Researching Student Experiences of Digital Workshops in Art Gallery Education: A Q Methodological Approach

In the development of methods to explore student views on creative learning processes using digital media, Q methodology and its applications offer a promising framework. The method addresses the complexity of subjective viewpoints by applying a technique and analysis that combine materials to investigate shared patterns among students’ experiences. The integration of a qualitative approach with quantitative technique provides a special interview and ensures that the analysis remains focused on the students’ perspective. This approach offers a way to overcome problems with weak links between data materials in mixed-method studies, as the viewpoints expressed by study participants are initially mapped by a quantification procedure designed to integrate open-ended questioning and survey technique. The study presented here illustrates the use of this approach in an enquiry into students’ experiences of activities in digital media workshops in a Danish museum of contemporary art. Data were collected from 85 students, who participated in three types of workshops, and the results show a typology of four distinct views regarding three interrelated aspects: (1) views on art, which entail students’ general attitudes about art; (2) use of digital media for the creation of audio or animated cartoon digital files; and (3) reflective thinking during and after the workshop.