DATA ANALYSIS PROCEDURES 90

The  audios  from  the  30  interviews  with  the  caregivers  were  transcribed  as  verbatim  as   possible.  The  researcher  transcribed  three  interviews  and  three  home  observations   and,  due  to  the  extensive  time  required  to  transcribe  each  interview  and  observation,   hired  three  undergraduates  as  research  assistants  (RAs)  to  assist  and  transcribe  the   rest.  

The  length  of  the  recordings  and  the  background  noises  in  the  homes  posed  a  challenge   when  transcribing  the  data.  Typically,  all  the  homes  had  the  TV  on  all  the  time  and  very   frequently  music  was  also  playing  on  the  radio.  In  many  cases,  especially  when  families   lived  in  an  apartment  or  a  public  housing  block,  noises  from  the  neighbouring  families   were  also  audible.  Two  of  the  RAs  resigned  after  transcribing  a  couple  of  cases,  so  the   remaining  RA  performed  80%  of  the  transcriptions.  The  researcher  checked  25%  of  the   transcriptions  back  to  the  audios  in  order  to  verify  their  accuracy.  

III.2 Data analysis

The  thematic  analysis  of  the  transcribed  data  was  performed  with  the  N-­‐Vivo  software.   This  researcher  developed  a  preliminary  coding  protocol  with  relevant  themes  based   on  the  literature  review,  the  research  questions  and  the  quantitative  analysis.  Examples   of  themes  included  in  the  coding  protocol  were:  caregiver  attitudes  or  feelings  about   the  child´s  school;  caregivers’  expectations  about  preschool  education;  caregivers’  self-­‐   efficacy  in  relation  to  their  own  life  goals;  caregivers’  views  on  the  importance  of   observation  for  learning.  

This  protocol  was  then  tested  by  this  researcher  through  a  preliminary  analysis  of  the   data  via  an  iterative  process,  which  included  three  rounds  of  coding  with  the  data  from   five  different  cases.  This  researcher  improved  the  coding  protocol  between  each  round   and  added  some  emerging  themes.  After  these  three  rounds  of  coding,  each  time  with   an  improved  version  of  the  coding  protocol,  the  coding  protocol  seemed  stable  enough   to  proceed  with  the  analysis  of  the  rest  of  the  cases.  Appendix  B  shows  the  final  coding   protocol  with  the  different  hierarchies  of  codes  and  themes  and  each  code/theme   definition.  

The  researcher  also  trained  the  RA  in  the  use  of  the  N-­‐Vivo  software  and  the  coding   protocol,  after  testing  and  refining  it,  as  explained  above.  The  researcher  and  the  RA   then  coded  five  more  cases  independently  using  the  final  coding  protocol  (in  Appendix   B)  until  an  intercoding  reliability  of  0.80  was  achieved.  This  was  to  enable  the  RA  to   code  the  data  from  the  rest  of  the  cases  consistently  with  the  coding  protocol.  This  was   the  extent  of  RA  involvement.  

Once  the  data  was  coded  according  to  the  protocol,  this  researcher  produced  word   documents  with  all  the  quotes  that  referred  to  each  theme  or  category.  Then,  within   each  of  these  word  documents  (containing  the  quotes  for  a  specific  theme)  this   researcher  grouped  the  quotes  for  each  of  the  30  children  according  to  the  HLLE  level   of  the  child´s  home.  So,  for  instance,  within  a  specific  N-­‐Vivo–word  document  

containing  all  the  quotes  about  a  specific  subtheme,  the  quotes  of  children  from  low   HLLE  were  put  together,  as  were  those  of  the  children  from  the  mid  and  high  HLLE   categories.  Subsequently,  this  researcher  read  each  document  several  times  in  order  to   extract  the  main  tendencies  or  trends  for  each  topic.  One  of  the  aims  of  this  first  reading   was  for  the  local  Chilean  low  SES  HLLE  themes  to  emerge.    

This  researcher  noted  the  themes  that  emerged  on  the  margins  of  the  document.  Then  a   short  outline  of  the  primary  and  secondary  trends  found  in  respect  of  each  topic  was   made.  Subsequent  to  this,  the  researcher  went  back  to  the  literature  to  see  how  and   whether  these  themes  correlated  with  or  had  been  identified  in  previous  research.  It   was  then  sometimes  necessary  to  go  back  to  the  N-­‐Vivo  document  to  see  if  the  specific   categories  mentioned  by  the  literature  were  indeed  observable.  Ultimately,  the  

researcher  developed  a  quantitative  checklist  with  aspects  of  the  trends  for  a  particular   theme  analysed.  This  quantitative  checklist  was  necessary  to  control  how  

representative  a  certain  qualitatively  observed  trend  was  amongst  the  sample  and   within  each  of  the  three  HLLE  subgroups.  In  this  sense,  it  provided  a  control  from   concentrating  on  cases  that  were  notable  and  tempting  to  focus  on  but  not  necessarily   representative  of  the  views  of  these  families  or  specific  HLLE  subgroups  within  these   families.  Moreover,  at  this  point  in  the  analyses,  this  researcher  was  immersed  in  what   Goldenberg  et  al.  (2005)  refer  to  as  “steaming  green  Hell  of  context”…  :  thus  the  

quantitative  checklist  served  as  an  intermediary  step  and  mid-­‐journey  pit  stop  enabling   this  researcher  to  get  some  distance  from  the  data  before  diving  once  again  into  its   complexity.  An  example  of  this  checklist  is  provided  in  Appendix  F.  

Via  this  iterative  process,  certain  themes  and  subthemes,  which  seemed  to  capture  and   characterise  the  backbone  of  these  Chilean  children´s  HLLEs,  emerged  and  crystallized.   A  level  of  consensus  around  certain  trends  and  themes  emerged  and  around  which   specific  cases  and  quotes  could  serve  to  illustrate  these.  This  researcher  then  began  to   write  up  these  thematic  findings,  which  resulted  in  three  chapters  for  the  qualitative   study,  one  focussing  on  general  learning  and  parenting  views,  another  one  on  HLLE   practices,  and  a  third  chapter  that  explored  these  families´  beliefs  in  relation  to  

language  and  literacy  development.  .  As  is  normal  in  these  types  of  qualitative  analyses,   during  the  writing,  new  coding  categories  became  clear.  It  was  then  necessary  to  go   back  to  the  N-­‐Vivo  documents  to  confirm  whether  a  potential  new  subtheme  was   verifiable,  in  which  case  it  was  incorporated  into  the  checklist.  One  example  of  a  theme   that  emerged  through  this  iterative  process  was  that  of  “cossetting  versus  demanding   too  much  from  the  child”.  Quotes  selected  to  illustrate  the  findings  were  translated  into   English  by  this  researcher  and  then  translated  back  into  Spanish  to  ensure  accuracy.  

Two  native  Spanish-­‐speaking  educational  researchers  also  fluent  in  English  checked   these  translations  and  provided  feedback  and  comments.