Looking deeply at other people’s lives
will force you to look deeply at yourself” (Patton, 2002, p. 35). Overview
This chapter provides a detailed description of the research design, the researcher’s role, participant information, as well as data collection and analysis procedures. The methodological detail provides a rational for the selected research design and approach as well as enables another researcher to replicate the study.
Design
Research, both qualitative and quantitative, plays a critical role in identifying educational best practices and creating educational changes. Qualitative design is selected to tell the story in the natural setting while “the backbone . . . is the extensive collection of data” (Creswell, 2007, p. 43) in multiple forms. Qualitative research is identified as rigorous, time consuming,
subjective, and open-ended in nature. It reflects the desire to understand the phenomenon by recognizing the whole setting or whole experience, rather than focusing on individual
components alone (Ary et al., 2006). In short, a researcher selects a qualitative design over a quantitative design when the goal is to understand the natural phenomenon where the topic is “emotion laden, close to people, and practical” (Creswell, 2007, p. 43).
Due to this broad focus on the phenomenon in its natural setting, the researcher needs to be flexible, allowing the research to evolve and emerge naturally (Patton, 2002). While being rigorous in data collection methods, the researcher continually returns to the philosophical assumptions, paradigm, and conceptual framework in order to use these structures while
developing the true meaning and interpreting the participants’ data. In such, the researcher is a key instrument, or as Creswell (2007) described “human instrument” (p. 38) in the research process, following the data collected and continually making judgments on what steps to take next in order to get the complete picture of the phenomenon. The general goal for qualitative research is to explore the phenomenon through data collected in the natural setting by going through the process of discovery, meaning construction of common themes identified, and using in depth descriptions.
“Lived experience is the breathing of meaning,” (van Manen, 1990, p. 36) required of the researcher, and most often gained through reflection (van Manen, 1990). This phenomenological investigation seeks to describe the educators’ on-the-job experiences post-PD. This research aims to help fill a portion of the qualitative research gap in telling the story to gain “a deeper
understanding of the nature or meaning of our everyday experiences” (van Manen, 2003, p. 9) related to PD. This research will gather the elementary teachers’ descriptive perceptions in order to better understand the common phenomenon of post-PD experiences.
Specifically, this investigation is bound to the experiences related to the PD on Tribes Learning Communities, as it has varied components, was available for PD at the research site, incorporated voluntary participation, is research based, and was available for university credit. Factors perceived as positively impacting and those perceived as negatively impacting
implementation may be identified. In hearing the educators’ voices and perceptions related to their post-PD experiences, this research may gleam further insights on educational PD. These insights may have an impact on classroom practices and therefore may have an impact on student learning outcomes. This common, every-day-kind of experience, is a worthy topic of study based upon the large, possible impact within the educational setting.
Phenomenology
The phenomenological approach is one of the five basic approaches in qualitative
research as identified by Creswell (2007). Its history goes back to Edmund Husserl (1859-1938), a scientist with interests in philosophy (van Manen, 1990; 2003). Phenomenology is commonly referred to as gathering the perceptions of the participants through the participants “lived
experiences” (Creswell, 2007; van Manen, 1990; 2003). Researchers select this approach when the participant’s voice or specific insights are desired regarding the phenomenon. A descriptive dialogue of “what” and “how” (Moustakas, 1994) with emphasis upon the participant’s
experience is what gets to the heart of this research, with reflection, although used differently, is an imperative process of both types, transcendental and hermeneutic (Moustakas, 1994; van Manen, 1990; 2003).
The main data collection for phenomenology typically focuses on capturing the
participants’ voices through more open-ended interviewing practices (Moustakas, 1990) through questions focusing on the basic essence of the lived experience. (van Manen, 1990). The essence of phenomenology research is encompassed by, “[h]ow people experience some phenomenon– how they perceive it, describe it, feel about it, judge it, remember it, make sense of it, and talk about it with others” (Patton, 2002, p. 104). Phenomenological research is based upon the participants’ views of reality concerning the phenomenon as captured through the voices of the participants. The primary types (e.g., transcendental and hermeneutic) are categorized by how the researcher interacts with the data collected, including her own experience writings.
Transcendental phenomenology is characterized by subjectivity when the researcher brackets out her own experience, focusing with quiet reflection on the phenomenon, until the consciousness is transcended with creative ideas related to the phenomenon (van Manen, 1990).
It has a meditative state of mind component, with reflection being more of a quiet mind of thought. Again, the major difference noted between transcendental and hermeneutic is how the researcher interacts with the data. With transcendental, the researcher does not utilize her own experiences or thoughts on the phenomenon; the researcher’s reflections are bracketed or deliberately left out of the descriptive research, as if experiencing it anew, as for the first time (Moustakas, 1994).
Hermeneutic Design in Phenomenology
This qualitative investigation used a hermeneutic phenomenological framework. Unlike the transcendental researcher who sets aside her own judgments and simply describes the
experiences of the participants, the hermeneutical researcher draws upon her own deep thoughts, beliefs, and experiences related to the phenomenon in order to reflectively make an unbiased interpretation, making meaning from the participant’s shared experiences and the researchers own reflective experiences (van Manen, 1990, 2003). The researcher recognizes her experiences and interactions with others, yet each unique perspective is valued and first analyzed for its own merit or specific importance to the phenomenon (Lodico et al., 2010) before analyzing for commonalities and developing themes.
The hermeneutical researcher has a deep desire to understand the experiences more clearly in order to bring meaning to the phenomenon with a profound desire to describe and bring true meaning to the experience. Reflection is also important, as in transcendental, but it is a more deliberate, related to the specific phenomenon, with a writing component in hermeneutical form (van Manen, 1990, 2003), which are often times coded as well (Salda a, 2013).
The reflexive journal, or analytical memoing, serves as a research tool. The researcher uses this reflective account to document all biases, previous beliefs, changing beliefs, all deep-
rooted thought regarding the phenomenon. The reflexive journal provides a venue for the researcher to become up close with the phenomenon through reflective writing, continually gliding between the whole and parts of the text (van Manen, 1993).
Unlike transcendental, in hermeneutics the researcher maintains a reflexive journal with deep reflections that may be used during the analysis process, to help develop meaning of the phenomenon. Hermeneutic phenomenology is the science of interpretation, especially
interpretation of the written language. In fact, interpretation by the researcher is required (van Manen, 2003). “But exploring possibilities can also become an excuse for not finishing. There comes a time for bringing closure to analysis and getting on with other things. Taking too much time to contemplate creative possibilities may involve certain risks . . .” (Patton, 2002, p. 515).
Salk (1983), a hermeneutical researcher and scientist, would imagine being a virus or cancer cell in order to get another perspective of that particular phenomenon (as cited in
Moustakas, 1990). Various perspectives and individual views are critical data points. This shared experience, or the phenomenon of focus, may have commonalities among the participants’ perspectives (Creswell, 2009).
Heuristic Approach to Phenomenology
Heuristic comes from the Greek word heuriskein, meaning to discover, to experiment. It is related to the word eureka (i.e., I have found it), implying the “aha” phenomenon (Moustakas, 1990, 1994). In general, heuristic relates to an experience based method for solving problems. “At the heart of heuristics lies an emphasis on disclosing the self as a way of facilitating disclosure of others” (Douglass & Moustakas, 1985, p. 50). The researcher must bring forth personal thinking on the topic. “Heuristic inquiry requires that one be open, receptive, and attuned to all facets of one’s experience of a phenomenon, allowing comprehension and
compassion to mingle and recognizing the place and unity of intellect, emotion, and spirit” (Moustakas, 1990, Ch. 2 Self-Dialogue section, para. 2).
Research Questions
This phenomenological investigation is guided by the overall question: How do
elementary educators describe on-the-job experiences after completing self-selected professional development? The three sub-questions include:
1. To what extent, if at all, has this professional development been implemented?
2. What factors are perceived as positively impacting implementation of the professional development?
3. What factors are perceived as negatively impacting implementation of the professional development?
Site
The school community has a small, home-town feel with only four traffic lights, one hotel, and most businesses are closed by 2100 (i.e., 9:00 p.m.). The community is a U.S. military base in the Pacific region. Yet just outside the community’s borders, a megacity (i.e., a city with a population over 10 million) thrives. Many students live off-post, in this megacity, and are bused to school.
This community has three schools– elementary, middle, and high– with a total student population of about 2,000. The elementary school, Salter’s Elementary School (pseudonym is utilized), serves pre-kindergarten through fifth grade. The student population is transient with moves typically every two or three years for each student. These large scale moves are due to the high ratio of students related to various service branches: Army (60%), Air Force (6%), Navy
(5%), Marines (3%), and civilian work force and other categories (26%) based upon the Annual Report Card (2013).
According to the Annual Report Card for 2012-2013, the elementary school enrollment was 1,089 students with diverse race demographics: Asian (21%), African American (11%), Hispanic (9%), Caucasian (28%), Multi-Racial (19%), with 9% declined to state. Of those 1,089 students, 148 students or 14% of the student population receive special education services, while 126 students or 12% have limited English proficiency. Based upon the Terra Nova scores, the school proficiency percentages (i.e., students at or above 50% level) are: reading (75%), math (79%), and science (79%).
This site does come as having ease of access to the researcher. However more
importantly, due to the PD offered in 2013, 2014, and 2015 on this multi-faceted program, (i.e., varying degrees of difficulty to implement individual components, voluntary PD, research based PD, and university credit available), this PD matches the research requirements of exploring the educators’ perceptions related to self-selected on-the job post-PD experiences.
Participants
Purposive sampling techniques (i.e., opposite of random selection used in quantitative research) are characterized by a purposeful selection, designed to generate specific cases in order to address the research questions, typically smaller than 30 cases, and tend to focus on narrative data (Teddlie & Yu, 2007). For this investigation, purposive sampling was utilized with the criterion sampling variety.
The criteria for possible participants in this investigation included completion of self- selected PD (that was voluntary PD, researched-based PD, PD on-site, and PD had a university credit option). The participant must also have had elementary teaching experiences (i.e.,
provided classroom instruction) after the PD and must have volunteered to be a participant in this investigation. In order to narrow the focus of post-PD on-the-job experiences, this investigation bound the self-selected PD to PD provided at Salter’s Elementary School during 2013, 2014, or 2015. Since on-site, self-selected PD at Salter’s Elementary School was limited during this time period, this investigation was further bound to Tribes PD.
A list of names of those who were involved in the self-selected Tribes PD at Salter’s Elementary School in 2013, 2014, and 2015 was the initial step in determining participants for this investigation. Then this list of names and criteria list were compared. Those on the initial list, who also meet criteria for this investigation, were moved to the next level of participant selection.
During the second semester of each school year in 2013, 2014, and 2015, PD (i.e., Tribes) was offered at Salter’s Elementary School. All school staff, to include the central office, elementary school, middle school, and high school, had access to enroll in a TLC Course with an option to earn two college credits. Salter’s Elementary School, which is also the location of the PD Tribes training, had first priority to enroll in the training. There was a goal to have at least 20 but not more than 30 participants enrolled in this PD. The TLC course was taught by a certified TLC trainer who is also a teacher at Salter’s Elementary School.
For the first PD offered, 25 individuals collaborated in the Tribes learning. Two teachers dropped the course due to personal issues. Of the remaining 23, personnel included: three administrators, one school psychologist, one school nurse, one substitute teacher who often worked at other schools in the area, one special education assessor, five specialists/support teachers (i.e., teachers who teach specific content areas such as music, reading resource,
guidance counseling, Spanish, etc.), and 10 general education/classroom teachers ranging from first to fourth grade. All but two participants were staff from Salter’s Elementary School.
For the second PD opportunity, 15 individuals collaborated with TLC training, from beginning to the end. Of these 15 participants, the school personnel included: two specialists, one special education assessor, one student teacher, and 11 general education/classroom teachers ranging from kindergarten to fifth grade. All participants were associated with Salter’s Elementary School.
The 2015 PD did not have enough interested staff members, so the PD did not take place as planned. This PD remains voluntary. Table 5 provides the analysis by year. Twenty-five educators at the research site were voluntarily involved in the Tribes PD during the second semester of 2012-2013 school year. An additional Tribes PD was offered during the second semester of 2013-2014 school year with 15 participating. These, 40 in total, voluntary participants were the initial criteria meeting the possible participant pool.
Table 5
Participant Selection Summary
Year Total Involved Total to Meet Teaching Areas In Tribes PD All Criteria
2013 25 14 7 Classroom Teachers
5 Specialist / Support Teachers 2 Special Education Teachers
2014 15 10 9 Classroom Teachers
1 Specialist / Support Teachers
2015 0 0
In a phenomenological study, the researcher continues to interview, capturing the voice of participants, until no new themes emerge. Polkinghorne (1989) recommended five to 25 interviews being necessary (as cited in Creswell, 2007), while Moustakas (1990) noted that 10 to 15 participants can capture the phenomenon. Teddlie and Yu (2007) advocated for fewer than 30 participants in order to get to a rich descriptive data set. For this investigation, 24 participants represent the total possible participant group.
A recruitment letter was presented to each of these 24 (i.e., 22 female and 2 male). To be a participant, one must have: volunteered to participate, signed the consent form, and agreed to complete the data collections. All participation in this research was voluntary. The informed consent indicated that the participants could withdraw from the study at any time with no negative consequences or repercussions placed upon participants.
An estimated time requirement for each participant to invest in data collection for this investigation was expected to be three to five hours in total. This time include completing a brief ten question teacher self-efficacy scale, three essay prompts, three lived-experience descriptive writings, a one-on-one audio-recorded interview, gathering of any artifacts (i.e., journals or other records), and attending a focus group or follow-up session.
Additional experience or reflective writings would utilize more time; however, only three experience entries are required. Examples and possible prompts were provided, but there are no requirements on the length or depth of the participant’s response. If a participant wrote more than three experience writings or was involved in a PLT focused on this PD, that time was not
considered in this estimated three to five hour expectation of participants. All related participant writings were collected as part of the data collection.
Although Salter’s Elementary School provided the site for instruction, each participant paid for the cost of PD and materials, as well as volunteering the time required. The cost of this PD, depending on whether the participant also earned two college credits, was between $60.00 and $260.00. No money or reimbursement of time was offered by the school or district; all initiations toward the TLC training, to include time, cost, and use of the skills learned at the PD, were completely voluntary by the educator.
The training took place on four Saturdays for eight hours each day and another two hours distributed after school, plus time for homework requirements; the structured instruction time equaled 34 hours. All was completed within a two to three month period. The certified trainer was also a staff member, who often expressed her willingness to collaborate, and offered a “Think Tank Wednesday” as a scheduled, yet not required, teacher collaboration time.
There is a district requirement for educators to complete a minimum of six continued PD undergraduate or graduate credits within every six year period in order for an educator to be eligible for recertification (Administrators’ Manual, 2007). This is an independent, self-selected, not funded by the employer, recertification requirement. These six credit hours are not restricted to any particular content of learning; the educator is able to select any content of choice, but it does require university credit. During this time frame, 2013-2015, other PD opportunities were available at the research site, also on a voluntary, self-selection, and teacher-paid basis.
However, all other PD offered (i.e., available for credit due to recertification requirements) was in an on-line setting, except Tribes. On-line selections were completed individually, not
collaboratively. In order to narrow the focus, this investigation bound self-selected PD to a classroom or social setting at Salter’s Elementary School to involving Tribes during 2013 2014, or 2015.
Of the 24 individuals who received the recruitment letter, three immediately declined involvement, five requested more time and information before deciding, 13 agreed to volunteer, and three did not respond. I attempted to meet with each possible participant to answer any questions. Although, all 24 received the invitational email, I did not discuss this research with two of those possible participants. Three, of those who declined, did suggest that I request again if I did not obtain enough volunteers; I did not re-request. Another agreed, but due to personal hardship, the consent form was not signed; hence, that individual was never considered a participant in this study. In total, 17 of the 24 possible participants agreed to volunteer and became the participants in this research.
Once participants signed the consent form, volunteering for this research, I compiled a list of characteristics for each participant, from my own perspective. I used these descriptive words in finding a pseudonym meaning which also represents the participant’s character. This was completed before any data was collected and is based upon my own perspective. The pseudonyms are also in alphabetical order. Both the pseudonym meaning and alphabetical order are simply organizational tools for me, to aid in the participant number and my own
identification of participant to pseudonym without needing the secured code directly in front of me; these organizational components do not represent any findings or direct meanings gathered from the data in the research.
The participants included 15 female and 2 male teachers. Participants have between 3 and 33 years of teaching experience and teach a variety of areas in elementary school (i.e.
kindergarten through fifth grade in both classroom and support areas). The participant range in self-efficacy scores are 29-40 with 10-40 as the possible range. Participants have a variety of levels of formal education (i.e. highest degree attained) and various teaching certifications. Since
this school system is large, wide-spread, and often provides transfers to its employees, 10 of the