I began the unit by expanding on material encountered during the IP unit, as my ARP developed directly from my earlier intervention design. I was particularly influenced by Sara Ahmed’s On Being Included (2012), whose accessible yet critical approach to institutional life resonated strongly with my own experiences of working with students. Ahmed’s emphasis on lived experience and affect provided a valuable framework for thinking about inclusion beyond policy language.
This thinking was further informed by pedagogical approaches drawn from socially engaged arts practice, particularly Pablo Helguera’s Education for Socially Engaged Art (2011) and Paulo Freire’s Pedagogy of Hope (1992). Both authors emphasise dialogue, agency, and learning as a relational process, which aligned closely with the values underpinning my workshop design.
Alongside these pedagogical texts, I incorporated documentary film theory to support my focus on screen-based arts practice. In particular, the writing of Michael Renov (2004) and Laura Mulvey (1975) on subjectivity, spectatorship, and encounters with the “other” helped shape my manifesto workshop as a space that foregrounded positionality and reflection within moving-image making. These perspectives supported my intention to situate the workshop within the specific material and ethical concerns of screen-based practice.
Once the workshop was designed, I adopted a mixed-methods approach to data collection, using a questionnaire that combined Likert-scale questions with open-ended responses. The structure of this tool was informed by methodological readings on survey design and data collection (Converse and Presser, 2011; Joshi et al., 2015), which helped me balance clarity, accessibility, and depth of response.
Throughout the unit, I was supported by tutors and peers who introduced me to a range of texts and resources relevant to my ARP. Particularly valuable were readings that explored creative and practice-led approaches to thematic analysis (Wolgemuth et al., 2024). As an early-career researcher, I found the invitation to “sit with the mess” of the data (Cook, 2009) both challenging and affirming. Recognising my own limitations around quantitative analysis, I sought practical guidance for managing Likert-scale data and strengthening my Excel skills, drawing on accessible online resources (Okolie, 2023) to support this aspect of the research process. Working physically and iteratively with the material felt intuitive and closely mirrored my experience as a filmmaker.
In this context, I returned to Walter Murch’s In the Blink of an Eye (2001), as his reflections on editing reinforced the parallels between the challenges of subjectivity as a filmmaker and as a researcher, as well as thinking creatively about how to make meaning from a large range of material.
Below is my full bibliography:
Ahmed, S. (2012) On Being Included: Racism and Diversity in Institutional Life. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.
Arao, B. and Clemens, K. (2013) ‘From Safe Spaces to Brave Spaces: A New Way to Frame Dialogue Around Diversity and Social Justice’, in The Art of Effective Facilitation. 1st edn. New York: Routledge.
Converse, J.M. and Presser, S. (2011) ‘The Tools at Hand’, in Survey Questions: Handcrafting the Standardized Questionnaire. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications.
Cook, T. (2009) ‘The purpose of mess in action research: building rigour through a messy turn’, Educational Action Research, 17(2), pp. 277–291.
Edstar Analytics (2022) Analyzing Likert Scale Data Using Excel: Computing Totals and Percentages (Intermediate) [Video]. YouTube. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bkYWyahlThQ&t=314s (Accessed: 10 December 2025).
Ellis, C.S. and Bochner, A.P. (2006) ‘Analyzing Analytic Autoethnography: An Autopsy’, Journal of Contemporary Ethnography, 35(4), pp. 429–449.
Freire, P. (1992) Pedagogy of Hope: Reliving Pedagogy of the Oppressed. New York: Continuum.
Helguera, P. (2011) Education for Socially Engaged Art: A Materials and Techniques Handbook. New York: Jorge Pinto Books.
hooks, b. (1994) Teaching to Transgress: Education as the Practice of Freedom. New York: Routledge.
Jokela, T. and Huhmarniemi, M. (2015) ‘Art-based action research in the development work of arts and art education’, Art, Design & Communication in Higher Education, 14(1), pp. 5–19.
Joshi, A., Kale, S., Chandel, S. and Pal, D.K. (2015) ‘Likert scale: explored and explained’, British Journal of Applied Science & Technology, 7(4), pp. 396–403. https://doi.org/10.9734/BJAST/2015/14975
Kemmis, S. and McTaggart, R. (2007) The Action Research Planner: Doing Critical Participatory Action Research. 3rd edn. Dordrecht: Springer.
Kimmerer, R.W. (2013) Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants. Minneapolis, MN: Milkweed Editions.
Lenette, C. (2023) Participatory Action Research: Ethics and Decolonization. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
McAteer, M. (2013) Action Research in Education. London: SAGE Publications. Available at: https://methods-sagepub-com.arts.idm.oclc.org/book/action-research-in-education (Accessed: [insert date]).
McIntyre, A. (2007) Participatory Action Research. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications. Available at: https://dx.doi.org/10.4135/9781483385679
McNiff, J. (2002) Action Research for Professional Development: Concise Advice for New Action Researchers. 3rd edn. London: RoutledgeFalmer.
McTaggart, R., Nixon, R. and Kemmis, S. (2016) ‘Critical participatory action research’, in The Palgrave International Handbook of Action Research. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 21–35.
Mulvey, L. (1975) ‘Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema’, Screen.
Murch, W. (2001) In the Blink of an Eye: A Perspective on Film Editing. 2nd edn. Los Angeles, CA: Silman-James Press.
Okolie (2023) Likert Scale Data Analysis and Interpretation of Results [Video]. YouTube, 14 July. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uHteOFO84MM (Accessed: 10 December 2025).
Renov, M. (2004) The Subject of Documentary. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press.
Rosenberg, M. (2015) How to Express Needs | Nonviolent Communication Explained [Video]. YouTube. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3l8l4prc-_Q (Accessed: 12 October 2025).
Stelson, E.A., Bolenbaugh, M., Woods-Jaeger, B., Branch, C. and Ramirez, M. (2021) ‘Identifying research participation effects through qualitative methods: Feedback from Research Engagement Consultants involved in a pediatric mental health comparative effectiveness trial’, SSM – Qualitative Research in Health.
Willis, J. and Edwards, C. (2014) Action Research: Models, Methods, and Examples. Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing.
Wolgemuth, J.R., Guyotte, K.W. and Shelton, S.A. (eds.) (2024) Expanding Approaches to Thematic Analysis: Creative Engagements with Qualitative Data. London: Taylor & Francis.
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