Research Perspective

This study was designed to employ a mixed methods approach that utilized both quantitative and qualitative analysis. The call for multivariate methodologies to enhance education research and theory development is not new (Bryman, 2008, 1988; Denzin and Lincoln, 2008; Cohen et al., 2001; Nachmias, 1996). However, since I aimed to conduct a study of the SfL Complementary Education Programme and how it prepared learners for entry into and accomplishment at formal school – which necessarily took into account the curricula of both, comparisons of pupil performance, and the perspectives and experiences of learners and other education stakeholders – my approach was to adopt methods that would facilitate an in-depth interrogation of the research questions. Moreover, I combined both qualitative and quantitative data collection techniques because the integrated use of both strategies allowed compensation for the weaknesses of each and maximization of the strengths in both (Creswell, 2008; Bryman, 2008; Brewer and Hunter, 2006).

Previous experiences in Ghana with respect to data availability and reliability make the combined use of these approaches to research a prudent one for a study of this kind. The argument that these two approaches are complementary rather than competing also justifies and promotes the use and combination of both. Indeed, a research design that integrates data generated by both quantitative and qualitative methods is more profitable than stressing their differences and thus limiting the options (Creswell, 2008; Bryman, 2008; Brewer and Hunter, 2006).

The procedure of combining different research methods is also one aspect of triangulation that constitutes a system of checks and balances. Denzin (1989: 234) identifies triangulation as the “use of multiple methods to overcome the inherent weaknesses of single measurements and methods.” Numerous studies have employed an approach combining qualitative and quantitative methods. In recent years in particular, it has been common to use survey procedures together with various individual accounts to highlight different points of view; thus, when quantitative results are combined with interpretive perspectives, a fuller explanation of social phenomena may result (Bryman, 2008; Creswell, 2008; Denzin, 1989). However, it should be emphasized that the main thrust of the present study derives from qualitative data, which is used to gain a deeper understanding of how various actors – especially pupils and teachers – experience the planned, taught and received curricula of both School for Life and the formal school.

70 The paradigm used by qualitative researchers varies with the set of theories and beliefs each brings to his or her work. The present study is based on social constructivist principles because I believe that they offer the best theoretical model for achieving the goal of capturing views and experiences derived from the implementation of SfL in Northern Region, and determining how lessons learned from this intervention might affect the provision of high quality basic education in Ghana as a whole.

In social constructivist research, individuals seek to construct meaning or understanding of people’s lives based on practical experiences (Creswell, 2007). This approach allows for multiple meanings and subjectivity of perception, which enable the researcher to strive for identifying a complexity of views and experiences rather than merely accepting a status quo description as an acceptable way of thinking. Social constructivism allows the researcher to rely as much as possible on his or her participants’ experiences and views of the situation, which are set within a social and historical context. Bosk (1989 in Denzin and Lincoln, 2008) regards the qualitative researcher as being in a privileged position, as an observer and interviewer in receipt of the unique ‘gift’ of developing a research relationship with his or her subjects or participants. Developing a relationship with the participants ensures that there is trust between the researcher and the researched and also the research is able to capture the human aspect of the research and through that there is a social construction of data.

Questions of reliability and validity have sometimes been raised with regard to qualitative research methods, but such a notion is readily countered:

One might be tempted to discard the qualitative interview as a research method – the knowledge obtained is not objective, but subjective in the sense that it depends too much on the subjects interviewed … On the contrary, it is in fact a strength of the interview conversation to capture the multitude of subjects’ views of a theme and to picture manifold and controversial human worlds (Kvale, 1996: 16).

Qualitative research is valid when it locates the researcher in the real world of the subject or phenomenon under study. The methods consist of a set of interpretive, material practices that make the world visible and realistic; which means that qualitative researchers study things in their natural settings, attempting to make sense of – or interpret – phenomena in terms of the meanings people bring to them (Denzin and Lincoln, 2008). As a result, careful qualitative research is reliable.

71 Qualitative research methodology is characterized as inductive, emergent, and shaped by the researcher’s experience of data collection and analysis (Creswell, 2007). Some topics may emerge from the participants themselves rather than all being identified beforehand by the researcher. Such a process lends itself to the collection and analysis of rich context-oriented information that helps to explain the worldview of the researched (Creswell, 2007). Therefore, qualitative research methods constitute an effective approach for the present study, and facilitate an in-depth understanding of the perspectives of various actors on the planned and implemented curricula of SfL and the formal school.