Data collection

Data were collected during interviews with research participants in individual semi- structured interviews, as well as one focus group interview. Personal documents, in the form of learners' personal files were also accessed to obtain further data. The interviews were recorded and transcribed verbatim from the interview voice recordings. The transcripts were then used as the raw data which were analysed and reconstructed to present the knowledge and insight gained from the learners about their learning disabilities. The detailed procedures for achieving this, are described in the following sections.

3.6.1.1 Individual interviews

Interpretivist researchers reject the notion that there is only one truth and therefore employ the technique of in-depth interviewing to gain insight into the many lived experiences (the subjective truths) which people hold as their realities (Miller & Glassner, 2011). They approach the interview with research participants as partners participating in an active process of creating understanding (Fontana & Frey, 2008; Holstein & Gubrium, 2011, p. 150). It focuses on the "meanings that people attribute to their experiences and social worlds" (Miller & Glassner, 2011, p. 133).

Maree (2007, p. 87) describes an interview as "a two-way conversation" with the purpose of obtaining rich descriptive data about how the participant perceives reality based on their beliefs, opinions, views and ideas. This is in line with the purpose of this research project. Interviews vary in the degree of structuredness and the quality and nature of the interaction between the interviewer and interviewee (Holstein & Gubrium, 2011). Structured interviews detract from the participation of the research participant (Holstein & Gubrium), therefore semi-structured interviews were used.

The interviews in this study were conducted in the research participants' home language. The researcher who did the interviews was known to the participants before the commencement of the research project. The interviews were conducted after school in a classroom in which learners felt comfortable and lasted from 30 minutes to 60 minutes per discussion. The decision to conduct interviews in the school environment was also made to make it more convenient for the participants.

An important consideration during interviews, is to be sensitive to how interviewees respond to the interviewer based on who the interviewer is, as well as the social categories to which we belong, such as age, gender, class and race (Miller & Glassner, 2011, p. 134).

The privilege of having been a former educator of the participants resulted in the speedy establishment of rapport in this study. The researcher approached the participants as a student conducting research in order to give them a voice, therefore attempting to establish equality and a mutual goal.

An interview guide was used to conduct the semi-structured interviews. This method was chosen as it enabled the researcher to explore the perceptions and experiences of the adolescents regarding their learning disabilities in one-to-one interaction and obtain information about the real experiences of individuals (Miller & Glassner). Although a semi-structured interview guides the interview by providing broad discussion categories for the interaction between the researcher and the participant, it allows the researcher freedom to explain terms and adapt questions to suit individual abilities and understanding (Maree, 2007, p. 87). Furthermore, this mode of interviewing allowed for the researcher to probe during questioning in order to obtain more detail, to clarify the understanding of what had been said and to ask for elaboration on topics mentioned during the research process (Maree, 2007, p. 88). Genuine interest on the part of the researcher about the learners' experiences seemed to make them more forthcoming with experiences when they were probed. The participants felt comfortable enough with the researcher to share personal information, with the result that rich and in-depth descriptions were constructed during the interview process.

The interview guide was first piloted with one participant to check for understanding and provide the researcher with a trial run before data collection was started. It gave

the researcher the opportunity to refine questions, discover how research participants may respond to certain questions and to ensure that a variety of questions were included in the interview guide. Maree (p. 88) suggests a range of "experience and behaviour questions, opinion and value questions, feeling questions, knowledge questions and sensory and value-based questions" in order to obtain rich, descriptive data. These guidelines were followed to create the interview guide (Addendum E).

3.6.1.2 Focus group interviews

Focus group interviews can be described as group discussions covering a central topic. According to Maree (2007, p. 90) the focus group interview has many positive outcomes, especially in alignment with the ideas of social constructivism and interpretivism. It is assumed that participants in a group discussion will draw on ideas from each other in the group setting, thus encouraging a wider range of ideas to be shared and discussed. Knowledge about a specific topic is therefore more richly constructed within the group.

The focus group interview in this study was conducted after the completion of the individual semi-structured interviews. The purpose was not only to allow the research participants to share their perceptions, experiences and challenges of their learning disabilities in an attempt to construct rich descriptions, but also to give the researcher an opportunity to triangulate data (Fontana & Frey, 2008). An interview guide was used to provide broad topics for discussion during the group interaction (Addendum F).

Although the positive outcomes of focus group interviews mentioned above cannot be denied, the researcher also needed to consider the limitations. The researcher was aware of group dynamics at all times during the interview, thereby to ensure that all members of the group were equally involved in the discussion (Maree, 2007, p. 91). This was especially challenging, since all the participants were very eager to share their opinions and experiences. The researcher ensured that all participants were given a chance to speak by giving guidelines for the discussion before the interview commenced.