Interviews

The principal source o f data collection for my research was one to one semi-structured

interviews. As theory is being drawn from the experiences and opinions that participants

have of school chaplains this method of data collection was deemed the most suitable, in

each participant’s interpretation o f his or her experience.” Interviews can provide

insights that are not available to researchers working with large survey samples and are

considered to be the most suitable approach when seeking rich data illuminating

individuals’ experiences and attitudes, as is the case in this research. All interviewees

had some experience o f school chaplaincy and could therefore be considered ‘expert’

interviewees: “a specific form o f applying semi-structured interviews” (Meuser and

Nagel, quoted in Flick, 1991, 91, quoted in McKinney, 176).

In Grounded Theory individual interviews allow the researcher to re-enter the field at

different intervals to develop existing codes and identify concepts (Deamley, 2005, 19-

28). This research places priority on learning about individuals’ experience o f the role

o f the school chaplain; thus the interviews with participants could be said to be

conversations with a purpose (Kvale, 2006, 480-500). Before the formal interview

began I engaged in general conversation with the interviewee. This enabled a rapport to

develop between the researcher and the participant and in this way a sense o f trust and

respect for the participant and for the information they were going to share was

conveyed (DiCicco-Bloom & Crabtree, 2006, 314—321). During this time the plain

language statement and the issue o f consent were also discussed (See section 5.6 of this

chapter).

The interviews took place in three phases. Phase one was the piloting of the questions

with two school chaplains, the second phase o f interviews consisted o f interviews with

school chaplains, school principals and parent interviews. The third and last interview

phase was the interviewing of the Management bodies, the Trust Boards and the Church

authorities. The reason for conducting these interviews last was to allow time for the

author to reflect on how chaplaincy is happening on the ground and to learn about

chaplains’, principals’ and parents’ lived experiences regarding school chaplaincy

before having a conversation with the nominating authorities and those who are part o f

drawing up the contract and job description o f school chaplaincy. As referenced earlier

who needed to be interviewed next emerged through the analysis o f the data.

In total nine school chaplains were interviewed including the two from the pilot

interview. Eleven school principals and five parents o f a student currently attending a

school with the services of a school chaplain were also interviewed. After that I

interviewed one representative from a number o f key stakeholders in Irish education -

one interviewee from each of three Trust Boards, an education spokesperson from the

Church o f Ireland and the Catholic Church, the Director of Education in the Archdiocese

of Dublin and a spokesperson from each o f the following: the Association o f

Community and Comprehensive Schools (ACCS), the Irish Vocational Education

Authority (IVEA) - now the Education and Training Boards Ireland (ETBI) - and the

In keeping with purposive sampling it was important to interview a representative from

each o f the Management bodies as the conditions o f employment o f school chaplains in

each o f the sectors differ substantially. They also come at the pluralist and secular

education question from different perspectives. Given the three arms o f the second level

system in Ireland and the nature of denominational schools I felt it was important to hear

the voices o f all three. The three Trusts were chosen for the spread o f schools that they

represent. Catholic Education, An Irish Schools Trust (CEIST) is the largest Trust in

Ireland and represents over one hundred schools at second level. CEIST does not have

an input in the community schools of which its member congregations are Trustees. The

Le Cheile Schools Trust is currently responsible for seventy Voluntary Secondary

Schools and is Trustee in seven Community Schools. It has also been chosen as the

patron for a new voluntary secondary school to open in Tyrrelstown, Dublin 15 in 2014.

The Loreto Trust is considerably smaller. In Ireland, there are over twenty schools under

Loreto trusteeship. O f these, sixteen are Voluntary Secondary Schools and five are

Primary/Junior schools, and two in Northern Ireland are Voluntary Grammar Schools.

Loreto also shares trusteeship with others in five Community Schools. O f the sixteen

Voluntary Secondary Schools four are fee-paying and three o f these pay a full time

chaplain. One of the non-fee-paying schools has a full time chaplain paid for by the

Trust Board. Finally in this category I interviewed the Director o f Education o f the

exerts considerable influence as the nominating authority for full-time chaplains paid by

the State in Dublin. This interview was added to the interview schedule during coding as

it became apparent that more information from patrons would be helpful.

The school chaplains and school principals were chosen at random to represent a cross

section o f the different types of schools in Ireland. Consideration was taken of fee-

paying/non-fee- paying, full time chaplain/part time chaplain and a mix of Voluntary

Secondary School/Comprehensive/Community School/College and Education and

Training Board Schools, both designated and not. An urban/rural mix was also taken

into account. Ultimately four of the school chaplains interviewed are working in the

Community School sector; two in the Comprehensive sector — one with Church o f

Ireland patrons and one with a Catholic patron. Two are in the Community College

sector - both designated - and one was from the VEC sector, non-designated. Finally,

two o f the chaplains are working in the voluntary sector - one fee-paying and one non­

fee-paying. Six of the chaplains interviewed are female and three are male. Six

chaplains work in an urban setting and three in rural schools, one is a religious and eight

are lay school chaplains. Two chaplains work part time and the others have full time

positions. I consider this to be a representative mix o f the make-up o f school chaplains

in Ireland at the moment. Five of the nine school chaplains interviewed have been

working as school chaplains for more than ten years. Participants were found through a

The Principals interviewed were found through an appeal at the National Association o f

Principals and Deputy Principals Conference. Four o f the principals interviewed are

working in Community Schools, two are in Community Colleges - one designated and

one non-designated, and five were in Voluntary Secondary Schools. O f these five

principals four are from the Catholic faith tradition and one is an independent Voluntary

Secondary School which, while broadly speaking understands itself as Christian, does

not embrace any religious practice on a day to day basis. Two o f the schools are fee-

paying. Nine of the eleven schools have a school chaplain - seven full-time and two

part-time. Seven o f the school principals are male, four are female. Six o f the schools

are in an urban area and five are located in a rural setting. Interviews were usually about

thirty minutes in length.

Five parents were interviewed. It proved impossible to secure an interview with a parent

representative from any of the National Parents’ Associations. Ultimately five parents

recommended to me by principals I had interviewed for the thesis agreed to be

interviewed. Four parents are associated with Community Schools with a full time

chaplain and the other parent is involved with a Voluntary Secondary School which has

the services o f a part time priest chaplain. One of the parents interviewed from the

Community School sector had recently experienced her child move from a Voluntary

amalgamation process. Parental interviews were substantially shorter than other

interviews as parents did not seem to be aware, to any great extent, of the role o f the

chaplain in their child’s life. Interviews lasted for between ten and fifteen minutes.

The original list submitted to the ethics board included all o f these stakeholders so that

they would be available if it was deemed necessary. The right o f the Bishop to nominate

a person to the position of chaplain was an issue raised throughout the data collection.

When all the school principals, chaplains, members o f the Trust Boards and Church

spokespersons had been interviewed new codes were still emerging on this issue. The

researcher was unsure if all the relevant information had been collected. With this in

mind a representative from the Dublin Diocese was added to the list o f interviewees.

This interview did not result in any new code so it was concluded that saturation had

been reached. In developing a theory of the rationale for school chaplaincy a Focus

Group made up o f school chaplains completed the theoretical sample and enabled the

researcher to check the theory emerging from the interviews.

These interviews can be considered expert interviews as they involved people who had

considerable knowledge and experience o f school chaplaincy. Expert interviews require

considerable skill on the part of the interviewer. Meuser and Nagel, (quoted in Flick,

1999), list four main challenges that the interviewer may face. First, the expert status of

interviewees provided expert insights into the research topic and themes but one

principal and two of the parents did not have expertise the expected. Second the expert

may attempt to discuss ‘ongoing conflict in the field’ and his/her fieldwork rather than

the topic o f the interview. This kind of discussion did take place but the interviewer

tried to ensure that a minimal amount of these discussions was included in the formal

taped interviews. Third, the expert responds as a personal individual rather than as the

expert and the interview becomes overly personalized. Despite the interviewer having

long-standing professional relationships with a number o f the interviewees, the

interviews were all conducted in a formal manner and interviewees responded as

experts. Fourthly, the expert may opt to lecture the interviewer rather to engage in the

question and answer process of an interview. This did not happen during these

interviews because the interviewer had considerable experience in the field. Power

during interviews is discussed further in Section 5.3.3 (b).

5,3.3 (a) Development of Interview Questions

According to Charmaz (2006, 28) a Grounded Theory study requires open-ended, non-

judgemental questions in order for unanticipated stories and statements to emerge. As

part of the application for ethical approval a list of potential questions for discussion at

interviews were developed (see appendix F). Owing to the progressive nature o f the

interviews, however, this list was not adhered to rigidly. It became apparent that some

chaplains working for them so questions had to become more general). This adjustment

was easily implemented because the semi-structured interview model affords the

freedom to clarify people’s understanding and to ask follow up questions (Newby, 2104,

356). The process of developing questions is outlined below.

Semi-structured interviews were conducted with two school chaplains in the pilot study.

The purpose o f the interviews was to pilot the interview questions which had been

drawn up from my own experience of school chaplaincy and school management. The

interview questions were exploratory in nature due to the small scale o f this study and

the early stage o f the overall research project. The questions were designed to uncover

patterns and common themes in the participants’ accounts o f school chaplaincy from

their particular perspective. These interviews were coded using line-by-line coding and

formed part o f the constant comparison process of coding in Grounded Theory. The

Figure 5.2: Issues raised during Pilot Interviews

The interview questions for interview phases two and three were based on findings from

the pilot study. The questions were asked in as non-directive a manner as possible to

meet the study’s principal aim of learning about the interviewees’ perceptions.

Figure 5.3 shows the themes which arose from the pilot interviews and were addressed

in all interviews to a greater or lesser degree.

Theme Note about question

Appointment Process This process is changing and some of the management bodies have been negotiating with Church authorities, role of teaching council.

Chaplain’s contribution to ethos

An element o f the role o f the chaplain which is part o f the management documents and mentioned in

inspectorate reports.

Relationship between management and chaplains

The Board o f Management appoints the chaplain although they receive their nomination from elsewhere. Management bodies have clear descriptions of the role of school chaplains.

Relationship between chaplains and Church authorities

The Church authorities nominate the chaplains but have little involvement with the chaplain after that according to initial indicators during the pilot study. The chaplain is the representative of the Church in the school.

Relationship between chaplains and Trusts

Only the Trusts which are involved in the Community School sector have full time paid chaplains in their schools. Previously Trusts have sought to have State- paid chaplains in their schools but negotiations broke down around the issue o f nomination.

Chaplains as educators The Supreme Court justified paying school chaplains from state funds because of their educational role.

Continuous professional development in chaplaincy

All chaplains must now be registered with the teaching council and have the same responsibilities to continue their professional development as other teaching staff.

Day to day responsibilities of the chaplain

Insight as to what chaplains are actually doing

compared to what various stakeholders expect them to do.

Changes and challenges to This gave opportunities for stakeholders to raise issues school chaplaincy such as the threat of putting chaplains within allocation

in schools, similar to what has happened to Guidance Counsellors, changing faith backgrounds of students, etc.

Figure 5.3: Themes for Interview Questions

The interview questions changed and improved over time, influenced by codes and

categories developed from previous interviews and consistent with Grounded Theory

Methodology. For this reason, two sets of interview questions are shown in the

appendices: Appendix F gives examples o f the Interview questions September 2011 and

Appendix G gives an example of Interview questions Februaiy 2012. The second set o f

questions are guided by Charmaz’ (2006, 31-33) approach to Grounded Theory

Methodology, particularly her chapter on how to phrase interview questions to allow

respondents to express their views without constraints. It can be seen how the number o f

questions reduced and became a lot less leading. The data collection and analysis for

this project took place in alternating sequences and is guided by the Grounded Theory

Methodology. This meant that the interviews were transcribed and coded immediately

after they took place.

During the interviews it was important not to restrain the participants but to give them

chaplaincy. All interviews were recorded on an iPhone and transcribed by the author

immediately after the event. Several participants commented that the interview process

had afforded them the opportunity to reflect on their practice and attitude to school

chaplaincy and that they found that helpful. Thus the interview facilitated a process o f

personal reflection for these participants.

5.3.3 (b) Drawbacks of interviews

The drawbacks o f interviews are that they are very time-consuming to conduct and

analyse (Cohen, Manion and Morrison, 2011, 409). They are open to interviewer bias.

The researcher was aware of OppenheinTs (1992, 96-97) suggestions on the causes o f

bias in interviewing and was led by the theoretical sampling process. For this reason

consistent coding o f responses was very important and greatly facilitated by the use o f

Nvivo. The researcher has to maintain a neutral stance throughout the conversation and

yet appear interested and engaged (Cohen, Manion and Morrison, 2011, 409) thereby

ensuring there was a good rapport between the interviewer and interviewee. Although

leading questions are useful in the interviewing process (Kvale, 1996, 158) and were

used in this research, the interviewer was conscious of not ‘putting words into the

The issue o f power is also significant during interviews. Scheurick (1995, 246) argues

that, typically, more power resides with the interviewer. The majority o f participants in

this research are professionals in education and appeared at interview to be confident

and open. The interviewer was particularly aware of power when interviewing parents

and arranged to interview them outside of the school environment. There may have

been some element of those who considered themselves more powerful than the

interviewer being anxious to maintain their reputations and being guarded in their

responses (Lee, 1993). This was evident at the beginning o f interviews with some

Church representatives. Because the interviewer was aware o f how power affects

interviews she did not allow it to distort the overall content. The same issues of power

arise in Focus groups which are addressed in the next section. As all members o f the

focus group are chaplains, and know the interviewer in a professional capacity, issues of

power did not seem to affect the working o f the group.

5.

3.4 Focus Groups

A Focus group is used as means of collecting data in the final stage o f this research. The

aim of the Focus group is to collaborate the data and the theory that is being developed.

It is usual in Grounded Theory to pursue a theoretical sample to test the emerging theory

and this was the manner in which members o f the Focus group were selected and

formed the third case for the theory development along with the WSE/MLL reports and

Theory, focus groups are recognised as a form of triangulation when used with interview

and secondary data (Cohen, Manion and Morrison, 2011, 436). Triangulation addresses

the issue o f internal validity by using more than one method o f data collection to answer

the research question. Richardson (1991, 173-179) suggests that it is more helpful to

conceive o f complementary rather than competing perspectives and offers the term

‘crystallisation’ as an alternative to triangulation. This is the manner in which the Focus

group was used to inform the theory development in this research. Samples at this

stage in the research are not chosen for their representative nature; nor are they

prescribed before the research project is undertaken, as may be the case with other

sampling techniques (Miles and Huberman, 1994). This Focus group fulfilled the

Grounded Theory Methodology requirement of being chosen for its characteristic nature

which was directly related to the emergent Grounded Theory about school chaplaincy

(Glaser and Strauss, 1967, 48).

Focus groups are considered a form of group interview that relies on the interaction

within the group who discuss the topic supplied by the researcher (Morgan, 1988, 9). A

Focus group was chosen at this stage because of the large volume o f data which could

be collected in a short time and the benefit o f yielding a collective rather than an

individual response which was appropriate at the latter stage o f the research (Cohen,

Manion and Morrison, 2011, 436). The group dimension of the Focus group also meant

to one interviews. Morgan (1988, 43) suggests four to twelve people in a focus group

In document The rationale for school chaplaincy in Ireland (Page 161-180)