TRUSTWORTHINESS OF THE RESEARCH

To protect and ensure the integrity of qualitative research, a number of strategies are built into the research to ensure both reliability and validity (Morse, Barrett, Mayan, Olson & Spiers 2002: 18). These strategies, which are discussed further-on, will allow the concepts of reliability and validity to be constructed in the research paradigm. Morse et al. (2002: 17) explain that when these strategies are used

appropriately, it helps the researcher to focus the direction of the study resulting in validity and reliability being present in the completed project.

Morse et al. (2002: 15) quote Guba and Lincoln who said that all research must have “truth, value, applicability, consistency and neutrality”. They comment on the proposed criteria in the qualitative paradigm to ensure trustworthiness, and they specifically mention credibility, auditability and confirmability. Discussing the characteristics of the researcher to ensure trustworthiness in qualitative research, Morse et al. (2002: 15) list sensitivity, responsiveness and adaptability to changing circumstances, having professional immediacy and the ability to clarify and summarise findings. Mays and Pope (1995: 110) note that the integrity of qualitative projects should be protected. In this regard they mention two goals:

• To create an account of method and data which can stand independently • To produce a plausible explanation of the phenomenon being researched

5.5.1 Validity and reliability

According to Morse et al. (2002: 19), the concepts of reliability and validity can be appropriately used in all research paradigms as overarching concepts. The following verification strategies are suggested to ensure reliability and validity of data (Morse et al. 2002: 18):

1. Ensuring that the questions match the method which matches the data and the process of analysis.

2. Confirming that the sample consists of participants who have knowledge of the topic.

3. Collecting and analysing data so that one realises the connection between what is known and what one needs to know.

4. Constantly checking data and thinking theoretically.

5. Developing a theory which is well constructed by understanding the data conceptually.

As qualitative studies usually aim at the extension of findings rather than generalisation of results (McMillan & Schumacher 2001: 424), the focus will be on increased validity and not on generalisability. In qualitative research, validity is enhanced by clearly and expressly stating all aspects of the research. Henning (2004: 151) suggests that reliability and generalisability are included in the precision

of procedures and documentation. In this study, these concepts were ensured by continually checking the interview questions against the data, by selecting information rich interviewees and by ensuring that all aspects of the research were transparent and clear to all involved.

5.6 Conclusion

This chapter dealt with a detailed description of the study’s research design. The use of a constructivist research paradigm was mentioned and the choice of the semi- structured interview as data collection technique was substantiated. The appropriate and required ethical principles were discussed. The processing of qualitative data, by a system of coding, was mentioned as well as the strategies used to guarantee the trustworthiness of the research. The next chapter presents the findings, that is, the presentation of the participants’ answers and discussions.

Chapter 6

6DATA ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION

“In real estate, the maxim for picking a piece of property is ‘location, location, location’. In elite interviewing, as in social science generally, the maxim for the best way to design and conduct a study is ‘purpose, purpose, purpose’.”

Aberbach and Rockman (2002: 673)

6.1 Introduction

The study wishes to describe the support given by Grade Four teachers to cognitively gifted ESL underachievers. Data analysis started with the commencement of the collection of the data. Qualitative data analysis implies that there were no standardised methods of analysis, but that the interviews with Grade Four teachers were transcribed and interpreted. This chapter therefore allows for themes to emerge from the data collection and for these themes to be discussed. Interviews were used as a data collection method, as these provide in-depth information regarding the teachers’ experiences (Turner 2010: 754). In analysing the data, the researcher specifically looked for a vertical line running through the interviews allowing for valid inferences made from the transcriptions. Certain themes that appear reflect the answers to the semi-structured interview guide’s questions, as well as the conversations surrounding that. Krippendorff (2004: 27) notes that participants are allowed to speak freely in these types of interviews. The researcher then analysed the transcripts of these conversations. According to Krippendorff (2004: 81) data are hence made, and not found.

As indicated in Chapter 5, the following research procedure was followed. Semi- structured interviews were conducted at six primary schools in Pretoria where the LoLT is English, but where the majority of the learner body is not first language English speakers. The researcher interviewed six Grade Four teachers. All interviews took place after school hours so as not to disrupt the duties of the teachers. During these interviews, the teachers’ responses were recorded electronically by using both the ‘Audacity’ software as well as a mobile recorder serving as a back-up device. A researcher needs to create records of “transient phenomena such as spoken words” (Krippendorff 2004: 84). The initial elements

regarding the conducting of the interview, as already discussed, were included. The interviewer attempted a gentle tone so as to put the teachers at ease and started with the less threatening questions, easing into the more challenging interview questions as the interview progressed. As the teachers answered and elaborated, the interviewer was conscious not to allow any judgemental words, gestures or tone of voice to enter the process.

During the individual interviews, the teachers were asked the same pre-formulated questions (see Appendix E) but each interview was allowed to proceed conversationally. The teachers did not consistently answer the exact same questions in the exact same order, as the researcher interchanged the posing of the questions (Turner 2010: 755). Questions could be changed or adapted based on participant responses. It will be evident from the data analysis that each interview has its own coherence although there is a vertical dimension which runs across all six interviews. Certain dimensions were not envisaged and not initially coded but had to be included later on as they appeared regularly (Taylor & Gibbs 2010: onlineqda.hud.ac.uk). Turner (2010: 756) comments that this unfortunately adds to the difficulty surrounding the coding process. To sift through all the narratives is a lengthy and often cumbersome process.