Research Design

There are several steps in collecting, analysing and reporting quantitative and qualitative research; choosing and constructing these steps is known as research design. In general, research design can be categorised into three types: Quantitative Research Design, Qualitative Research Design and Combined Quantitative/Qualitative Design. (Creswell, 2005, p. 597). A quantitative research design applies specific, narrow questions to gather measurable and observable data on variables. Only selected variables are studied, depending upon specific and narrow statements of purpose, research questions or hypotheses; whereas qualitative research design involves general and broad data collection, which usually seek to understand participants’ experiences (Creswell, 2005, p. 46). The third type of research design is the combined quantitative/qualitative design, which falls into two categories: mixed method designs and action designs. According to Brewer and Hunter, 1989, ‘A mixed method design is a procedure for collecting, analyzing and ‘mixing’ both quantitative and qualitative data in a single study to understand a research problem’ (See Blaxter, Hughes & Tight, 1996, p. 60). Action research, according to Mills (2000), is ‘a systematic procedure used by teachers or other individuals to improve the process of particular educational settings in teaching and learning by using quantitative and qualitative data’ (See Creswell, 2005, p. 588).

The approach selected for this study is a mixed method design. The rationale for this is that the respondents involved in the research are headmasters, teachers, parents of students of general primary schools and religious schools, imams, academics and senior officers. As

the major aim of this study is to give ideas on ways to improve the educational system in Brunei Darussalam in the light of Al-Attas’s philosophy of education, some of the information needed from respondents is suitable for gathering in a quantitative manner, because of the large number of respondents such as teachers and parents. It is also important and appropriate to collect in-depth information from some of the respondents, particularly selected imams, headmasters, academicians and senior officers. It is believed that combining both types of data will enrich the information, for better understanding of the research study. The selection of these procedures is also in accordance with the selection of research instruments that will be discussed in Section 5.2.

The categorisation of the research designs is shown in Figure 5.2:

Research Designs

Quantitative Research Design Qualitative Research Design Combined Quantitative/Qualitative Research Design

Mixed method Designs Action Designs

Figure 5.2: Categorisation of Research Designs

There are three types of mixed method designs commonly used in educational research; triangulation design, explanatory design, and exploratory design, as shown in Figure 5.3:

Types of Mixed Method Designs 3. Exploratory Design 1. Triangulation Design QUAN (Data and Results) QUAL (Data and Results) QUAN Data/ Results qual Data/ Results QUAL Data/ Results

2. Explanatory Design _Legend:

Box = data collection and results

Uppercase letters/lowercase letters = major emphasis, minor emphasis Arrow = sequence ¨ = concurrent orsimultaneous

QUAL = Qualitative QUAN = Quantitative ¨ Interpretation quan Data/ Results

Figure 5.3 Types of Mixed Method Designs (Adapted from Creswell, 2005, p. 514)

The above figure shows the process of collecting data in three types of mixed method design. In the triangulation design the quantitative and qualitative data are collected simultaneously, and then both are merged to best understand the research problem. Explanatory design is also called the two-phase model; in the first step of the process quantitative data is collected, and then this is followed by collection of qualitative data to help explain or elaborate on the quantitative results. Exploratory mixed method design, on the other hand, consists of first gathering qualitative data to explore a phenomenon, and then collecting quantitative data to test the relationships found in the qualitative data (Creswell, 2005, pp. 591, 592, 600)

The design applied in this study is a triangulation design, in which both qualitative and quantitative data are simultaneously collected and then the data converged, with the results used to have a better understanding of the research problems. This design is selected because this study not only seeks to know the perceptions of teachers and students’ parents on the acquisition of knowledge and their view on the educational system in Brunei, but also

seeks to explore other matters, such as the difficulties of headmasters and senior officers of the MOE and MORA in implementing the Integrated Education system, initiatives taken to improve the system and other matters related to the study. It is my view that the research questions concerning the teachers and parents were best designed and distributed through questionnaire in a quantitative manner considering they involve a large number of respondents. On the other hand, questions concerning the headmasters and senior officers of the MOE and MORA are thought to be best conducted through qualitative interviews, because this attempts to explore in-depth information from these respondents. Other respondents involved include also the Imams, since they are viewed as also playing important roles in educating the communities, so that their views on education are quite influential to others; this is also conducted in a qualitative manner. So, due to the variety of information or data that needs to be collected from the different respondents, the triangulation design is seen to a more suitable implementation.