Methods of Data Collection and Analysis

4.5.1 Questionnaires

Questionnaire design was based on the established ‘2000 Survey of International Students Starting Study in Australia’ and the ‘1999 Survey of International Students Finishing a Course of Study in Australia’ used by Australian Education International (AEI). Questionnaire surveys were used as the first data collection instrument with students who were doing international master programs in business during the year 2002. There was one

open question among 22 questions that I designed to gather data regarding the “complex motivational influences” (Foddy, 1993, p.133) to choose to study in an English language program rather than Thai program. This question is optional to respond in Thai for Thai students, but none of Thai students answered in Thai. There were 60 (sixty) students from four classes all together, two classes from the Master of Business Administration (MBA) program and two classes from the Master of Management (General Management Program– single degree and Marketing Management – double degree program in conjunction with Australian university). Students were both full-time (day program) and part-time (evening program) and they varied in terms of level of year of study, first year (during second semester) and last year (during last semester).

I was given permission to enter the classroom five minutes before the lecture started to introduce myself and explain the questionnaire in order to give students an opportunity to ask questions. Students were requested to return completed questionnaires at the end of the lecture as I was waiting outside the classroom and went inside to collect them at the end of the lecture. I found that this was the most effective way to gain completed questionnaires and to earn the confidence of participants. I expected all of the 60 students to participate in interview sessions at a later stage. However, there were only 25 students signed to participate in interview sessions.

4.5.2 Interviews

Interviewing is considered to be “a product of social interaction taking place under severe time constraints, unequal status, and decidedly mixed motives” (Wildavsky, 1993, p.58). Furthermore, interviews are considered to be “one of the most important sources of information” to obtain data of people and activities in most case studies (Yin, 1989, p.88 and Burns, 1997, p.372).

Semi-structured interviews with open-ended questions were used in this form of data collection in order to make respondents feel that they are informants rather than respondents (Burn, 1997). Questions were given to interviewees to study beforehand. Due to a traditional seniority system or top-down management in Thai culture, interviews were begun with higher status individuals of universities, the dean, international program director and course coordinator as an initial approach, then moved down to others lower in the management structure, administrators. One Thai and one non-Thai teaching staff of a master program were

interviewed individually in a private place within the university. One Thai and one non-Thai international program administrator and a librarian were also interviewed individually.

Individual in-depth interviews took the form of open-ended questions that were intended to gain specific data about how well respondents appreciated the content and context of their program. Particular attention was given to ‘follow-up questions’ during the interviews to not only achieve richer responses but also to search for and explore new issues and ideas which would help with testing and modifying emerging research themes (Rubin & Rubin, 1995). In addition, I found the interview method had created opportunities for student respondents to discuss and express their concerns, needs and feelings about their program experiences even on sensitive issues such as racism. As Baker, Yoels and Clair (1996) cited in de Laine (2000) as…

Researchers need to be particularly sensitive to the emotional expressions of respondents during an in-depth interview; uneasiness might be an indicator of stress from probing, which could result in withdrawal from future encounters. (p. 117)

Finally, interviews were conducted with two focus groups comprising of seven students from each institution. Thai and non-Thai students were included to gain the most specific data based on the individual interviews. This approach also allowed ‘flexibility and the discovery of meaning, rather than standardization, or a concern to compare through constraining replies to a set interview schedule’ in keeping with the qualitative emphasis of this research project (May, 1997, p.113). All respondents shared their experiences of routine activities, but conversations became more tense and intense when participants complained about the management and administration of their programs although I was not permitted to record or report upon specifics.

Wildavsky (1993) argued that the open-ended, semi structured interview cannot be done perfectly due to its nature and because of varied and numerous circumstances such as personalities of the interviewer and the respondent, timing and the involved organizations and subject’s sensitivity. However, these circumstances require courage, resilience, and self- management to overcome difficulties (Wildavsky, 1993, p.58). According to Scott and Usher (1999) timing and duration of interviews are considered to be the most important control mechanism in an interview method which a researcher should be aware of. For this reason, timing of this research was set one hour as a maximum for a specific topic for each interviewee and half an hour for general topic.

4.5.3 Non-participant Observation

Observation began at the beginning of a semester so I could obtain data about the general environment of the university and of its international program section. I also observed each classroom setting of the selected master program, in a smaller context, to obtain data of ‘the process’ of teaching and learning within the delivery of the international program. Behaviours and interactions between Thai and non-Thai lecturers and Thai and non-Thai students, both individuals and whole classes with classroom activities, were investigated and I was included as one of the classroom participants. All observation data were recorded by note taking, during class time and after the classes ended. The length of a classroom observation was 15- 20 minutes each time. Other accessible facilities such as the staff room, library, canteen and cafeteria were also observed, together with appropriate and relevant events.

4.5.4 Analysis

An initial data analysis of this study was done in conjunction with data collection in Thailand. Cross reference of evidences, interview transcripts and completed questionnaires were read interpretively so as to strengthen the use of the multiple method of data collection. However, most data analysis was later conducted in Melbourne, Australia, as this allowed me to read and interpret the data more effectively. Analysing case study data is difficult as Yin (1989) writes,

evidence is especially difficult because the strategies and techniques have not been well defined in the past. Nevertheless, every investigation should start with a general analytic strategy – yielding priorities for what to analyse and why. (p. 105)

The data collected were grouped under similar headings before carrying out the interpretation. The entire first transcript from all sources during data collection such as interview transcripts, jot down notes, comments, observations and documents were read thoroughly and grouped together into different themes or categories to build a theory. Merriam (1998) maintains that category construction is data analysis as categories are conceptual elements that cover or span many individual examples. Yin (1989) also suggests that relying on theoretical propositions and developing a case description are two strategies used for conducting case study data analysis. Then, each set of data was compared to reduce unnecessary repetition and to check for possible personal biases. Finally, the data was grouped in accordance to the research questions.

Data was analysed using both qualitative and quantitative techniques. When I came back to Melbourne, all completed sixty questionnaires were categorized and coded before using SPSS program to help extract the significant quantitative data to be used for further qualitative data analysis. Then, those questionnaires were analysed by using a statistical package of SPSS/PC for MS-Windows Version 11.0 to analyse the quantitative data collected from student questionnaire surveys and the findings were presented in both text and tabular forms in 5.2 and appendix 2. The focus was on interpreting the data rather than presenting the data.

After conducting each interview, the qualitative data was initially analysed manually while conducting the fieldwork and tape recorded interviews were transcribed after each interview was done at various places. Later, interview data was grouped according to key themes/concepts, words or phrases that were under the same category based on the theories and issues discussed in the literature review in chapter 2. I wanted to find out what concerns and issues the interviewees brought up for further analysis. Then, transcripts of each interview were coded in order to maintain interviewee confidentiality and they were all stored in safe place with the signed ethics forms.

Although quantitative data was collected, the main purpose of this research project was to study general perceptions of students about international programs. The quantitative data were used to support the findings of qualitative data from student interviews and observations as analysed in 5.3. The data obtained from students helped me to understand their perspective on studying and learning in international program environments in Thailand. In addition, interview data obtained from staff helped me to further understand perspectives of different levels of staff within the institution in terms of policy, administration and teaching and learning environments.

As discussed in the earlier section, each data collection method had different strengths and weaknesses. Triangulation was used to compare research findings from each of the techniques employed and to help with the analysis of this data. Burns (1997) suggests that only qualitative methods allow a researcher to access individual meaning in the context of ongoing daily life within institutional circumstances. According to Merriam (1998) triangulation can be employed by ‘using multiple investigators, multiple sources of data, or multiple methods to confirm the emerging findings’ (p. 204) (also see Denzin, 1997). Data gathering methods of these multiple case studies included preliminary inquiry, semi-structured interviewing of

individuals and focus-groups, questionnaire surveys, document analysis and non-participant observation.

Each research question was answered by combining more than one method of data collection as mentioned above. Answers derived from more than one source of data can strengthen the project hence I used the multi-source method as a technique to guide data collection and data analysis.