By Linda Baines and Paul Kelly
This blog post explains and reflects on how two researchers collaborated in Opposites Attract. The text incorporates both Paul and Linda’s words.
Finding a starting point
Linda and Paul held an initial Skype call to explore their research interests and they found that they talked for more than an hour. The objectives developed from conversation, whereby the theory and the practice could be considered as the aims took shape. So it seemed that some kind of “talking heads” where we explored our mutual interest in changes in higher education would be an ideal fit. On reflection, they realised that this could offer other possibilities, such as analysing all our conversation to discover the main themes and issues.
Paul had attended a video production workshop with Public Policy at Southampton, and he suggested that they should make a short film and record the audio. This was agreed in the Skype call and fleshed out in subsequent emails.
Themes and Questions
The final questions which we decided to discuss emerged out of some iteration by email. The four questions developed from themes identified through previous experience of teaching and research; finding common ground across disciplines; and longer-term work on philosophy and literature. The themes and questions were:
- Power – How are academic roles conducted?
- Equality – How are policy expectations negotiated within disciplines?
- Values – What kind of understanding between individuals is needed in a democratic higher education multitude?
- Ethics – How can researchers employ affective, cognitive and meta-reflexive forms of self-governance?
The questions allowed each of us scope to explore our own interests from our individual perspectives and to find common ground between us.
The questions allowed Linda and Paul to reflect on their different and common interests and topics. The modifications made to initial suggestions seem to have been shaped by the intersection of backgrounds in STEM and Business on the one hand, and non-STEM and Education on the other. In this sense, the project created a space in which the talking heads dialogue might develop.
Equipment
Colleagues in iSolutions routinely hire out cameras for the day, and they were very good at arranging this at such short notice. The ESRC Doctoral Training Centre provided the audio recorder; so, thanks to Glenn. The film was made on a sunny day at Highfield campus, Linda and Paul found a comfortable bench where they were able to talk and also be aware of campus life going on around them. Once we started talking, they became unaware of the camera. It was almost a shock to find out how long they had talked for. Given that the film used only one angle, the main decision was where to sit for a recorded conversation. In hindsight, they think they could have varied the camera angles and included more cut-away shots between extracts of dialogue.
Paul and Linda sat and discussed the questions for about an hour. At the end they had three audio files totalling 52 minutes and 35MB in size. The battery on the camera ran out before the end of the dialogue, but there was still plenty of footage to be edited. Somehow, there were two film files at the end of recording. A passer-by may have pressed the pause button, and then re-started the camera, or this may just have been a feature of the equipment.
Playing to their strengths
Paul and Linda realised early on that they had complementary skills and interests. Although they both wanted to agree on each stage of the work, Paul was interested to try and code the dialogue by ear, as well as learn more about filming, recording and editing. Linda’s interests lie in writing, and data analysis and interpretation. This enabled them to divide the work between them.After making the film and recording the conversation, the first step was to edit the film. Paul found that a main theme and two sub-themes emerged from the coding by ear. Short extracts were chosen along these lines to try and include an equal amount of input from both of us. A colleague in Web Science, thanks Manu, gave Paul a tutorial in how to use the Movie Maker software, which was downloaded with help from Jordan in iSolutions.
Linda arranged for the audio files to be transcribed by someone she had employed previously. He was able to return the transcripts within four days of our sending the three audio files with us. As the transcripts totalled 21 pages, we decided that it would be easier to code the text in Word rather than using CAQDAS software, such as NVivo. After reading the transcripts in detail, Linda developed a first set of codes to discuss with Paul. After some discussion over email, the codes were revised and Linda undertook the coding. They are now reviewing the analysis to determine how to write it up the findings.
Outputs
By participating in Opposites Attract, Paul and Lind have “produced” a film clip, three transcribed and analysed audio files and two blog posts. After presenting the project to the Doctoral College, Paul and Linda aim to produce a conference paper and journal article based on their experience in Opposites Attract.
Linda and Paul are exploring possibilities for sustaining their collaboration after Opposites Attract. They are considering writing a conference paper for SRHE (Society for Research into Higher Education) and possibly developing and applying for funding for regional project exploring these themes at four regional institutions by approaching colleagues in Solent, Winchester, Portsmouth and Bournemouth to participate in a four-day filming schedule.