Data Collection Procedure: Stage Three

foreground and the background information in which that foreground is located.

Meaning fields and resultant coding structures are important to the way in which inferences are made in this research, therefore, I looked not only for foreground information (the vertical inferences made directly in the field), but also the background information (the horizontal inferences, or horizon analysis, based within the theoretical framework of this research).

3.2.6 Data Collection Procedure: Stage Three

In this section, I discuss stage three of the data collection procedure: the dialogical data. Semi-structured interviews and focus group discussions were used to generate narrative and thick description. As cited by LeCompte and Priessle (1993), I used Patton’s (1990) structure for interview questions, which probe for experience, knowledge of subject, opinion, sensory description, feeling, and background/demographic information. This interviewing technique allows

participants to share key information and reveal shared beliefs and behaviour, and the open-ended nature of the questions provides space for the complexity of the research problem to unfold naturally. In addition, I facilitated Carspecken’s (1996) framework for semi-structured interviewing, which consists of a topic domain and relative questioning according to this domain. Carspecken (1996) indicates that researchers using this framework should also include covert

categories of information the researcher desires to obtain from participants. These categories allow the researcher to keep the focus of possible desired outcomes of the interviewing process, while also allowing for the participant to determine the direction of the interview process dependent upon the responses to interview

questions given. As previously stated, conflicts with culture and identity surface a number of important questions within education, such as: What constitutes being a Third Culture Kid (TCK), and how does being a TCK influence the relationship of the multiple cultures students negotiate into their identity? How might

hegemonic educational practices influence cultural identity negotiation? How can educators help TCKs maintain a strong sense of their family culture (primary culture) through exposure to dominant local and globalized cultures at school?

The aforementioned questions substantiate the research questions of this study, and drive the following interview and focus group questions (appendix H) used for this research:

Research Question One: What constitutes being a Third Culture Kid (TCK), and how does being a TCK influence the relationship of the multiple cultures students negotiate into their identity?

Topic Domain One: Cultural Identity Negotiation Issues

Lead-off question: Without naming specific people other than yourself, can you describe a time where you have had to change the way you act at home or school because there are different things expected by each culture? Tell me as many details as you can about that situation. What did you say and do?

[Covert categories: beliefs of cultural norms, opinions on speaking English at school, expectations for home culture versus school culture, strategies for how to identify with school culture versus strategies for how to identity with home culture]

Possible follow-up questions:

1. How does it feel to have to fit into more than one culture?

2. Do your peers have to fit into more than one culture?

3. Do you feel more understood by people who have to fit into more than one culture?

4. Are there certain kinds of people that you think don’t understand how you feel when trying to fit into one culture?

5. Do you feel like you belong to one culture more than another?

6. Can you describe some things from each culture that you appreciate the most?

7. Can you describe some things from each culture that you find the most difficult to deal with?

Research Question Two: How might hegemonic educational practices influence cultural identity negotiation?

Topic Domain Two: Cultural Hegemony and Educational Practices Lead-off question: Have you ever felt like you don’t fully belong to one culture? Describe what happened as if you were trying to give me as much of a detailed story as possible.

[Covert categories: feelings of cultural belonging, feelings of cultural displacement, personal values placed on culture, preferred cultural norms, feelings of being misunderstood, sociocultural insecurity, value placed on language acquisition, beliefs on economic power associated with cultural capital, issues relating to the literacy myth]

Possible follow-up questions:

1. Can you describe an experience you had where you didn’t feel understood because of your culture?

2. Are there any traditions or events you do with your family that you find difficult because of your cultural identity?

3. Are there times at school where you feel the cultural expectations are in conflict with the cultural expectations at home?

4. How would you place value on Western education?

5. Do you think you are more successful because you have a Western education?

6. What are your opinions on the extent to which learning English will open doors for your future?

7. How do you think attending a Western school is perceived in the culture of your family?

8. Do you remember a time when you found it difficult to understand a new concept in school because the example given was too Western?

Research Question Three: How can educators help TCKs maintain a strong sense of their family culture (primary culture) while also negotiating the exposure to dominant local and globalized cultures at school?

Topic Domain Three: Enablement of Home and School Cultures

Lead-off question: Can you tell me about a time at school where you felt like your family culture was best understood? Pretend you have to give me

the full amount of detail so I can understand a vivid snapshot of this experience you had, but remember not to reveal the identities of others.

[Covert categories: feelings on being culturally understood, success in cultural identity negotiation, educator strategies on how to empower students’ multiple cultural identities, benefits of associating with peer TCKs, school practices or pedagogy that help foster culturally

empowering environments for TCK students, perceived educator strategies on how to recognize the importance of cultural identity]

Possible follow-up questions:

1. Think about a time when you felt like understood your culture was best understood by teachers. Can you tell me the story about this experience? Include as many details about your experience as possible, but remember not to reveal the identities of others.

2. Do you remember any experiences in a class where teachers talked about how culture is important to you and your classmates? How did this make you feel? Remember not to reveal the identities of others.

3. Are there any school events that you think help bring your family culture to your school experience?

4. What would you suggest teachers could do to make you feel like they understand your challenges of belonging to more than one culture?

Don’t talk about specific teachers, but instead talk about specific strategies any or all teacher(s) could do.

5. How does it make you feel when teachers use examples in class that relate to your family’s culture? Can you think of any examples that you could give me details on? Be specific about your experience, but do not reveal the identities of others.

I used these same interview questions for the group interviews, to see how participants may balance ideas off of one another or generate new ideas whilst in a group setting with other TCK students of similar experiences. At the beginning of the interview, the following transcript was recited to participants:

For all the answers you give, it is required and extremely important that you do not identify others in your answers. You can say things like “my friends” or “my family” or “my teachers”, but you cannot state their names, or say any details about them. The information you give me cannot identify other people, because they have not given consent to their

information or personal identities to be collected for this research.

After observation and group discussion procedures, student video diaries were used to collect data, following Hutchison’s (2011) visual ethnographic method. Data collected from student generated videos allows for stronger participatory research, essential to critical ethnography as participant research provides more emancipatory data collection. Another aspect of student videos is that my presence as researcher is not required at the time of data collection, hence I was able to have less of a physical impact on the research site of this data

collection. Participants had the full control over their participatory journal, but I provided directions with possible prompts to use if they needed (appendix I). The prompts were worded the same as the interview questions used for individual and focus group interviews. Participants were given the opportunity to edit their film as they saw fit. To ensure ethical requirements of consent, participants could participant in some, none, or all of the data collection. All participants

participated in the observation(s), individual interview, and focus group interview.

Five out of eight participants submitted an audio or video participatory journal, with three participants declining to submit (this information is further detailed in the limitations section of the research conclusion chapter, chapter 6).