrition mean to dancers?
• What are the physical or psychological repercussions to a dancer's diet?
• What are the dietary requirements for professional dancers?
• How does a dancer approach achieving the correct nutrition?
• What is the current education situation concerning nutrition in vocational schools and professional organisations?

These questions will be the foundation of my inquiry research. From here I will be able to branch out within the subject with the results I collect.

4d) Literature

As the reasoning for my investigation into nutrition for dancers is a result of the lack of knowledge in currently have on the subject I felt I should research into the generalised topic of nutrition before branching into the specific dance related areas.

• "Nutrition for Dummies" 2nd Edition by Nigel Denby, Sue Baic and Carol Ann Rinzler

This book, however generalised and basic, was helpful in helping me understand the basics of nutrition and our bodies digestive needs; "Glucose is the basic fuel your body uses for energy". Structured into basic chapter I was able to determine which would be most helpful for my later inquiry research. One chapter in particular gives advice into the best nutrition for when you are travelling on the road. This topic in particular is one of my main points of investigation as a dancers struggle to maintain good nutrition is on tour. This is a problem I have discovered myself whilst performing in my current ballet company. Below are the examples of recommendations of healthy options available in service stations, a main source of food or drink on tour.

"Here are some suggestions for healthy choices in service stations:

• Bottled water
• Cereal bars
• Fresh fruit including fruit salad
• fruit juices and smoothies
• individual cereal pots with milk or yoghurt
• low calorie hot chocolate
• low fat milk
• low fat savoury snacks like plain popcorn, pretzels and trail mix
• low sugar squash and fizzy drinks
• pre-packed healthy eating sandwiches or wraps
• ready-to-eat salads with dressing on the side
• tea or herbal/fruit teas"

It will be this kind of basic information that I will take into my inquiry in order to research further and adapt for the needs of dancers.

Professional Inquiry Ideas

Thinking further into what I wish to base my professional Inquiry on and what therefore I would like to achieve from my research, I have begun to look more specifically into the subject of "nutrition" I am referring to.

My inquiry will be an investigation into the importance of nutritional knowledge for dancers throughout their time in training and professional careers. Also, therefore, how they would benefit in terms of performance, stability, stamina and injury prevention from having correctly nourished bodies.

I do believe that this is an important aspect of the maintenance and health of dancers of which there is very little awareness, information or guidance, particularly throughout my time in training and within my career so far.

From these ideas I have begun to create an ultimate question of what my professional inquiry research will entail and its benefits. I will be improving upon in throughout this module.

What is the appropriate nutrition for dancers throughout rehearsal, performance and rest periods to achieve maximum ability throughout their work?

I would really appreciate any advice on how this can be improved upon.

Task 4a) Nutritional Health for Dancers

I have decided that my professional inquiry will be based on the topic of nutrition. It is a topic I find extremely important to my practice as a professional dancer, and one that would benefit others within in the professional in terms of staying on form for rehearsals and shows throughout their career.

I have created a beginning set of questions that I will be developing into my deeper research questions for the inquiry.

How much knowledge do you believe you have about nutrition? 

Where did you learn this?

Is it an aspect of your profession you find important? Why? 

Are you always able to fill your dietary requirements? 

What do you find most difficult about keeping to your dietary needs?

Does your profession affect your opinion about your dietary requirements? 

Were you advised about nutrition during training? 

How helpful did you find it? 

Do certain foods seem to affect your dancing abilities? 

Have you been injured during your training/career? 

What was the injury? 

What do you believe caused the injury? 

Do you often feel tired or unmotivated when dancing? 

Do you find it difficult to stay focused whilst rehearsing/performing? 

If given the opportunity, would you wish to learn more about your nutritional requirements? 

These questions will give me more insight into what others within my practice know about this topic. Also seeing how further knowledge may improve their profession. 

Career Inquiry

Reader 4 provokes the thought into our current working situation and what our goals are for the future. As a ballet dancer within a small, touring company, there are many responsibilities and aspects which need improvement. Being a dancer, as I am aware, is not a part of my career that I can continue for a long period and so has made me need to think deeper into what my aspirations are for the future. Using the topic I have decided upon as the basis for my professional inquiry.

Out of interest I decided to interview colleagues, ex classmates and teachers about their own achievements and goals within their career. Here are the questions followed by some examples of answers that I found particularly interesting:

1. What is your current working situation?               
2. What do you feel you have achieved so far within your working situation?
3. What are your goals within your current working situation?
4. What are your goals for your career?

    What is your current working situation?

I am a dancer.

What do you feel you achieved so far within your working situation?

I am stronger than day one. I have learnt ballets that I did before with new choreographies. I am improving everyday in my dancing and knowing more myself thanks to the people I am surrounded with.

     What are your goals within your current working situation?

Getting stronger and ready for more coming auditions. Be proud of every show. Help my collegues for them to be better dancers.

      What are your goals for your career?

Became a ballet teacher no matter where. Study psychology, bioneuro emotion. Choreograph my pieces. Have my own company.

   What is your current working situation?

Graduate Intern

   What do you feel you achieved so far within your working situation?

Confidence in delivering workshops to Masters level students

    What are your goals within your current working situation?

Continue to research within my subject field and to develop teaching skills

    What are your goals for your career?

Lecturer in higher education or working as a support figure for professional, pre professional and 

vocational dancers.

What is your current working situation?

Part time ballet teacher

 What do you feel you achieved so far within your working situation?

Confidence and skills in a new area of work and experience working and managing young children

 What are your goals within your current working situation?

Not sure just yet, i have only worked as a teacher for 1 month so still deciding whether I want to go full time into this area or dance for a little longer first before becoming a full time teacher

 What are your goals for your career?

I think I would like to dance a bit more first but after that I would like to become a really great teacher and pass on my love of dance to others

What is your current working situation?

Employed Ballet Mistress

What do you feel you achieved so far within your working situation?

I have worked on all productions for the past 3 years, and believe the standard of production both in standard of dancing and general rehearsing of productions have improved since I have taken on the role. I also believe I have achieved in forming more structure within the company day to day life.

 What are your goals within your current working situation?

Goal 1: To have the current production looking well rehearsed and recovering outstanding reviews at all venues.

Goal 2: To have another ready for stage within the next 3 weeks. Goal 3: For all dancers to have made visible improvements to technique by the end of the season

 What are your goals for your career?

To become a Repetiteur at a larger Ballet company.

All of these answers have come from professional, or ex professional dancers who have built their career aspirations whilst remaining within the practice. Most of the responses I have had have been connected to teaching. This seems to be a very common next step for ex professional dancers as it can be greatly rewarding to pass the knowledge you have spent years collecting to other aspiring young dancers. Upon approaching these answers my self, however, my future goals consist of helping dancers with aspects of the career that are often ignored and I have never been given a large amount of education in i.e nutrition and injury prevention. I will be doing that same type of survey with my professional inquiry questions in the beginning of my further research.

Competences and Capabilities

From identifying what is expected of me within my professional practice, I was then able to decide what categories I feel most able and which I need to gain further knowledge.

Competences and Capabilities

• Maintaining Technique
• Personally Correcting 
• Learning Choreography
• Remembering Choreography
• Applying Corrections
• Supporting Colleagues
• Time Organisation

I feel confident in my abilities of the above subjects. Many of which I have been working on throughout my vocational training with the constant advise given to me by teachers and classmates. These parts of my training, although may not have seemed so important at the time, having become vital for my successes in my dancing career so far, however small this may be.

Lacking Qualities

• Maintaining Physique
• Injury Prevention

Although I do feel have some knowledge in these areas, and neither I have particularly struggled with throughout my time in training or as professional dancer. I do believe there it an absolute importance in these topics within the dancing profession of which not enough information is given. Knowing what the correct nutritional values are in certain foods, and from this what is beneficial to a dancer in order to be able to perform the to best of their ability as well as improve, is something I have a great interest in. Injury prevention is also often ignored and we are taught more how to do with an injury once it has occurred. More attention to this aspect in terms of how to look after your body correctly, also related to nutritional values is a topic I feel will not only improve my current professional practice but also by very beneficial for my future goal as a nutritional adviser for training and professional dancers, once my own dancing career has finished.

I am intrigued what 

others within the same practice as myself believe to be the most important aspects to be knowledgeable in to better there career and will be making an appropriate survey to follow.

The Responsibilities of a Professional Dancer

In order for me to able to decided which aspect of my career I wish to research further I first wanted to make note of what my responsibilities are as a self employed professional ballet dancer. From doing the exercise I was able to identify my strengths and weaknesses.

Below I have noted what I can of the responsibilities I have to my current career...

Maintaining Technique 
Much like when in vocational training although less personal corrections and time for correcting is given for professional classes and so it is up to the dancer to be constantly thinking about what is the correct technique and how to adjust my body appropriately. Various strengthening and stretching exercises should also be done as well as daily class to keep on form.

Maintaining Physique
This important for both during the working season and off season. This requires eating and exercising properly.

Staying Healthy
This is important for rehearsals due to limited rehearsals time and for tours as I am a part of small ballet company with limited casting and so being able to perform in all shows is extremely important.

Injury
As above this is important for rehearsals and tour. Injury also means you are not able to participate in classes, rehearsals or performances which causes a decrease in strength and stamina.

Personal Appearance
In many cases, dancers need to be blank canvases that can be moulded into any role. Particularly for classical ballet dancers. This includes not having any obscene piercings or tattoos, disfigurements or major imperfections to the face or body and even haircuts that can be easily reshaped in some cases.

Auditions
Each dancer is personally responsible for finding, applying, organising and attending auditions. This includes budgeting for any travel or accommodation necessary.

Curriculum Vitae
Must be created under the appropriate format for auditions and constantly updated to show achievements and therefore potential to possible future employers.

Headshots
Whilst a professional photographer is hired to give guidance on the best shots and produce the appropriate photographs,it is up to the dancer to choose and hire the photographer they think is best for the desired look. Headshots and dance shots are needed for almost every audition for all styles of dance.

Above are examples of what I believe I have a responsibility of doing as a professional dancer in order to sustain my position and better my career. I then looked at my current contract to see what it is my employers expect of me:

Time Organisation 
Being punctual for rehearsals, meeting the tour bus, class and performances.

Costume
Keeping my costume for each production stored correctly, maintained, clean and to fix anything that may happen to it (eg. broken hook) that is within my capabilities during the tour.

Make Up
Having the correct equipment for each performance and applying it in the desired way which is advised by the ballet mistress.

Shoes 
Always having at least two pairs of the necessary shoes for the performance that are clean, broken in and prepared (eg. pancaked)

Tour Bag
Correctly pack tour bag for performances ahead and being responsible for communicating with the technician who transfers it between theatres.

Money Management
As a self employed dancer I have to be responsible for managing my payments given, tax, national insurance and storing the correct receipts.

Choreography
Learning, practicing and performing to the best of our ability. this means using free time to go over choreography, notes and corrections given to be able to improve.

Going through these responsibilities has helped me identify what I believe my capabilities are and with this, what it is I would like to further research in my professional enquiry in order to progress within my career.

I would be very interested to know what other bloggers believe are the most important aspects of their career and with that what their professional enquiries will be based on.

Introduction to Module 2

After having to defer my last term, I am very excited to get back into writing blogs although I fear I may be a little rusty. 

It is in this Module Two we begin to further explore into our own professional enquiries. I am working through Reader Four and enjoying thinking deeper into what my profession entails and what is expected of me as well as what I expect of myself. I am also thinking more into what I would like to achieve from my career. It is through this though process I will be able to decide upon which line of enquiry I would like to research.

I will posting all the processes I am going through to reach my decisions and would love to hear any feedback or alternate processes you fellow bloggers are going through.