Dayton 1
Jackson Dayton
Professor Robinson
Research 201
28 February 2022
Article analysis: Creative arts
I chose the article “From Data to Drama - The Construction of an Ethnographic
Performance.” I chose this article because I wanted to learn more about the construction of an
ethnographic performance.
The purpose of this article is to teach the processes of the formation of an ethnographic
performance. This article is a creative arts study that maps, analyses and evaluates the processes
involved in the formation of an ethnographic performance (Sallis, R.). Ethnographic performance
is when there is data that is collected through watching and observing the people that are being
studied along with interviews of said people. This research article studied the multiple
masculinities expressed in a drama program of a single-sex male school. It also investigated how
the data from an educational ethnography can be turned into an ethnographic performance
(Sallis, R.). There was no exact review of existing work. They have done studies on all male
schools before, but not in the way that they are completing the study in the article. The previous
study showed how people may think something completely different is happening inside the all-
male school, rather than what is happening. The researcher does talk about other ethnographers.
He states that some use ethnographic performance and ethnodramas interchangeably, but he also
sees and accepts that others find that there is a distinct difference in them. The arts-based
research method used in this study would be performance studies. According to Hark,
Dayton 2
“Researchers represent cultural experiences by observing and reenacting culturally situated
communicative acts to reflect an interpretation of cultural practice through human expression”
(Hark 166). More specifically, performance ethnography is used in this article. According to
Hark performance ethnography is defined as, “Representation of a culture through performance”
(Hark 166). The researcher of this article used these because he wanted to incorporate what he
learned from observing and analyzing the all-male school and wanted to put in his own twist
with the experience that he had. It can be seen in the article, that he used direct quotes from the
interviews that he had with some of the males from the all-male school. By incorporating these
quotes, it allowed for the researcher to accurately express and more closely portray the males in
his play. He wanted the audience to better understand the males and the types of masculinities in
the drama setting. The conclusion of the article is that using ethnodrama was an effective way to
show the masculinity in the drama. It is also a good way to share the findings of the research.
The researcher believes that doing this study has a considerable impact on everyone that was
involved in the research process. Because of the study that he conducted, it caused the teachers at
the school to stop and think of how they were teaching and possibly reconsider their method of
teaching.
This study was effective but came with limitations. A limitation stated by the researcher
is, “writing the ethnodrama as part of an ethnographic research project in a school can pose
challenges for an ethnodramatist working as both an artist and researcher” (Sallis, R.). The
researcher says that it is important for there to be balance when you are doing this research.
Another limitation would be scholarly dilemmas. The researcher delt with scholarly dilemmas
but corrected them by re-negotiating. The researcher does not state any recommendations for
future studies.
Dayton 3
Abstract
This is a study done by Richard Sallis. In this study he uses one of many specific forms
of research. The form of research that he uses is ethnography. The research method of
ethnography is done by researchers to represent cultural experiences. They do this by observing
the subjects and recreating the culture. Typically research in this manner is considered dull,
boring, and ineffective. The researcher, Sallis, uses this methodology of research to entertain and
inspire the readers. In this article, Sallis attends an all-male school that is in the middle-class
suburb of Melbourne. He takes a very time-consuming approach. He attends the drama classes
and interviews the male students. He does this to study the multiple masculinities that are
expressed in the drama program. He takes the data that he gathers and constructs it into an
ethnographic performance. In this performance he uses quotes from the students that he
interviewed. He does this to more closely illustrate the setting that was portrayed by the students.
In this article, Sallis is using the process of ethnodrama. He is using this method to deepen his
knowledge about it. After he is done with his observing, Sallis finds that there are aesthetic and
ethical challenges, as well as scholastic problems with this methodology of research. Even
though he faced these problems, he found solutions. He like these challenges because they
provided him with the “most enlightening experiences and a deeper understanding and
appreciation of the ethnodramatic process” (Sallis, R.). The result of this study had positive
impacts not only on the researcher, but also the people that were involved with the study. Such as
the teachers, students, and the readers.
Methodological differences and alternative designs
The three articles that have been read have been very different. They were all different
methods of research. The three types of research were sciences, humanities, and creative arts. For
Dayton 4
the sciences the article was “College Students' Physical Activity and Health-Related Quality of
Life: An Achievement Goal Perspective”. The humanities article was, “Lasting Impact of Study
Abroad Experiences: A Collaborative Autoethnography”. Finally, the creative arts article was,
“From Data to Drama - The Construction of an Ethnographic Performance”. Each article was
about completely different subjects. The science article analyzed the importance of physical
activity for college students in relation to their health-related quality of life. The second article,
the humanities article, analyzed the long term affects that studying abroad has on a student.
Finally, the creative arts article analyzed the research style of ethnography. The creative arts style
of research is different than the other two in many ways. First, each article used different
methods to collect the data. Even though all the research articles did obtain qualitative data, they
still had different ways of collecting that said data. The sciences article gathered their data from
questionnaires. The humanities gathered the data from looking back and previous experiences.
The creative arts gathered its data from observing and interviewing. Secondly, each article had
different limitation. Some had more limitations than others. The limitations to the sciences article
were, it was only a select class chosen out of one school. The humanities limitations were, it
depended on where one went and what one studied and so much more. The creative arts
limitations were, trying to balance being an artist and researcher. Finally, another difference
would be topics of each. The sciences focused on being active. The humanities focused on
affects of studying abroad, and the creative arts focused on experiences of people and culture and
recreating that idea.
An alternative creative arts-based research question could be visual ethnography. Visual
ethnography defined by hark means, “A type on ethnography which uses photographic and video
images rather than, or in addition to, words, in order to represent an experience through image”
Dayton 5
(Hark 167). This could be the alternative because all the author of the article would have to do
would be to take pictures of his experiences.
The ethnography research style is mainly a creative arts research style. It could easier fit
the humanities methodology better than it could fit the sciences methodology. You could adapt
this methodology to humanities by incorporating the critical analysis.
Dayton 6
Works Cited
Sallis, Richard. “From Data to Drama - the Construction of an Ethnographic Performance.” NJ:
Drama Australia Journal, vol. 31, no. 2, Dec. 2007, pp. 7–20. EBSCOhost,
https://doi.org/10.1080/14452294.2007.11649514.
Hark, K. (2021). Research across the disciplines: An introduction (Second Edition). Kendall
Hunt Publishing Company.
