Methodology for the Project
Our study was situated within a constructivist / interpretivist paradigm (Mertens, 2010) where reality is socially constructed and where ‘participants views of the situation being studied are relied upon (Creswell, 2003). The study adopted a Descriptive Approach with the intention to describe systematically ‘what is going on’ to provide a snapshot of what is going on at a specific point in time about a particular research topic (Baran, 2016; Isaac & Michael, 1997). In this instance describe the contemporary understandings of the complex issues affecting visual arts education held by art educators in Australia.
Data Gathering
A survey tool (using Qualtrics) was developed as we wanted to collect data from a range of locations and sites across Australia. The questions within the survey were based on the key issues impacting visual art education we had identified via a review and scan of Australian and International literature related to education in and through the arts. Within the survey we incorporated Likert scale and yes/no questions, as well as prompts that required extended visual and verbal responses of the understanding’s educators had of specific areas of Visual Art Education.