John James Marshall thesis.pdf - OpenAIR @ RGU - Robert Gordon ...

their experience and perceptions related to their use of technologies and the
nature of their practice.
Semi-structured interviews were conducted with the practitioners. The
interviews involved the researcher asking the practitioner a list of forty
predetermined questions about their experience of the exhibition which was
recorded on a digital voice recorder. Each practitioner interviewed understood
that their voice would be recorded. A copy of the questions was given to each
practitioner before the interview and they had the opportunity to review them
and ask any questions. The interviews were conducted in casual settings and
the practitioners were encouraged to go off-topic if something occurred to them.
However, all the practitioners were asked the same questions by the researcher.
Since there was the possibility the relationship with the researcher (as curator
and commissioner for the exhibition) might bias their response - the questions
asked were constant across all respondents and asked in a standardised order.
The interviewer explained aspects of the questions the interviewee did not
understand or found confusing but whenever issues of terminology arose the
interviewee was asked to respond from their own understanding of the term.
Each interview was transcribed by a third-party transcription service, proofed
by the researcher and approved by the practitioners. The results of these
interviews are presented in section 4.5.4.
3.5.2 Audience survey
An audience survey was conducted during the ‘Perimeters, Boundaries and
Borders’ exhibition. The primary aim of this survey was to gather qualitative
statements from members of the public about the exhibition. The researcher
developed a set of questions to be put to visitors to the exhibition. This survey
was to be delivered by volunteer invigilators that were present in the exhibition
space always while the exhibition was open. However, folly had also developed
a survey to gather their own feedback. It was decided to combine these two
surveys. In addition folly also conducted an equal opportunities monitoring
survey that gathered demographic data from attendees of the f.city Festival of
Digital Culture.
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