America who demonstrated accelerated performance at the secondary school level (from 14 to 16 years of age), and at the age of 16, he was admitted to the University of Toronto. He graduated from that university in three years at the age of 19.
There were two major purposes of focusing on Paolo in the research: 1. to determine whether he manifested characteristics of a gifted and talented student in the absence of confirmatory evidence, and 2. to examine existing benefits and drawbacks of early (two to four years) university entrance/admission. Moreover, the single-case study illustrated how potentially gifted and talented students could benefit from early university
entrance/admission. Since the single-case study was a case embedded in a broader context, and Paolo was a single unit of analysis within this context, the researcher developed a Type 1 Design of a single-case study called, holistic design (Yin, 2014, p. 55).
In this phase, the researcher initiated the study by attempting to contact Paolo, his mother, his university professors (n=5), and his university peers (n=5). During the preparation stage of Phase Two, it was critical for the researcher to develop a case study protocol. The reason is that a protocol is “the major way of increasing the reliability of case study research, and is intended to guide the researcher in carrying out the data collection from a single case” (p. 84). Yin also suggests that a case study protocol should consist of four sections: “section A: overview of the case study; … section B: data collection procedures; … section C: data collection questions; … section D: a guide for the case study report” (p. 85) which the researcher followed.
Although interviews were designed as the main method of the research, participants preferred questionnaires. As a result, the researcher emailed research packages to Paolo’s peers which included a letter of information, a letter of consent, and a questionnaire (see: Appendices Q, M and G respectively). A mentioned, this approach proved to be
appreciated, effective, and convenient by potential participants since it provided more flexibility and avoided scheduled, face-to-face interviews. It is important to point out that Paolo was interviewed once. He also provided the researcher with the names and
telephone numbers of his university peers (n=5), as well as the names of his university professors (n=5). Where no responses were received from the first request, the request for participation was repeated after four weeks by sending the same packages by mail. Paolo and two of his university peers responded positively to the invitation, but unfortunately, neither his mother nor university professors did.
Specific procedures were investigated to present in detail Paolo’s early admission process. Moreover, descriptions of Paolo’s university experiences were analysed and discussed through data collections techniques, including either interviews or
questionnaires developed specifically for Paolo, his mother, his university peers, and his university professors, as well as the relevant Office of the Registrar at the University of Toronto.
Below is the list of case-study research questions which were derived from a detailed analysis of the literature regarding the elements/factors that appear to constitute
giftedness. These questions were included into the questionnaire, and Paolo was asked to answer them during the only interview. The case-study research questions were grouped into four Case-Study Research Foci. Case-Study Research Focus One determined how
Paolo fitted the description of a gifted and talented student. Case-Study Research Focus Two attempted to address the procedure that was used during Paolo’s early admission process. Case-Study Focus Three investigated whether Paolo benefited from his decision to start university two years earlier; and finally, Case-Study Research Focus Four
concentrated on potential social, academic and emotional regrets and drawbacks during Paolo’s years at the University of Toronto. These four Case-Study Research Foci served as the basis for data analysis for this phase of the study.
The Case-Study Research Foci questions, which were drawn from the literature on giftedness, were as follows:
Case-Study Research Focus 1: How did Paolo fit the description of a gifted and talented individual?
• If you remember, how old were you when he started reading/writing? Did you invent any words or concepts?
• If applicable, as a child, did you ask many complex and insightful questions? • What personality characteristics did you demonstrate as a child? Locus of control?
Competition? Perfectionism? Detail-orientation? Symbolism? Creativity? Self- discipline? Maturity and independence?
• What were your favourite games (simple or complicated) and role-playing activities?
• How did you interact with his your peers? Did you attend kindergarten? Preschool? Did he/you enjoy it? What did you enjoy the most? The least? • What relationships did you develop? Any friendships? Imaginary friends? • Did you demonstrate sensitivity to the environment? Oversensitivity? • Did you like schoolwork? Too easy? Too slow?
• What were your favourite subjects? Any extracurricular interests? Any hobbies? Case-Study Research Focus 2: What factors were considered during your early admission to the University of Toronto?
• Did you apply using a standard admission procedure? Any modifications? • Did you have to submit any additional, non-standard documentation? Samples?
Artefacts? IQ score? Interview?
• If interviewed, to what questions did you have to respond?
Case-Study Research Focus 3: Was this decision beneficial for you and the university? • After your first year at university, were you satisfied with your academic
• Were any special modifications initially offered to you? If so, which ones? If not, would you have performed even better if such were offered to you?
• Were all of your professors informed of your younger age?
Case-Study Research Focus 4: What social, academic and emotional regrets, doubts and drawbacks did you experience while at university?
• What disadvantages and drawbacks did you experience during your first year? • Did you manage to develop any friendships?
• Did you actively participate in any extracurricular activities, events, clubs, camps, etc.?
• Were your peers aware of your age? How did it impact your peer relationships? • If you had to reapply, would you do it? Why? Why not?
• If you were a committee member, would you change anything in the application process? If so, what would it be?
• Were you interested in any extracurricular activities, clubs and/or student associations? What were they?
The complete questionnaire was sent to Paolo prior to the interview, and only one follow- up telephone conversation was necessary to obtain some explanations and clarifications to his initial responses. Once the relevant data were collected, the researcher compared Paolo’s data to the literature.
The research questions for Paolo’s mother were as follows:
• How did Paolo fit the description of a gifted and talented individual? • Was there a family history of giftedness? Diagnosed or suspected?
• How old was he when he started reading/writing? Did he invent any words or concepts?
• As a child, did he ask many complex and insightful questions?
• What personality characteristics did he demonstrate as a child? Prompts: Locus of control? Competition? Perfectionism? Detail-orientation? Symbolism? Creativity? Self-discipline? Maturity and independence?
• What were his favourite games (simple or complicated) and role-playing activities?
• How did he interact with his your peers? Did he attend kindergarten? Preschool? Did he enjoy it? What did he enjoy the most? The least?
• What relationships did he develop? Any friendships? Imaginary friends? • Did he demonstrate sensitivity to the environment? Oversensitivity? • Did he like schoolwork? Too easy? Too slow?
• What were his favourite subjects? Any extracurricular interests? Any hobbies? The research questions for Paolo’s peers were:
• Did you initially know that Paolo was two years younger than you? How did you find out? Did it change anything? How did you react?
• What did you think about Paolo? Was he helpful, sociable, supportive, and engaged in a group work? Or, was he more frequently seen as reticent, shy, or isolated? Did you value the fact that you met Paolo? If so, why? If not, why were you indifferent?
The research questions for Paolo’s professors:
• How did you perceive Paolo as your student initially? What kind of student was he? Did your perception change over time? If so, how?
• How did you assess and evaluate Paolo’s performance?
• Were you aware of Paolo’s age? If so, did it affect your expectations? If not, would it be possible for you to modify and/or adapt your expectations in regards to the age of your students?
• What strengths and weakness did you recognize in Paolo’s performance? • Did you believe that Paolo was emotionally and socially mature enough to
commence his academic career?
• Was his performance exceptional, average, below average? If below, what did you think was the cause of his below average performance?
Finally, both phases of the research allowed the researcher to collect data and formulate findings from multiple sources of evidence (i.e., university websites, university registrars, Paolo, and his university peers). However, no information was received from Paolo’s mother, his university professors, or the Office of Registrar at the UofT that admitted Paolo. Paolo, on the other hand, willingly participated in every aspect of this study. This phase was concluded on October 1.
Chapter 4
4 Results
Chapter Four presents the findings that evolved from the data derived from Canadian universities, as well as from the data gathered about Paolo and his university early admission. As Glazer and Shore (1984) concluded, a “university need not fear for the academic success of younger-than-average students whom it might admit … evidence elsewhere speaks equally for the potential success of young students of high ability who skip three or four years of high school, and do not hold a high school leaving diploma” (p. 8). To provide a clear analysis of the collected data and their findings, the researcher developed a linear-analytic structure (Yin, 2015, p. 188).