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Observation

Before the observations were carried out, a series of familiarisation visits were made to each centre. These visits offered opportunities for the teachers to ask questions, for the teachers and children to become familiar with my presence while

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giving me an opportunity to gain an understanding of the routines and the learning environment. It also helped to offset the ‘observer effect’ which occurs when those being observed behave differently than how they would normally (Collins, 2006; Denscombe, 2007). The familiarisation visits were carried out over the week immediately before the observations began; this provided continuity for the children and teachers. A series of five two hour observations were conducted in each early childhood centre. The reason for this number of observations was manageability of the data, based on previous experiences of collecting this type of data (Smith, 2008).

Observation is an ideal method for gathering the rich data which was needed in order to build a detailed picture of each setting. The observations focused on the children, the teachers and the learning environment. The observations of the children’s play recorded the collaborative interactions children had with their peers as well as instances of peer tutoring. Rather than focusing on individual children, the observations were based around groups of children. Sociocultural theory informed this practice of observing groups of children so that the dynamics of the learning process can be revealed (Edwards, 2009). A particular focus was on the language the children used and the way that they shared ideas and information with each other; including the peer tutoring strategies children adopted. The observations included informal conversations with some of the children as they played. In talking with the children, the aim was to gain their conception of the teaching and learning process. These conversations provided an insight into how children viewed the collaborative play they were engaged in. The importance of gaining the child’s perspective is supported in the literature by Collins (2006) who views it as a critical part of research with children.

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The role of the teachers in promoting and supporting children’s efforts to collaborate with and tutor their peers was an important focus of the observations. The observations revealed how teachers promoted and supported opportunities for children to work together and how they promoted opportunities for peer tutoring. This included instances where teachers promoted opportunities for children to assist their younger peers or where they modelled specific peer tutoring strategies. The types of questions that the teachers asked the children and the suggestions they made were also noted.

Finally, the observations included notes about the physical environment. This helped to establish which features of the environment consistently supported children to work together collaboratively. The observations highlighted whether some learning areas supported collaborative play more than others. Those learning areas that offered opportunities for collaborative play and numerous problem- solving opportunities for children were sought out for observation opportunities; for example, the sandpit, the carpentry table, the block area, the collage table and the dramatic play area.

As much as possible, the role of the non-participant observer was adopted (Mutch, 2005) so that a true description of the children’s and teacher’s interactions with each other could be established. However, there were some instances where I became involved in the children’s play due to the nature of the setting. In addition there were some instances when I needed to talk with some of the children to gain their perspective about working with their peers. Cohen, Manion and Morrison (2007) support this idea, noting that such immersion facilitates the generation of thick descriptions which lend themselves to a more accurate interpretation of events rather than relying on the researcher’s own inferences. This approach was used where appropriate.

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Interviewing

Interviews were conducted with two teachers at each early childhood centre. The reason for this number of interviews was manageability of the data. Again, this decision was based on previous experiences of collecting this type of data (Smith, 2008). Teachers who were actively involved with the children and who expressed an interest in the study were approached. Permission from the centre supervisors to approach the teachers was obtained. The purpose of the interviews was to explore the teachers’ knowledge of what happens when children work together and to discuss relevant play episodes which were captured in the observations. This is supported by Scott and Usher (1999) who state that interviews are useful for illuminating issues identified in observations. The interviews were semi-structured and were based around open-ended questions. Semi-structured interviews have a series of key questions and these are followed in an open-ended manner (Mutch, 2005). A semi-structured approach allowed flexibility for the participants to provide in-depth responses. The interviews provided the teachers with an opportunity to discuss their knowledge and practices in relation to peer tutoring (See Appendix A for a copy of the interview protocol used).

Research journal

A research journal was kept during the data collection phase. This was used to record reflections on the observations, conversations with the children and the interviews as they took place. The journal provided a further audit trail that documented the critical reflection of the decisions made and the justifications for these; this is termed ‘reflectivity’ in the literature (Mutch, 2005, p. 157). In addition it added to the data gathering process, which in qualitative research aims to provide a rich description of the setting and the participants in that setting.

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Analysis

A number of methods were used to analyse the data. The observations, research journal and the interviews were analysed using ‘constant comparative analysis’ (Mutch, 2005, p. 177). This type of analysis allows the emerging patterns and themes within the data to be identified and explained. This is appropriate in this study, as in analysing case study data the aim is to discover categories, themes and patterns; and these build a picture of what is significant within the setting and help to identify the logical relationships which exist. Different coloured highlighter pens were used to code the data into themes. Once the data was coded, each piece of data was cut up and glued onto sheets of A4 paper. The sheets of paper were organised into themes and sub themes. These patterns can then be used to support specific theoretical principles (Scott & Usher, 1999). The data collected in the observations and interviews was analysed for consistency with the research evidence outlined in the literature review.

Further analysis of the data was undertaken using Rogoff’s (1998) three planes of analysis. These enabled an examination of the children’s learning on different levels. This included a focus on the participation of individual children (the intrapersonal plane), a focus on the interaction between the child and others (the interpersonal plane) and a focus on the surrounding learning environment (the institutional plane). This analysis included the participation of the teachers across the three planes. Edwards (2009) and Robbins (2003) support the use of the planes of analysis as an effective means of capturing the interactions occurring between peers and between teachers and children.

As the research was conducted in two early childhood centres, there was also a comparative analysis across centres. This allowed common patterns to be identified

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and compared. Denscombe (2007) supports these types of comparisons between cases as a means of strengthening the findings.