Methods of data analysis

I carried out a thematic analysis, adopting some of the strategies of grounded theory. Broadly speaking, I adopted Clarke and Braun’s (2014:1-2) approach to thematic analysis, in which the researcher moves back and forth between six phases:

1. Familiarising yourself with the data and identifying items of potential interest

2. Generating initial codes 3. Searching for themes 4. Reviewing potential themes 5. Defining and naming themes 6. Producing the report

Braun and Clarke (2006:6) claim ‘theoretical freedom’ for thematic analysis, which makes it compatible with a critical realist perspective.

As described earlier (3.2.1) the data collected included a range of written documents, as well as audio recordings. Yin (2014:47) identifies ‘the use of multiple sources of evidence’ as one tactic which increases construct validity in case study research. This is because it is possible to triangulate between the different sources of data. Construct validity in qualitative research is achieved when:

the categories that the researchers are using …reflect the way in which the participants actually experience and construe the situations in the research and that they see the situation through the actors’ eyes. (Cohen, Manion & Morrison, 2011:189)

Owing to the volume of material in the audio recordings, I wrote holistic overviews of what was said rather than verbatim accounts, in the first instance. Throughout the data analysis, I read and re-read the written material, and listened and re-listened to the audio recordings to familiarise myself with the data. This included returning to the audio recordings to make full transcriptions of some elements that were not originally transcribed verbatim, in order to check participants’ meanings. A database of the written material may be inspected by readers of this thesis upon request, which increases reliability (Yin, 2014). In case study research, reliability is concerned with the extent to which another researcher, following the same procedures, would arrive at the same conclusions. Keeping a database provides opportunity for others to inspect and audit the documents, which would allow checking if someone wished to do so (Yin, 2014).

Content analysis is an appropriate approach for large sets of written data (Grbich, 2007). Hence this was the approach adopted to generate initial codes from the reflective journals, since these were the largest written data sets, as well as the critical incident analyses and action plans.

Since the first of my prima facie RQs was ‘What are the barriers that physics (or science) PSTs face during their PGCE?’, the coding and categorising process focused on items that I considered to be teaching issues or concerns raised by the participants. To this extent, I had a preconceived idea of what I was looking for, although the coding did not use a ‘prior protocol’ (Grbich, 2007:112), since there had not been a great deal of information in the initial literature review indicating what science PSTs’ teaching issues might be. I did not have an entirely open mind, where I might have asked questions such as ‘What is this data a study of?’

(Thornberg, 2012:86), and hence this was not a grounded theory approach in this regard. I note, however, that my preconceptions were based on my professional experience. One might say that I had used ‘middle-range coding’ (Urquhart, 2012:39), since it was neither entirely bottom-up nor top-down.

The introduction of preconceptions based on professional experiences may be seen to be problematic for an insider-researcher (Greene, 2014). There is a possibility of projecting one’s existing beliefs onto the data analysis, which may introduce bias.

Conversely, it may be seen as a strength, since one’s prior knowledge may be helpful in perceiving the situation more clearly.

The frequencies of each type of teaching issue were enumerated. Understandably, this was a somewhat subjective process, since it is likely that the particular terms used to code the text were informed by my professional experiences working with PSTs. However, this was done in a consistent way by following the approach suggested by Clarke and Braun (2014). Another factor that may have mitigated against bias, and helped to establish credibility (Greene, 2014) was regular meetings with my supervisors, which facilitated scrutiny by those a little less close to the research context.

The overviews and transcribed material from audio recordings were developed into narrative accounts of each of the AL sets. Patterns emerging within and across AL sets were identified.

Subsequently, profiles of each participant were written, producing a chronological narrative describing their pathway through the programme, drawing on all the available data. Putting information in chronological order is an analytic strategy that is used in case study research (Yin, 2014). This process had several outcomes. One was that it enabled me to refine the themes emerging from the data. The profiles of the participants were also reflective accounts, in which I wrote down my thoughts about the data. Interjections within the text, such as these, are sometimes described as theoretical memos. Writing theoretical memos is a strategy that was first

suggested by Glaser (1978) as part of grounded theory. However, it has been used in qualitative research more generally (Urquhart, 2012).

Within grounded theory, memos are regarded as being essential to quality of research (Birks & Mills, 2015). They contribute to quality because researchers are encouraged to write freely, which supports creativity (Urquhart, 2012) and they also enable the researcher to keep track of their thought processes about the research (Birks & Mills, 2015). ‘Thick description’ and ‘detailed note-taking’ (Greene, 2014:7) also contribute to transferability, which is one technique that may contribute to trustworthiness of insider-research.

At the next level of analysis I took two approaches, both of which are compatible with case study research, according to Yin (2014). The first strategy was to explore the conjecture that science PSTs are not very reflective. This entailed a deductive approach, looking at the data through an existing theoretical lens. The second strategy concerned themes that emerged from the data (and hence the link with the strategies of grounded theory), thus being a more inductive approach. At this stage, I referred back to literature, which enabled me to carry out further analysis of the data using a relevant theoretical framework. Again, these are the approaches of thematic analysis (Aronson, 1995). The approaches are elaborated in the relevant data analysis chapters (Ch.5-7).