2.3 “Pragmatism” and Singapore Renaissance City Report
Chapter 3: Research Methodology
3.4 Research Design and Data Collection Technique
3.4.2 Techniques to access Documents
3.4.2 Techniques to access Documents
The procedures to access documentary sources must reflect authenticity, credibility, representative and literal cum interpretative understanding.
According to Scott (1990: 19-20 ), authenticity refers to soundness and authorship and it is necessary for researcher to know if he/she received an original document or a document that is duplicated from the original document or the document is duplicated from a duplicated original document. It is also essential to know the author and the publisher who produced the document.
According to Scott (1990: 20-21), credibility refers to sincerity and accuracy and he said:
One of the most important considerations in assessing sincerity is the material interest that the author has in the contents of the document, the extent to which he or she seeks some practical advantage which might involve deceiving his or her readers. Many official documents are based on a political interest in presenting one view rather than other, in transforming propaganda into apparently sincere „information‟ or in justifying a particular choice of action.
This means that researcher needs to find out whether the author is giving a true account of what has been written. However Scott cautioned that it is very typical for official documents to record information that is purely a reflection of what government wants from their people.
According to Scott (1990: 25), two aspects on the question of representatives are
„survival‟ and „availability‟. Scott said:
their opinions are to be cross-examined with opinions from the 5 art experts to seek further insights for the rationale for visual arts education in Singapore.
Page 53 In order to survive, documents must be „deposited‟. This may be through publication in a form which is itself capable of survival, or by way of storage in a public or private archive or deposited in a place in which they are likely to survive, some (e.g. official papers) are destroyed in an incinerator or shredder...
This means that researcher must find out if the documents are available for research study because at times, documents may be discarded.
According to Scott (1990: 28, 30), two aspects in terms of literal and interpretive understanding have to be considered for deciphering the document. Scott said:
The ultimate purpose of examining documents, the point to which all the preceding issues have been leading, to arrive at an understanding of the meaning and significance of what the documents contains. This problem of meaning arises at two levels, the literal and the interpretative. The problem of literal understanding is summarised by Langlois and Seignobos as follows: „Let us suppose we have before us‟.
In short, the literal meanings of the words in a document give only its „face value‟ meaning; they are the raw materials from which its real significance must be reconstructed. Interpretative understanding is the end-product of a hermeneutic process in which the researcher relates the literal meanings to the contexts in which they produced in order to assess the meaning of the text as a whole.
This means that the researcher must be able to read and understand what has been written in the document and to contextualize the meanings of the documents based on a specific timeline that reflects the rationale for the writers to organize their thoughts in that particular manner.
The above discussion shows the measures for me to ensure that the documents I have collected are based on original sources from the Ministry of Education (MOE) and Ministry of Information, Communications and the Arts (MICA).
With regards to the authenticity of the MOE art syllabuses, they were duplicated from the original copies that have been found in the National Institute of Education (NIE), which is under the ambit of MOE. NIE is a teachers‟ training institution in Singapore.
As the MOE arts syllabuses that were ranged from 1959 to 2009, documents that
Page 54 were published before the 1990s, were archived and stored in the archive reference section at NIE. The list of MOE arts syllabuses is reflected in Annex S. These documents were retrieved by the NIE librarian who lent them to me for the purpose of duplicating the original copies for my research study. Those documents that were published after 1990s were found at the „Lending Section.‟ All of these documents were published by Ministry of Education and this has been indicated clearly at the back of the documents. Three original copies of RCP reports were given to me by MICA official from the department that prepares and handles the RCP reports.
With regards to the credibility of the documents, I have also verified through email with one of the MOE officials who is the Head, Data Administration Division at MOE.
She verified that the MOE art syllabuses are developed by the Curriculum Planning and Development Division, which are considered as official documents and they represent the MOE standpoint concerning the requirements to be used for developing and implementing art lessons in schools. The Deputy-Director General of Education is the final approving officer to approve these documents before they are published and released to the public. The MOE arts syllabuses are developed by curriculum planning officers who are experienced art teachers with qualifications in art and teaching and these officers should have a good degree, preferably with Honours, in Art; at least 5 years of teaching experiences. He or she must also have a good written and oral communication skills and the ability to work in a team. The MICA RCP reports are published by MICA, the Arts Heritage and Development Division between 2000 an 2008.
With regards to the representative, the MOE and MICA documents are written and published by the government officials and no part of any of the document has shown any sign of falsification.
With regards to the literal and interpretative meaning, the MOE and MICA documents were prepared by government officials and they were originally written and published in English Language as English Language is Singapore Official Working Language. The documents were organised in a clear and precise manner and they were not difficult to read and understand.
Page 55 The qualitative interview adopted semi-structure interview questions to interview 9 art teachers, 3 former policy makers from MOE and MICA and 5 arts scholars/academics. Their comments were transcribed and examined using the method of “open coding” whereas the MOE and MICA key documents were analysed based on “content analysis”, which both methods shall be discussed in the following section.