A SOCIAL, CONSTRUCTIVIST, INTERPRETIVIST CASE STUDY

3.2.1 Meaning is socially constructed

As outlined in Section 2.8, this qualitative study was framed by social constructivism, a theory which emphasises that reality and our knowledge about it is influenced by people’s interactions, their culture, language, values, social norms and histories. Social constructivism is based on specific assumptions about reality, knowledge, and learning. To understand and apply models of instruction that are rooted in the perspectives of social constructivists, it is important to know the premises that underlie them.

Reality: Social constructionists believe that reality is constructed through human activity. Members of a society together invent the properties of the world (Kukla, 2000 p. 56). For the social constructivists, reality cannot be discovered; it does not exist prior to its social invention.

Knowledge: To social constructivists, knowledge is also a human product, and is socially and culturally constructed (Ernest, 1999; Gredler, 1997; Prat & Floden, 1994). Individuals create knowledge and meaning through their interactions with each other and with the environment they live in.

Learning: Social constructivists view learning as a social process. Learning does not take place only within an individual, nor is it a passive development of behaviours that are shaped by external forces (McMahon, 1997). Meaningful learning occurs when individuals are engaged in social activities – such as those in a community of practice.

3.2.2 Qualitative research design

Qualitative research is used to interpret phenomena in their natural settings in terms of the meaning people bring to them. A qualitative research design involves an interpretive, naturalistic approach to its subject matter and prioritises what the data contributes to the research question or to the existing information (Denzin, 1994; Pope and Mays, 2006).

In qualitative research, the researcher is a key instrument because she/he is the one who generates data from the chosen research methods. A qualitative study is reflective,

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interpretive and also shows a holistic and complex picture of what is studied. It mainly focuses on the participants’ perspectives, meanings and opinions (Morse & Richards, 2002). In this study, I generated qualitative data using questionnaires, document analysis, semi-structured interviews and observations. A more detailed account of these methods and tools is provided in Section 3.3.

In this study, the qualitative approach required me to spend time interacting directly with the participants during interviews and observations. Morse & Richards (2002) confirmed that to be able to overcome the limitations in qualitative research studies, one needs to be willing to commit to long hours in the field generating data and gaining access to the field. I was committed to a time-consuming process of data generation and data analysis; this was beneficial in the sense that I obtained more data as I had to be with the participants in the field to observe their ways of doing things in their real context, as will be discussed in Section 3.3. The following section (3.2.3) describes how this qualitative research project was framed as an in-depth, interpretivist case study.

3.2.3. An Interpretivist case study

This study took place in the context of Bushula’s Junior Secondary School where I teach. It was an interpretive case study that endeavoured to explore the extent to which the School Nutrition Programme in Bushula’s Junior Secondary School could be used as a catalyst for community-based environmental learning and to enhance food security.

In the interpretivist approach, the main interest is in the meaning people make of a phenomenon being studied. Terre Blanche and Durrheim (1999a) argued that the interpretivist tries to make sense of feelings and experiences and is sensitive to social situations because people are observed in their social contexts. An interpretivist approach requires qualitative research methods that are flexible, context-sensitive and largely concerned with understanding complex issues. The interpretivist researcher is not taken as being entirely objective, rather as someone who is part of the process. Section 3.6 will discuss the steps taken in this case study to conduct trustworthy, ethical research within an interpretivist approach.

A case study is a strategy of enquiry in which the researcher explores in-depth a programme, event, activity, process or one or more individuals and generates data using a

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variety of data generation procedures over a sustained period of time (Creswell, 2009, p.184-185). The exploration of a case takes place through detailed, in-depth data generation involving multiple sources of information that is rich in context. These commonly include interviews, documents, observations or archival records.

According to Yin (2003), a case study can be used to answer “how” and “why” questions, for example, sub-question two of this study investigated how knowledge produced by the School Nutrition Programme was shared among members. There are three types of case studies as discussed by De Vos (2005, p. 272):

 An Intrinsic case study focuses on gaining a better understanding of the individual case with the aim of describing it.

 The instrumental case study elaborates on a theory to gain a better understanding of a social issue. It serves the purpose of facilitating the researcher’s knowledge about a social issue.

 The collective case study furthers the researcher’s understanding of a social issue or population being studied by comparing the cases that had been chosen so that the theories can be extended and validated.

Intrinsic case study was identified as appropriate for this study since my interest was to gain a better understanding of the Bushula’s Junior Secondary School‘s Nutrition Programme and whether it is operating as a community of practice, to identify the type of knowledge that is produced and shared amongst the members of the programme. The study also aimed at identifying what the members learn and how they learn. In order to do this, I had to gain a better understanding of the programme with regard to how it operates and the learning that occurs among members.