Nosotros los adultos no nos responsabilizamos en transmitir nuestra lengua y

Research was conducted following Ethical Guidelines for Educational Research (2011) provided by the British Educational Research Association (BERA). This provides for the protection of participants and practitioners in educational research. Before the start of data gathering I obtained written informed consent from the Director of Sixth Form where the research was conducted. Access was not a problem as I was teaching at the school where the research was conducted. Participants completing the pilot study and questionnaires were asked to read and complete a written consent form. This was always separate from the completed questionnaires to maintain confidentiality and anonymity. Participants in the semi-structures interviews and focus groups completed informed consent forms, after a detailed explanation of ethical issues including confidentiality and the

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right to withdraw. It was decided not to obtain written parental consent as all participants were aged between 16 and 19 years of age as the Director of Sixth Form provided consent as gatekeeper for the learners in the sixth form. (Note: some of the participants lived independently, not with parents or other family members).

Research was conducted in classrooms and the common room used by the students when not in lessons, this was done to increase familiarity with

surroundings and to reduce possible distress or anxiety of participants. Briefing and debriefing were used to ensure participants understood the nature of the research and were happy to continue with the research and to enable any questions to be asked that might have arisen as a result of participation.

The researcher relationship was important in terms of access, power, deception, confidentiality and so forth. It was recognised that interviews involving the dialogue between researcher and participants drew on their own social backgrounds and personalities. Although objectivity cannot be completely

achieved, openness and disclosure would help reduce subjectivity and elements of bias. There will always be an element of power in the relationship between

researcher and participant especially when that relationship is also teacher- student, however, the power element, openness, disclosure and reliability were addressed by enabling the participants to read through interview transcripts and make recommendations for amendments, if necessary, and reminding the participants of their right to withdraw.

Ethical issues including confidentiality and anonymity were maintained throughout. Responsibility for the research process and respect for participants was essential. Accuracy and honesty in the interview transcripts, questionnaire responses and data analysis were maintained. Any information gathered, whether personal disclosures or those relating to the interviews and questionnaire were kept safely and not left in classrooms. Information was retained at my own home to prevent access. Dissemination of findings would not be shared with the school where the research was conducted until such time that any future reader may show further interest after completion and publication of the final thesis. (Addendum: I am grateful for the guidance provided of the Human Research

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Ethics Committee in helping me correctly address issues relating to consent forms and information sheets).

Chapter summary

This chapter focuses on the research methodology providing the rationale and justification for the methods selected and the way in which they were used (Stierer and Antoniou, 2000).

It takes into consideration concepts of epistemology and ontology, the two main paradigms of positivism and interpretivism and the arguments for and against the use of quantitative and qualitative methods (Creswell, 1989; Gadamer, 2004; Hammersley, 2008). There is also brief mention of realism as a third paradigm used to explain underlying, unobservable structures and mechanisms (Bhasker 1978; Baert, 1998).

The shift in recent educational research has focused on combining quantitative and qualitative methods that can jointly contribute to inquiry findings through examination, explanation, confirming, refuting and/or enriching information from one approach to another (Creswell, 2003; Kanbur, 2005; Torres,2006). Ivankova et al. (2006) provide a model of mixed methods sequential explanatory design to give a better understanding of the research problem and questions. This was modified and used within the current research to gather and integrate findings from both quantitative and qualitative data.

The chapter continues with an explanation of the use of purposeful sampling and the research participants selected. Pilot studies were conducted using

questionnaires, meta-planning/focus groups and interviews. The feedback from the pilot studies helped identify flaws and ambiguities in the design that could be addressed before the main research was conducted. The earlier use of a literature review and the feedback from the pilot studies lead to a review of the original research questions.

The chapter further reflects on methods of gathering and analysing quantitative and qualitative data and integrating the findings to enable interpretation and

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exploration of findings, to discuss the implications of the research, to see whether the findings, albeit in a very small way, increased knowledge and fill some of the gaps in the literature relating to transitional difficulties in post-16 education when moving from GCSE to A Level studies and to identify possible areas for further research.

The chapter concludes with comments on ethical issues, obtaining consent and access for the research to be undertaken and the needs to conduct research with respect and diligence following Ethical Guidelines for Educational Research (2011) provided by the British Educational Research Association (BERA).It was also identified that although objectivity cannot be completely achieved, openness and disclosure would help reduce subjectivity and elements of bias within the research undertaken.

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Chapter 4 – Results

Introduction

The previous chapter focuses on the research methodology which frames this research within a small-scale exploratory case study drawing on the principles of grounded theory and critical realism. It explains data gathering and analysis using a mixed-methods approach to integrate quantitative and qualitative data and to enable interpretation and exploration of findings.

This chapter will focus on the results of data gathered using a mixed-methods sequential exploratory design (adapted from Ivankova et al. 2006) with consecutive phases to gain a better understanding of the research problem or questions raised. As proposed by Creswell et al. (2003) the quantitative phase was undertaken first followed by the qualitative phase, where the quantitative data and analysis provide a general understanding of the research problem which can then be refined by exploring participants’ views in more depth within the qualitative phase. Results of both quantitative and qualitative data were integrated and will be considered further in the discussion section that follows this chapter. Results with focus on: