Methods of data collection

According to Adams & Lawrence (2015), “Questionnaires allow participants in a study to respond to a question that relate to a particular topic in their own way” (p. 2015).

There are several types of questionnaires that can be used in quantitative studies. “Questionnaires are usually used when a random sample has been drawn from a population, or using a quota sample” (Matthews, 2010, p. 205). Within these questionnaires, questions or statements used by the researcher, are worded in different ways to allows different responses. According to McMillan and Schumacher (2010) the first type of questionnaire contains open and closed-form items. When predetermined responses have been provided to the participant of the research study, the questions will be known as closed form, as we see in this study of TPACK-P of preservice science teachers. Closed-form questions can also be used to determine study year, subjects, gender or any demographic information of the participants of the study and be categorised accordingly, making data categorising easier for the researcher. In open-ended questions or items, the participant can give their own responses to the questions being asked. In this study, closed-form items on the questionnaire (Appendix C) are much easier to use since there are four different proficiency levels, and a level for each of the participants needs to be determined. Seventeen items with different instructional scenarios are also used, making it easier to categorise and determine the proficiency level. Questionnaires should be anonymous, but Appendix C requires students to provide their name.

The second type of questionnaire contains scaled items. Scaled items are defined by McMillan and Schumacher (2010) as “a series of gradations, levels, or values that describe various degrees of something” (p. 198). Within the scaled items, participants of a study are provided with a questionnaire, where they must place a tick or a cross on the scale that “reflects their beliefs or opinions about the statement” (McMillan & Schumacher, 2010, p. 198). A good example of a scale item and the most widely used example is that of the Likert scale. The Likert scale can be defined as a scale where the “stem includes a value or direction and the respondent indicates agreement or disagreement with the statement” (McMillan & Schumacher, 2010, p. 198). In the

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Likert scale, the participant can check whether they strongly agree, agree, neither agree nor disagree, disagree or strongly disagree with the statement that has been provided to them.

The questionnaire (see Appendix C) used in this research was developed by Yeh et al. (2015) during a study of teachers’ TPACK, using the Delphi survey technique. The questionnaire comprises 17 items that describe the instructional scenarios on science teachers’ implementation of ICTs in their instruction. These items are closed-form questions, meaning that respondents could not provide free-form answers. Four predetermined instructional scenarios are provided to them to choose from and they need to choose the one most suitable to them.

Hence, the items solicit data on teachers’ TPACK-P proficiency levels. This instrument has been administered previously to preservice teachers (Jen, Yeh, Hsu, Wu, & Chen, 2016), and is deemed appropriate for the targeted sample in this study. Prior to this study, the questionnaire was piloted with a group of 10 university preservice science teachers. The readability of the items was confirmed through interviews. The items in the questionnaire have been clustered together according to the three knowledge dimensions that were mentioned in the previous chapter. Questions one to six focus on the assessment dimension of the preservice science teachers. Questions seven to 13 address the planning and designing knowledge dimension. Lastly, questions 14 to 17 solicit data on the enactment knowledge.

Each item has four options that individually represent typical performances that teachers at levels 1 to 4 display. Level 4 (reflective application) is the highest proficiency level that science teachers could achieve, and it indicates that they are adept at using their experience-based TPACK to employ ICTs in assisting their learners in learning about science. Teachers at level 3 (infusive application) use ICTs to guide preservice science teachers to self-explore and independently construct their science knowledge, whereas teachers at level 2 (simple adoption) use ICTs to help learners learn about science via more teacher-centred strategies or with less well- founded rationales. Level 1 represents teachers that only have a basic understanding of technology, resulting from their limited experience (or lack thereof), negative impressions regarding technology in the classroom, or a lack of intention to implement ICTs in their classroom.

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Table 3.2 demonstrates how the 17 items of the questionnaire were divided up into the three different knowledge domains of TPACK-P, known as planning and designing, practical teaching and assessment.

Table 3.2: Item indicators under the three knowledge domains of TPACK-P of science student teachers

KNOWLEDGE DOMAINS

Planning and Designing Practical teaching Assessment 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13.

Learning about subject content using

technology.

Types of subject content suited to teaching with technology-supported instruction.

Factors influencing teachers planning and designing of technology- supported instruction. Instructional objectives appropriate for technology-supported instruction. Selecting appropriate technology tools for content presentation. Selection and use of teaching strategies to assist technology- supported instruction. The effects of group collaborations coupled with technology- supported instruction. 14. 15. 16. 17. Why technology- supported instruction is considered special. Opinion regarding synchronous and asynchronous communications. Handling of problems with technology- supported instruction. Opinions about applying technology to instruction management. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. Use of video’s/ animation in the classroom helps to better understand student learning. Simulations help to identify learning difficulties. Usefulness of technology integration helping preservice science teachers with different learning styles and needs. Teacher understanding of technology-supported assessments. Distinctive features of technology-supported assessments Teacher’s use of technology-supported assessments to evaluate preservice science teachers in science instruction.

3.6.2

Interviews

Interviews that are used in any research study, will fall under the qualitative method of research. With interviews, researchers can obtain “thick and rich data” (Turner, 2010, p. 754).

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• Facilitate the direct communication between the researchers and interviewees, whether it is face to face or at a distance using a telephone or the internet.

• Enable the interviewer to prompt information, feelings and opinions from the interviewees by making use of questions and interactive dialogue.

According to Matthews (2010), interviews are also used in in two different ways:

1. The structure and standardisation between and within different interviews differ. Three types of interviews are found that are discussed later.

2. The researcher and the participants play different roles in the interviews.

Three different formats of interviews, as mentioned above, can be used during a research study: a) informal conversational interviews; b) general interviews guided by a structural approach; and c) standardised open-ended interviews (Turner, 2010). During the informal conversation interview, questions are generated spontaneously during a natural setting (Turner, 2010). During these conversations, researchers will not ask the participant any specific questions, but will rely on the conversation they have with the participant during class time or just in public. The general interview guide approach, a structural process is followed. The general interview guide can be seen in the same light as semi-structured interviews. Questions in this type of interview are more structured but allow a researcher to adapt to the answers that have been provided by the participant (Turner, 2010). During this interview the researcher can also ask the participant to elaborate more on the answer they have provided. Lastly, the standardised open-ended interviews are highly structured. All participants in the study are asked the same type of questions. The questions asked are open-ended and allow participants to add as much information as needed by the researcher and are therefore not limited (Turner, 2010). These questions also allow the researcher to probe deeper into the answers that have been provided by the participant.

Semi-structured interviews are used by many researchers in multiple study fields. If we consider the classification by Turner (2010) of different interviews above, Matthews (2015) explains that semi-structured interviews used by many researchers:

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• Introduce topics and questions in different ways that are appropriate for each interview; and

• Allow the participant to answer the questions in his/her own way, using their own words.

Researchers use semi-structured interviews in their research, due to the interest in people’s experiences, behaviour and understanding of different topics or specifically the topic they are busy researching (Matthews, 2010).

During this research, semi-structured interviews with open-ended questions were used. Each of the chosen participants in the qualitative phase had the same set of questions asked in different ways, relating to the answers they provided on the questionnaires during the quantitative research. Use of student’s own questionnaire as a semi-structured interview as a basis and allowing student to elaborate further. The questions asked, probe deeper into the answers provided on the questionnaire to get a better understanding of the preservice science teacher’s understanding of TPACK-P.