The ‘Agency in Assessment’ Art Gallery – Art-based Research in Academia

Many qualitative research methods such as focus groups, case studies and interviews are used in paedology, and all of these methods are invaluable in making progress in the ways that education is conducted. At the beginning of the year, all these options (and more) for conducting my research project were presented to me. However, while exploring these methods, I felt as though the main these main methods wouldn’t be able to stay true to the title of ‘agency and choice’, in assessment, which already elicits such an emotive response.

Whilst I was considering all these methods, I came across art-based research (ABR).  I came across art-based research (ABR). ABR is a research method that uses artistic tools and methods such as pens, pencils, paints etc. to produce artistic expressions to examine the experience of people involved in the research (McNiff, 2008). The benefit of using ABR is that it can reach a wide audience by utilising not only the writing of students, but by capturing the attention of the observer though visual means to portray exactly what a piece of writing can in just a couple seconds (Leavy, 2020). Through this, ABR can be an emotive yet useful and accessible research technique. Moreover, ABR allows students the freedom to create with whatever medium they chose in whatever way they want to present it; there is an element of agency which can be expressed in the art forms they produce. 

After careful planning, I decided to carry out an ABR focus group where I asked students to create an art piece that describes what optimal agency and choice in assessment looks like for them. In this blog, I will take you through a five-step process from the logistics of getting this project started, to the final pieces of the focus group, closing off with my final thoughts on the whole experience. 

1. WHAT QUESITON DO I WANT TO ANSWER?

My initial question at the beginning of the project has always been ‘What does the optimum level of agency look like for different students’. This can seem like a broad question. However, when talking to students about what they want from an assessment, as well as what level of agency they would like, the answers always vary. Some students would love free reign on how they conduct their assessments, while others would prefer strict guidelines for completing an assessment exactly how their lecturers would like. Therefore, it was important for me to hear different perspectives across different schools in the university, as well as undergraduates and postgraduates. 

The logistics of what an assessment can look like is also highly dependent – such as whether an assessment is individual or based on group work, an essay or report any time constraints (if any). These factors can alter how much agency a student feels in the assessment. This seemingly broad question can immediately present many angles to look at, therefore, using ABR may be able to answer these questions in a concise way that is individual to each student. 

• WHAT SUPPLIES AND INCENTIVES WILL I NEED FOR THE EVENT 

This step was relatively fun to do. Since I come from a STEM background, I do not spend a lot of time looking for art supplies. Therefore, getting to buy the paints, pencils, paintbrushes and pens was an enjoyable task. It also allowed me to think from the perspectives of the individuals taking part in the focus group. For example, I would ask myself: “if I had any choice of an art medium, what would I like?”, “what colour ranges would there be?”, “what kind of paint brush do I need to make my art piece?”

• RECRUITING THE STUDENTS 

Recruiting students for focus groups can often be the hardest part of the job. However, I think what worked most successfully for me was displaying posters in areas with large amounts of student traffic such as Senate House, the Richmond building and the Arts and Social Sciences building (free pizza as an incentive also helps!). I also found it helpful reaching out to the plethora of student aimed newsletters and channels.

• THE BIG DAY – HOW IT WENT AND DID STUDENTS ENGAGE WITH THE TASK:

In terms of the parameters I set for myself that would constitute a successful event, I believe I met all of those. However, what I was most pleased about was that the students wanted to talk about assessment and were passionate about the subject area. I think the title ‘agency and choice in assessment’ doesn’t immediately generate ideas for students. However, building a foundation from the beginning of the session allowed students to truly understand the nature of what this focus group was about. Starting with questions such as “what assessments have you enjoyed in the past and why did you like them?” allowed students to realise that agency can be had in a lot of assessments. 

As you will see in the next section, some gorgeous pieces were generated. All of which were unique to how the student interpretated the concept. There are some interesting conversations that can be had from what the students had produced.

• RESULTS AND KEY TAKEAWAYS

• CONTENT ANALYSIS AND MAIN THROUGHLINES IN THE ARTWORK

After analysing the pieces, I did a content analysis of common words that were mentioned in each art piece/ topics that discussed this:

Topic/word	Frequency of its mention across all art pieces (7 art pieces in total)
Research	4
Choice	6
Range	4

A throughline that I found with most students is that there is a want for more agency in assessment in specific contexts. Students want to feel like the work that they are researching can have a novel impact in the area that they are studying. And when they are not conducting their own personal research, their assessments can mirror an environment that is akin to a professional working context or an office. For example: 

• More lecturer-student interaction during the assessment, akin to a manager-employee relationship in a working environment, where regular meetings are held to catch up on projects. In this case, it would be regular lecturer-student one-to-ones to discuss the assessment and then subsequent meetings during the assessment period. 
• All assessments being open book. This would be in a similar way to a normal professional work environment where most workplaces do not require you to memorise masses of information – for there is no need to do this in a work environment
• Hands on experience in your field of study was also a common theme that brought up. For example, a continuous assessment that contains multiple elements that require a high level of engagement (e.g. data collection/research  data analysis  data presentation) 

LIMITATIONS AND AREAS FOR FUTURE RESEARCH:

No matter how valuable I view the research that I conducted, there are still some elements that can be done differently to possibly gain a better, more representative sample:

• If in the future I were to recreate this event, I would be inclined to conduct it at the end of the day/make it an evening event. I had quite a few students that did want to partake in the event, but do to prior, important commitments such as lectures and part time work, this event clashed with my event. It is impossible to accommodate for everyone – time wise. However, an evening date may make this event more accessible for more students. 

• An obvious limitation of focus groups is that it does have a small sample size. And this can be exacerbated by a sample that has a group that holds a specific viewpoint/ have a concentrated interest in the area of research. While interesting conclusions can be drawn from the data, I will have to keep in mind that these are 7 pieces of artwork, 7 points of view, out of a student body of 29,500. 

• To mitigate this, I did ask students what school they are a part of, and no 2 students came from the same school. Furthermore, there was an almost equal split between home students and international students, as well as undergraduate students and postgrad students.

FINAL THOUGHTS – HOW I PERSONALLY FEEL: 

Upon reflection of the event, I have three main self-reflections from the event 

1. First, it was extremely insightful to hear the experiences of students from such as range of backgrounds. If I had all the time in the world, I would extract all the information that one student had to say. Although, the art pieces that they produced give a good snapshot of what they thought and I hope the person that comes across this blog can also take at least one thing from what these students designed. 

• Second, the engagement with the task and the subject matter was significantly higher than I anticipated. I know from experience how busy students can be and sometimes that can lead to disengagement with a task that they may not know that much on. However, seeing how involved individual was with agency in assessment, the constant discussion and how keen to have their opinions heard as well as learn more about it made this focus group infinitely more enjoyable. 

• Third, the experience taught me how fun research can be in all contexts. For example, the focus group itself that was researching what students want out of assessment was fun – getting to hear such a variety of voices in a calm and controlled atmosphere was very rewarding. Also, as I learned through this experience, using research as a tool for assessment is also fun for students and that is a testament that I heard a lot. 

Overall, as the world enters an era on uncertainty, I hope to see waves of students at all levels given the agency to do their own research wherever they can. To quote on of the student’s art pieces “You are not just teaching present students, you are educating the future”.

REFERENCES

Leavy, P., 2020. Method meets art: Arts-based research practice. Guilford publications.

McNiff, S., 2008. Art-based research. Handbook of the arts in qualitative research: Perspectives, methodologies, examples, and issues, pp.29-40.