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CHAPTER 4 : DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS
INTRODUCTION
In Chapters 1 and 2, the main critical research questions were posed and an extensive literature review was conducted to provide background on the status of environmental education and curriculum policy. Chapter 3 elaborated on the choice of the cognitive framework that explains teachers’ sense-making of the implementation process. It suffices to reiterate that this study is located in the field of educational policy implementation, and that its overall aim is to understand how Natural Science teachers implement the curriculum policy on environmental education within the Natural Science learning area. This study is limited to Grade 9 teachers in the General Education and Training band of the South African education system. To gather more information on the broader research question, during data collection on the implementation of environmental education in school within the Natural Science subject in the General Education and Training band, the following research questions were explored:
Research Question 1: What policies stipulate the provision of environmental education in South African schools in the General Education and Training band?
Research Question 2: How do Natural Science teachers understand and respond to the policy regarding the implementation of environmental education in the classroom?
Research Question 3: What influences Natural Science teachers’ understanding of curriculum policy implementation?
In this chapter, the data collection tools or techniques that were used during the empirical investigation and the procedure followed are explained. Issues related to the implementation of environmental education as a cross-curricula component within the Natural Science and which are central to the research are explored. The objective of this exploration is to develop an understanding of what influences teachers’ sense-making of the curriculum, so as to make recommendations that will assist in addressing those influences to ensure successful policy implementation in schools.
In order to get in-depth information on what influences teachers’ interpretation of and response to curriculum policy implementation, Grade 9 Natural Science teachers were sampled from a population of public secondary schools in the Capricorn District of the Limpopo Province. Maree (2008:79) characterises sampling as the process used to select a portion of the population for study. Qualitative research is generally based on non-probability and purposive sampling, rather than probability or random sampling approaches. He further indicates that purposive sampling simply means that participants are selected because of some defining characteristic that makes them suitable for the explicit purpose of obtaining the richest possible information to answer the research questions.
In the case of this study, the Capricorn District of the Limpopo Province was selected for its proximity and accessibility to the researcher. Grade 9 Natural Science teachers were sampled from three schools in the district, for the purpose of representation in the study. The choice of Natural Science is motivated by the fact that this subject promotes scientific literacy by focusing on the development and application of scientific knowledge and understanding. It also does so by an appreciation of the relationship and shared responsibilities between science and society on issues pertaining to the environment (DoE 2002:104).
The selection of the sampled schools aimed at ensuring a workable size for data collection. This workable sample size provides enough scope to collect rich data that would otherwise not have been easily collected. Sampling in qualitative research is flexible and often continues until no new themes emerge from the data collection process; this is called data saturation (Maree 2008:79). For the purposes of this study, stratified purposive sampling was used. This means that the participants were selected according to preselected criteria that were relevant to a particular research question. The sample, in the case of this study, comprised Grade 9 teachers who teach Natural Science in the Capricorn District of the Limpopo Province. Due to time constraints, the study only involved five educators from the three secondary schools in the Capricorn District of the Limpopo Province.
During the process of data collection, the researcher remained the main data collection instrument. For the purposes of credibility and trustworthiness, the researcher used interviews and classroom observations to gather information from the sampled teachers. The data collected through the use of the above-mentioned instruments were validated by means of official, documented information from the Department of Education.
Maree (2008:80) emphasises the importance of the reliability of research instruments and the validity of the data collected in quantitative research, where the researcher is also regarded as a data gathering instrument. When qualitative researchers speak of research “validity and reliability”, they are actually referring to the credibility and trustworthiness of the research. Lincoln and Guba (1985:316) contend that “since there can be no validity without reliability, a demonstration of the former (validity) is sufficient to establish the latter (reliability)”. Thus, to ensure the validity of its findings, this study adopted a multiple-methods approach to data collection by combining interviews, observations, and document analyses.
All these data collection techniques were used to enhance the trustworthiness of the findings, and for the purposes of crystallisation. The latter, in most qualitative research studies, implies research that seeks to gain a deeper understanding of a phenomenon, instead of causal relationships. Maree (2008:81) notes that crystallisation emerges from the use of various data gathering and data analysis techniques, and represents the researcher’s own reinterpreted understanding of the phenomenon. As such, what is presented as the findings of the study is the understanding that crystallises from the data.
DATA COLLECTION PROCESS
This section describes the procedure followed in collecting data. It also explains, in detail, how the data collection techniques were applied in this study.
An interview protocol was developed. After the development and testing of an interview instrument, schools from which the data was going to be collected were identified in the Capricorn District of the Limpopo Province. Interview testing was done to establish whether the instrument would be effective in gathering relevant data and to determine the time that it would take to complete each interview. Teachers were identified from the different schools in the district to pilot the instrument. All the identified teachers had a similar understanding of the questions and were able to respond to them without any problems. None of the teachers showed any sign of being uncomfortable when responding to the interview questions. This phase was then followed by the actual data collection processes and stages. The researcher contacted the principals of the relevant schools to make appointments, and wrote a letter to request permission from the Limpopo Department of Education to collect data from the identified schools situated in the Capricorn District.
The researcher started visiting the identified schools, according to the timetable, on different days of the week. Some slots were used for interviews with the teachers, whereas others were devoted to lesson observations. On the first day, the researcher arrived on time and was introduced to the Grade 9 Natural Sciences teachers and their classes. The researcher encouraged them to feel free and teach the same way they usually do, that is to forget about the presence of the researcher and avoid trying to impress her. This was to prevent giving the researcher a skewed view of how they respond to the new curriculum policy. Indeed, when teachers display their normal behaviour, the researcher is able to get the correct view of what influences teachers’ sense-making of the policy. All the teachers were interviewed individually, and 12 classroom observations were conducted. The researcher clearly indicated to the teachers that both the interviews and observations would only be used for academic purposes, and that their names would not be mentioned as they would be referred to only as “the sample”.
However, some challenges were encountered during the process. Some teachers could not fully participate in the study because they were not comfortable with the idea of being interviewed or observed during their lessons. In one school, a teacher indicated that she would rather be interviewed than observed because she was unsure if the way she teaches learners is consistent with how she is expected to teach. Another teacher, in another school, felt that it was better for her to be observed than to be voice-recorded talking about things she is not sure of.
The availability of infrastructure also posed a challenge, particularly the space to conduct interviews with teachers. In some schools, the researcher had to interview teachers in the presence of other teachers, in a classroom converted into a staffroom. In many of these cases, teachers were not free to speak loudly because they did not want to disturb others. Conversely, other schools had sufficient space for the researcher to interview teachers in their own classrooms; hence the interviews were conducted freely.
In schools in urban areas, the classes have no more than 30 learners. In these schools, the learners move from one class to the next; while, in rural area schools, teachers are the ones who move from one classroom to the next. Consequently, the interviews took place in different environments. Although the challenges faced varied from school to school and between rural and urban schools, the common denominator between all schools was the passionate way in which the teachers responded to the questions about how they interpret and respond to curriculum policy implementation. All the teachers who were interviewed were free to talk and explained how and what influences the way in which they make sense of and respond to the policy. The following section provides a thorough discussion of how the phases of the data collection unfolded.
Phases of Data Collection during the Investigation
The phases of qualitative data collection and analyses are interactive research processes that overlap. This means that these two processes happened at the same time, even though a more detailed analysis of data was subsequently done. The following research phases illustrate the interactive processes of data collection, recording, analysis, and preliminary interpretations during the data collection period (McMillan & Schumacher 1997:104).
Phase 1: Planning
The researcher began by analysing the problem statement and the guiding research questions, which focused the data collection efforts. This is the stage at which the researcher described the site, and decided on the type of interviewee or documents that would generate information about the topic. Subsequently, the researcher applied for permission to collect data from the relevant schools by approaching the Limpopo Department of Education. The permission was granted; the issued document stipulated all the rules to be adhered to and conditions to be fulfilled by the researcher. The three secondary schools were then identified as the main sites for data collection, with their Grade 9 Natural Science teachers as the subjects.
Phase 2: Beginning data collection
It is at this stage that appointments to meet with teachers at their schools were made. The researcher had to ask for permission from the school to collect data. Consequently, she made appointments with the different school principals to meet with the Grade 9 Natural Science teachers. Once the request was granted by the school principals, the introductions and scheduling of both observations and interviews with the selected teachers were done.
DECLARATION
DEDICATION
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
ABSTRACT
LIST OF ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS
TABLE OF CONTENTS
LIST OF TABLES
Chapter 1 : BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
1.1 INTRODUCTION AND RATIONALE FOR THE STUDY
1.2 THE PURPOSE OF THE STUDY.
1.3 FORMULATION OF THE PROBLEM.
1.4 RESEARCH QUESTIONS
1.5 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY.
1.6 LITERATURE REVIEW
1.7 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
1.8 RESEARCH DESIGN
1.9 RESEARCH APPROACH
1.10 DATA COLLECTION TECHNIQUES
1.11 DATA ANALYSIS
1.12 ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS
1.13 DEFINITION OF TERMS
1.14 PROGRAMME OF THE STUDY
Chapter 2 : LITERATURE REVIEW.
2.1 INTRODUCTION
2.2 ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION DEVELOPMENTS IN SOUTH AFRICA
2.3 TEACHERS’ RESPONSE TO AND SENSE-MAKING OF THE CURRICULUM POLICY
2.4 CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK
2.5 CONCLUDING REMARKS
Chapter 3 : RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
3.1 INTRODUCTION
3.2 RESEARCH DESIGN
3.3 THE ROLE OF THE RESEARCHER
3.4 RESEARCH APPROACH
3.5 DATA COLLECTION
3.6 THE RATIONALE FOR THE SELECTION OF THE QUALITATIVE DATA COLLECTION TECHNIQUES
3.7 THE RATIONALE FOR CONDUCTING THE EMPIRICAL INVESTIGATION69
3.8 VALIDITY AND RELIABILITY OF DATA COLLECTED
3.9 CONCLUDING REMARKS
Chapter 4 : DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS
4.1 INTRODUCTION
4.2 DATA COLLECTION PROCESS
4.3 RATIONALE
4.4 DATA ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION
4.5 RESEARCH FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION
4.6 CONCLUDING REMARKS
Chapter 5 : IMPLICATIONS, RECOMMENDATIONS AND CONCLUSION.
5.1 INTRODUCTION
5.2 EDUCATIONAL IMPLICATIONS OF THE STUDY
5.3 RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE STUDY.
5.4 CONCLUSION.
6. LIST OF REFERENCES.
7. APPENDICES
TGET THE COMPLETE PROJECT
CURRICULUM POLICY IMPLEMENTATION IN THE SOUTH AFRICAN CONTEXT, WITH REFERENCE TO ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION WITHIN THE NATURAL SCIENCES
