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Theatre Arts for Advanced Secondary Schools

Data collection
Theatre for Development is a research-based workshop which relies on data
obtained through identification of specific community issues that hinder their
socio-economic development. Research which is conducted by both the
facilitators of TfD and the selected community members participating on the
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activity is informal because it does not rely on the structured scientific research
procedures. Though it is important to note that, TfD involves data collection
process. Data collection is a process of gathering information about issues in
a community. During data collection, facilitators become more interactive with
a community without ignoring its cultural practices and beliefs. There are two
types of data required in the process of TfD; primary and secondary data.
(i) Primary data: This includes information that is collected directly from
field and for the first time. Such information is gathered by community
members usually artists under the guidance of facilitators. Various tools
are involved in collecting primary data. However, TfD mostly employ
participant observation and unstructured open-ended interviews.

(ii) Secondary data: This refers to information that has already been collected
and used for other purposes and it can be accessed by someone else for
other use. Such information therefore has gone through the analysis,
interpretation and publishing processes. In TfD, there are various methods
used to collect secondary data. They include historical records, analysis,
and documents analysis.

Activity 1.8

Use library and online sources to find two documents related to theatre for
development that have used two different types of methods in data collection
process. Compare and contrast the data collection techniques you used in
activity 1.7 and the techniques used in the two documents.

Data analysis
This stage involves examination and discussion of collected data in order to
seek deeper understanding of issues in terms of root causes, effects and possible
solutions for the problems. It is associated with extracting useful information and
developing conclusions in a summary form. Workshop facilitators together with
members of the community have to take time to analyse information they have
gathered during research conducted in a community. Through data collected, they

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