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This section provides details of research methods, study area, sample selection, data collection methods, techniques, and tools and data analysis procedures. It also presents the research design, ethical considerations and limitations.

1.7.1. THIMPHU, BUMTHANG, SARPANG AND TRASHIGANG

The dissertation covers 119 government schools ranging from primary to higher secondary levels (class pre-primary to Class XII) of Thimphu, Bumthang, Sarpang and Trashigang dzongkhags. These dzongkhags are consciously selected because they are located strategically and cover every region of the country – east, west, north and south. Primary data was collected from a targeted population consisting of planning officers, dzongkhag education officers, head of schools and teachers under the MoE.2

Figure 3 Study Areas

2

Other educational institutions like monastic education, tertiary institutions and vocational training institutes are excluded from the research because they do not fall under the control of MoE. Monastic education is looked after by DratshangLhentshog (Commission for the Monastic Affairs), tertiary institutions and colleges are under the jurisdiction of Royal University of Bhutan and Vocational Training Institutions are under the Ministry of Labour

The time delimitation is from 1980 to 2014 but mainly concentrates on the past decade. The survey and qualitative interviews deal primarily with the present and the focus is on implementation of education policies in recent years.

1.7.2. QUALITATIVE AND QUANTITATIVE METHODOLOGY

This study is based on the integration of qualitative and quantitative methods. Though every method has its own advantages and disadvantages the current study employs a mixed methods approach. The strength of the mixed approach is that one method cannot suffice to get all the information in social sciences research. The approach is expected to maximise the reliability of the results. Teddlie and Tashakkori state that the mixed method “…simultaneously address a range of confirmatory and exploratory questions with both the qualitative and the quantitative approaches, …provides (stronger) inferences, …provides the opportunity for a greater assortment of divergent views” (2009, p.33).

Leech and Onwuegbuzie further categorise mixed method design into three dimensions “(i) level of mixing (partially mixed versus fully); (ii) time orientation (concurrent versus sequential, and (iii) emphasis of approaches (equal status versus dominant status)” (2009, p.268). Level of mixing refers to whether research methods are mixed fully or partially. Time orientation refers to whether the qualitative and quantitative research happened at the same point of time (concurrent) or one after another (sequential). Choice of emphasis of approaches refers to which methods (qualitative or quantitative) are given importance (dominant status) or whether they are accorded the same emphasis (equal status) with reference to research questions (Leech & Onwuegbuzie, 2009). The design ‘partially mixed concurrent dominant status’ benefits this study since collecting of both quantitative and qualitative data are the most important ways to get empirical information.

1.7.3. PARTIALLY MIXED METHOD

The mixed method has great advantages as it has complementary strengths and no overlapping weaknesses. Onwuegbuzie and Johnson note that ‘complementary strengths’ means “...putting together of different approaches, methods, and strategies in multiple and creative ways” (2006, p.52). However, mixed methods has the problem of representation – difficulty in capturing live experience by using words and numbers; legitimation – difficulty in getting credible, trustworthy, dependable, transferable and/or confirmable information3 _{therefore bringing}

together the issues of representation and legitimisation is an integration problem

3

Generally people in Bhutan and especially public employees are not that much open in expression of their views and civil servants are governed by the civil service rules and regulations (see appendix C).

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(Onwuegbuzie & Johnson, 2006). This is why the partially mixed method is complemented with Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) and triangulation in order to overcome the problems of representation and legitimisation.

1.7.4. CRITICAL DISCOURSE ANALYSIS

CDA was applied as a heuristic tool to further support the findings of qualitative and quantitative data. Fairclough states that discourse and “textual analysis is a valuable supplement to social research, not a replacement for other forms of social research and analysis” (2003, p.16). In this research, CDA of texts helped to provide in-depth answers to research findings basically to support the interpretation of primary data.

According to Fairclough CDA “is based upon the assumption that language is an irreducible part of social life, dialectically interconnected with other elements of life; so that social analysis and research always has to take account of language” (2003, p.2). It is suggested that interpretation can be done through the study of language in form of discourse analysis which has been categorized under different terminologies such as text, discourse and language. This research focuses on CDA of text which Fairclough refers to as a “textually oriented discourse analysis” (p.2). Therefore, text analysis is considered one of the important parts of discourse analysis but it is not merely the linguistic analysis of texts. The CDA of text for Fairclough “is concerned with continuity and change at this more abstract, more structural, level, as well as with what happens in particular text” (p.3). Further he explains that “text analysis is seen as not only linguistic analysis; it also includes what I have called ‘interdiscursive analysis’ that is, seeing texts in terms of the different discourse, genres and styles they draw upon and articulate together” (p.3). In a similar manner, the CDA uses linguistic analysis of text in which Fairclough (2003) refers to the broader context of text such as written and printed text like newspaper articles, transcripts conversions and interviews, articles, publications, documents, television programmes and web pages.

According to Fairclough texts have the power to bring changes in society and have ‘causal effects’. This way, “...texts can bring about changes in our knowledge (we can learn things from them), our belief, our attitude, values and so forth” (2003, p.8). Through texts people make their expressions basically to change society. In its most extreme: “Texts can also start wars, or contribute to change in education, or to changes in industrial relations, and so forth” (Fairclough, 2003, p.8). Therefore, texts have casual effects in bringing changes in people’s beliefs, attitude, actions, social relations and the material world. Through texts we can derive rich information which ultimately brings impact to the society.

Generally, contemporary social science concepts are influenced by ‘social constructivism’ which believes that the social world is ‘socially constructed’.

Therefore, it is believed that many social theories are based on social constructivism and the texts (language, discourse) play a vital role in building the social world. There are arguments that social theories are idealist rather than realist. A realist believes that the social world like institutions are realistically constructed but once constructed they are limited to textual (discursive) construction of the social world. Therefore, one must distinguish between the reality of the social world and textual construction (representation or imagination) in which the social world is functioning in particular ways. However, Fairclough states that “...whether our representations or constructs have the effect of changing its construction depends upon various contextual factors – including the way social reality already is, who is constructing it, and so forth”. He concludes that “...a moderate version of the claim that the social word is textually constructed, but not an extreme version” (2003, p.8), which generally accepts that construction of the social world is normally interpreted textually and then derive information from it. The CDA of texts (including policy and planning documents, interviews, newspaper, articles etc) play a critical part in this research in investigating how the education policy is implemented in the schools as well as to analyse how the general policy formulation and planning is carried out.

One of the important elements of the CDA of texts is meaning-making through the published texts and interviews. This contributes to the analysis of the research findings. Fairclough rightly points out that “...a published text can figure in many different processes of meaning-making and contribute to diverse meanings, because it is open to diverse interpretations” (2003, p.11). However, interpretation of the texts can be a complex process as it might contain various aspects and a deeper understanding for words or sentences or understanding what speakers or writers mean is the critical part in the CDA of texts. Following this, the CDA of texts also matter in our judgement and evaluation of texts. Fairclough notes that to derive an understanding through texts means:

Judging whether someone is saying something sincerely or not, or seriously or not; judging whether the claims that are explicitly or implicitly made are true; judging whether people are speaking or writing in ways which accord with the social, institutional etc. relations within which the event takes place, or perhaps in ways which mystify those relations (2003, p.11).

There are also other issues for CDA of texts as some texts demand more interpretation than others. Some texts are easy to interpret and some are difficult but sometimes some texts are reflective and can easily derive meaning and provide reasons for the purpose of writing such texts.

According to Fairclough (2003), text possesses ‘multi-functionality’ characteristics in which they are analysed. Systematic Functional Linguistics claims that normally

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text comprises of ideational, interpersonal and textual functions which represent some aspect of the world such as the physical world, the social world and the mental world. However, people try to understand these three aspects of the world by making meaning from texts or texturing. Fairclough (2003) emphasizes on three major types of text meaning such as ‘action’, ‘representation’ and ‘identification’ which are similar to the functional aspect of text except ‘identification’ is considered as ‘interpersonal’ function. Based on these aspects we can draw the relationship of social events and how they operate in the real world and how they are interpreted in the form of texts. This means that through texts we can derive meaning and perform critical analysis of texts to support findings.

1.7.5. TRIANGULATING EMPIRICAL ANALYSIS

Multiple research methods can be used to cross-examine results within the social sciences. This study emphasizes qualitative and quantitative mixed methods. The study also adds critical discourse analysis of texts to cross examine the findings. Grix simplifies this by posing that “using more than one method in research is sometimes referred to as triangulation” (2004, p.135). This implies using different approaches to study a phenomenon by applying various methods in order to get better results, increase reliability and minimise the chances of biased findings. The process is also “about observing an object of study from different angles” (Grix, 2004, p.136).

According to Yeasmin “triangulation is a process of verification that increases validity by incorporating several view points and methods” (2012, p.156). Jick defines triangulation as “the combination of methodologies in the study of the same phenomenon” (1979, p.602). Yeasmin further refers to triangulation as “the combination of two or more theories, data sources, methods or investigators in one study of a single phenomenon to converge on a single construct, and can be employed in both quantitative (validation) and qualitative (inquiry) studies” (2012, p.156). It is also considered a holistic approach to study phenomena by applying different methods. In the same vein this study also used triangulation to analyse policy implementation in order to confirm the findings given the complexity of the study. Similarly, Jick also suggests that “organizational researchers can improve the accuracy of their judgments by collecting different kinds of data bearing on the same phenomenon” (1979, p.602). The triangulation method was also found to be effective to cross validate the data collected in this thesis and also to examine the research problem from different dimensions. Furthermore, the triangulation method not only uncovered multiple perspectives but also enriched our understanding by allowing for new or deeper dimensions to emerge. Therefore, triangulation methods served as a complementary and supplementary tool to the mixed method and CDA. This study used data sources from planning and policy documents as well as published books, articles, newspapers and so on to validate and supplement

findings. Documents were analysed based on the CDA of texts as explained in 1.7.4 of this chapter.

According to Yeasmin (2012, p.157) there are four forms of triangulation:

(i) Data triangulation – retrieve data from a number of different sources to

form one body of data.

(ii) Investigator triangulation – using multiple observers instead of a single

observer in the form of gathering and interpreting data.

(iii) Theoretical triangulation – using more than theoretical positions in

interpreting data.

(iv) Methodological triangulation – using more than one research method or

data collection technique.

This research used the fourth type of triangulation method, that is, ‘methodological triangulation’ since it employed more than one research method or data collection technique as described elsewhere in this chapter.