Overview of Study
According to Creswell (2009), a researcher’s decision to implement a particular research design is typically based on, “the worldview assumptions the researcher brings to the study, procedures of inquiry (called strategies), and specific methods of data collection, analysis, and interpretation” (p. 3). Worldviews are often influenced by multiple factors including the student’s experiences, the research problem, the student’s area of discipline, the beliefs and worldviews of advising faculty members, and previous research-related experiences. The methodology and methods applied are also guided by the research purpose, research question(s), and the researcher’s own personal
epistemology and theoretical perspectives (Crotty, 1998; Bryman, 1984). Qualitative researches attempt to understand how people “…interpret their experiences, how they construct their worlds, and what meaning they attribute to their experiences” (Merriam, 2008, p. 5).My own epistemologies led me to consider particular theoretical perspectives and research questions that inform this qualitative research investigation.
Rationale for Choosing a Qualitative Research Methodology
Over the years, changes in research purposes, problems, settings, investigators, methods, and research agendas have caused educational researchers to become more interested in using qualitative research methods to investigate research problems in the field (Creswell, 2009; Shulman, 1997). Many language and literacy researchers have begun to shift their focus to problems that require more specific and complicated research questions related to school, classroom practices, and educational policy. Shulman
commented that many current educational researchers, “…collaboratively study
classroom life in partnership with active classroom teachers” (p. 5). Since my research study took place in the same elementary school, but in three diverse classroom settings that are difficult to generalize, I investigated my own research questions through incorporating qualitative research methods. I relied on Bronfenbrenner’s (1979; 1994) ecological theory and Vygotsky’s (1978; 1986) sociocultural theory as I engaged in an ethnographic case study approach that examined the teachers’ knowledge, beliefs, and understandings about their culturally, linguistically, and economically diverse students and literacy-related instructional practices. As Bogdan and Biklen (2007) suggest, “If you want to understand the way people think about their world and how those definitions are formed, you need to get closer to them, to hear them talk and observe them in their day-to-day lives” (p.35).
According to Creswell (2009), qualitative research is used to explore and more comprehensively understand how individuals or groups respond to problems in society. Waller (1932) influenced others in this discipline through demonstrating how researchers could use qualitative methods to learn more about the social aspects of schools and participants. Merriam (2009) argued that “Having an interest in knowing more about one’s practice, and indeed in improving one’s practice, leads to asking researchable questions, some of which are best approached through a qualitative research design” (p. 1). Waller and Merriam’s ideas guided me as I examined the prior knowledge, beliefs, understandings, and collaborative experiences of three elementary school teachers through a qualitative research design.
Creswell (2009) suggested that qualitative research provides techniques that can potentially help social scientists to better understand people through exploring the meanings that are constructed by individuals or groups. As a social constructivist, I believe that I can construct meaning through asking my participants open-ended
questions and listening carefully to what they “say and do in their life settings” (p. 8). I also believe that culture plays a significant role as people construct meaning about life and develop language and literacy skills, opinions, beliefs, perspectives, and most importantly, knowledge. Creswell argues that “…qualitative researchers seek to understand the context or setting of the participants through visiting this context and gathering information personally. They also interpret what they find, an interpretation shaped by the researcher’s own experiences and background” (p. 8). As I engaged in this qualitative inquiry, I attempted to remind myself that my own cultural knowledge and experiences may be influencing how I interpreted what I saw and heard as I worked closely with these teachers in their classrooms.
Rationale for Choosing an Ethnographic Approach
In this research study, I engaged in field work or “the study of something in the natural environment where it occurs or that it inhabits” (Preissle & Grant, 2004, p. 162). As my methodology, I used a qualitative, ethnographic approach as I explored whether or not the knowledge, beliefs, understandings, or literacy practices of these three elementary school teachers shifted as a result of participating in a teacher study group. An
ethnographic inquiry approach allowed me to attempt to see things from the participants’ perspectives (Crotty, 1998). I observed them in their natural environment and examined how their student-related and pedagogical beliefs and perspectives changed as a result of
their interactions with each other. Crotty commented, “…ethnography is a form of research in which the social settings to be studied, however familiar to the researcher, must be treated as anthropologically strange; and the task is to document the culture – the perspectives and practices – of the people in these settings” (p. 76). As much as possible, I tried to prevent my own personal beliefs and perspectives from swaying my
interpretations. I attempted to report on exactly what I was seeing, hearing, and learning. Ethnographic case study. One popular methodology that is used in qualitative research is a case study approach (Barone, 2004; Bogdan & Biklen, 2007; Merriam, 2009; Yin, 2009). For this research investigation, I utilized a qualitative, ethnographic case study design method. According to Bogdan and Biklen (2007), a qualitative case study focuses on “…a particular organization (school, rehabilitation center) or some aspect of organization” (p. 60) or a “detailed examination of one setting…” (p. 271). Once a researcher has selected an organization to study, he or she may choose to focus on one or more aspects within that particular organization. This case study focused on a specific group of people (third grade teachers) and an activity (teacher study group meetings) within the school. Yin (2009) argued that a case study is an “…empirical inquiry that investigates a contemporary phenomenon in depth and within its real-life context, especially when the boundaries between phenomenon and context are not clearly evident” (p. 18). I used a case study research design to help me gain a more
comprehensive understanding of the professional development experiences of three elementary school teachers.
In this ethnographic case study, I investigated the experiences of three third grade teachers as they participated in a teacher study group. The following research questions guided this naturalistic inquiry:
v In what ways does participation in a teacher study group impact elementary teachers’ knowledge, beliefs, and understandings when teaching culturally, linguistically, and economically diverse students in a high-needs school?
v In what ways do teachers’ literacy practices shift as a result of engaging in teacher study groups focused on issues related to culturally, linguistically and
economically diverse student populations?
Background Behind This Study
Prior to implementing this study, I was hopeful that I could provide a group of teachers with a safe and supportive environment within their school that would allow them to openly discuss their thoughts, feelings, opinions, and beliefs related to teaching and learning. I recently facilitated professional development trainings with in-service teachers in elementary and middle school settings. These experiences and my own experiences as an elementary teacher who attended numerous ineffective professional development trainings led me to believe that too many traditional professional
development models such as workshops and hour long trainings were still being implemented in schools. In my courses at the university, I introduced teacher study group formats to my undergraduate and graduate students. Their feedback indicated a great need to continue to investigate this model as an effective form of professional learning. Therefore, I wanted to explore how this particular professional development model might work for a group of teachers in a very “high stakes” testing year. Since
third and fifth grade are currently considered “high stakes” testing years due to the passing of the No Child Left Behind Act (2001), I decided to focus on third grade at one of the elementary schools involved in the PDS (Professional Development Schools) partnership that I am involved in.
Participants
Bogdan and Biklen (2007) defined purposeful sampling as choosing “…particular subjects to include because they are believed to facilitate the expansion of the developing theory” (p. 73). The participants involved in this research study included three third grade teachers. I decided to work with third grade teachers because in my experiences, this seems to be the grade that administrators are the most worried about due to policy mandates related to student achievement and standardized test scores (NCLB, 2001). My participants consisted of two Caucasian females and one Caucasian male. I used
purposeful sampling to select the participants for this study. I chose these three teachers because they were agreeable to participating in a research study that focused on teacher study groups and discussions around culturally, linguistically, and economically diverse students. I first met one of the female teachers in an initial PDS meeting that my
department had with this particular county last spring. The dean of my university asked the superintendent and each of the elementary school principles to attend this meeting. He also asked each of the principals to bring one of their best teachers with them. I first met Terry at this initial meeting. We immediately hit it off as we discussed everything from writer’s workshop to integrating literacy and various content areas. In the fall, one of my student interns was placed with Terry. When I went to visit Terry’s classroom to check on my student intern, she asked me if I would help her implement a few literacy-
many conversations related to meetings the needs of her students through providing authentic literacy experiences.
According to Bogdan and Biklin (2007), another method for selecting participants is called “internal sampling” or “…the decisions you make once you have a general idea of what you are studying, with whom to talk, what time of day to observe, and the
number and type of documents to review” (p. 68). They suggested that this participant selection method could help a researcher to focus in on specific elements and to spend quality time getting to know each of the participants in the study. They stated, “…some subjects are more willing to talk, have a greater experience in the setting, or are
especially insightful about what goes on. These people become key informants…” (p. 68). Terry became my informant and before I knew it, she had convinced the rest of the teachers on her grade-level to participate in a teacher study group. The other two teachers voluntarily agreed to participate in our biweekly collaborative teacher study group meetings. Although Terry had a student teacher during the semester of this study, she did not serve as a participant in this research investigation.
In December, both the university and school system’s International Review Board (IRB) approved my research proposal and gave me permission to conduct this study. In the beginning of January, each of the participants signed a consent form that informed them about the purpose and important elements of this research study, assured them that pseudonyms and other methods would be used to protect their identity, and reminded them that they may choose to drop out of the study at any time. They also gave me permission to audio record our teacher study group conversations and interviews. I informed them that I planned to transcribe all interviews and teacher study group
meetings and that I would record detailed field notes following all classroom observations.
Setting
During this study, I investigated the professional development experiences of three third grade teachers working with culturally, linguistically, and economically diverse students in a high-needs elementary school during their second semester or in the months of January to May. Since context is such an important factor in case study research (Crotty, 1998; Merriam, 1998, 2009; Yin, 2009), I include a detailed description of the community, school, and classroom setting of this study in chapter four. Here, however, I present a brief overview of the setting of this research investigation.
Although the majority of the students in this school are Caucasian (92 %) I still decided to focus on the teachers’ beliefs about culturally, linguistically, and economically diverse students because this school has a rapidly growing rate of linguistically and economically diverse students. At the time of this study, this school contained
approximately 380 total students housed in grades pre-kindergarten through fifth grade. Approximately 51 percent of the students attending this school received free or reduced lunch during the semester of this study. Of the 380 students, 28, (7.5 %), of them were labeled as English language learners (ELL). Four of the identified ELL students were students in two of my participants’ third grade classrooms. The teachers in this study did not have many experiences working with culturally or linguistically diverse students because this school and county has typically always had a pre-dominantly Caucasian population. More detailed information about the setting and context of this study is included in the next chapter.
Role of the Researcher
My own personal experiences and beliefs informed the qualitative case study design that I chose for this research investigation. Holding a constructionist
epistemological belief allowed me to feel comfortable enough to interact with the participants within their natural environment as I observed them and attempted to learn more about their cultural and economic views, histories, and perspectives. Through conducting interviews and participating in their bi-weekly teacher study group meetings, I attempted to delve into their thoughts through asking questions related to their initial knowledge, beliefs and understandings about how culturally, linguistically, and economically diverse students learn and develop literacy skills. As my research study progressed, I continued to examine their experiences and learning processes so that I could make inferences about whether their knowledge, beliefs, understandings, or classroom literacy practices seemed to shift as they participated in bi-weekly teacher study group meetings.
As suggested by Yin (2009), it is essential that researchers collect empirical data that is “rigorous and fair” (p. 5). To assure that the data I collected was as authentic and believable as possible, I continued to investigate my personal relationships with the participants throughout this study through recording my thoughts in a researchers’ journal and writing memos at the end of each month. Crotty (1998) states,“There is no objective truth waiting for us to discover it. Truth, or meaning, comes into existence in and out of our engagement with the realities in our world. There is no meaning without a mind. Meaning is not discovered, but constructed” (pp. 8-9). Because I am human, I had assumptions and biases that naturally came into play as I conducted this research study. I
from my research and prevent my biased opinions from interfering, manipulating, or misrepresenting the data that I was collecting.
“The experience of the researcher as an insider or outsider cannot be a fixed one, because we are all at some point an insider or an outsider, given the setting” (Johnson- Bailey, 2004, p.129). During this research inquiry, I acted as an interviewer who was interested in finding out more about the participants’ socioeconomic backgrounds, life and school experiences, literacy-related knowledge, attitudes, opinions, and beliefs, and current literacy practices. Although there were times when I felt like an outsider because I was not experiencing the same stresses and frustrations, the teachers always treated me like an insider (Johnson-Bailey, 2004) in that they very warm and open from the very beginning of this study. In their interviews and within our teacher study group meetings, they seemed to feel comfortable enough with me to share their knowledge, beliefs, understandings, and experiences.
Data Collection
Dall’Alba and Sandberg (2006) suggested that “…ethnographic and case studies could be carried out that included observations of practice over time, in combination with interviews about the focus and purpose of that practice, as understood by the
professionals concerned” (p. 401). In this qualitative, ethnographic case study, data collection took place from January until May. (See Appendix B for a timeline showing when data was collected.) Data was collected through initial and final semi-structured interviews, classroom observations, and bi-weekly teacher study group meetings. Artifacts such as photographs and teacher notes from our meetings were also collected and referred to during the analysis process. I also created notebooks for the participants
included the multiple resources that we viewed and discussed during our bi-weekly collaborative meetings. All data was stored on a password protected computer or in file folders stored in a locked file cabinet. The initial and final interviews and all teacher study group meetings were transcribed and organized into electronic folders according to the type of data in my database. I further organized the interviews into electronic folders that were categorized according to the participant. The interviews were named using the first letter of each participant’s pseudonym and the date of the interview. Field notes were also recorded immediately after each classroom observation in the form of
electronic word documents. These field notes were then saved electronically into folders labeled with the first letter of each participant’s pseudonym and the date. I also printed out hard copies of each of the interviews, teacher study group meeting transcriptions, and field notes and organized these documents into binders. Although I organized much of my data electronically into themes through the use of word documents, I used the hard copies to initially engage in a triangulation of data through an open-coding process (Bogdan & Biklen, 2007). In order to maintain a high level of trustworthiness and dependability (Merricam, 2009; Yin, 2009), I employed both triangulation and open coding simultaneously during data analysis. Table 1 demonstrates how I addressed my research questions through collecting particular data sources during this study.
Table 1
Data Collection Summary
Research Questions Data Sources Addressing Questions In what ways does participation in a
teacher study group impact elementary teachers’ knowledge, beliefs, and
understandings when teaching culturally, linguistically, and economically diverse students in a high-needs school?
1. Initial and Final
Semi-Structured Interview Transcripts
2. Teacher Study Group Meeting Transcripts
3. Reflective Journal and Memos In what ways do teachers’ literacy
practices shift as a result of engaging in teacher study groups focused on issues related to culturally, linguistically and economically diverse student populations?
1. Initial and Final Semi-Structured Interview Transcripts
2. Classroom Observation Field Notes 3. Teacher Study Group Meeting
Transcripts
4. Reflective Journal and Memos 5. Artifacts
6. Photographs
Both the interviews that I conducted and my observations of “practice over time” helped me to find answers to my research questions related to the shifts that the teachers
experienced as a result of participating in this collaborative teacher study group.