Disciplina de Implementación

Choosing in-depth interviews

Interviews can be used to understand an individual perspective (Fontana and Frey,

1994). They allow investigation and prompting of matters which cannot be observed

(Wellington,2000).In thisresearch,Iwanted to probeparents’definitionsofquality preschool education which were about personal values which could not be observed.

Interviews also allow reflection on the complexity of social behaviour and attempt to

explain the‘causes’(Silverman,2001).Ithelpsusto understand theinfluenceson parental choice of preschools and the development of their criteria. In-depth

interviews were conducted with parents to explore their expectations of preschool

clear list of issues to be addressed and questions to be answered which were

developed from theparents’diariesand werealso based on theliteraturereview (see previous chapter). On the other hand, I wished the participants to develop their own

ideas and respond more widely to my questions. Using focused but semi-structured

interviews allowed me to probe a participant’s thoughts, values, prejudices, perceptions, views, feelings and perspectives (Wellington, 2000), to encapsulate the

participants’ interest (Denscombe, 2003), and to collect rich and detailed data (Bryman, 2004).

Two phases of interviews were adopted to encompass the development of decision

making and action.Thefirstphasefocused on theparents’expectation ofpreschool quality and the second on their satisfaction with preschool provision. Each interview

had an individual interview guide. The first phase of interviews was conducted at the

beginning ofthechild’sfirstschoolsemester.Interview questionswerebased on the information given in the diaries completed during the selection process and

investigated theparents’perspectivesofpreschoolquality aswellasthe processof choice. This enabled me to deal with their different viewpoints whilst at the same

time relating these to the conceptual framework of the research. Interviewing parents

provided a platform for them to express themselves (Wellington, 2000) and gave me

insight into how the parents identify the issues of preschool quality (Bryman, 2004).

It also helped me to gain a deeper understanding of the values and beliefs influencing

their choices. Moreover, from the different interviews, I could assess the relevance of

parental perspectives to the broader question of choice. The first phase of interviews

sought to explore research questions one to three:

 Whatareparents’criteria forchoosing apreschool?  What are the influences on the choice process?

The second phase of interviews, which were developed from the first interviews,

sought to explore the research question:

 To what extent, are they satisfied with their choice and have their expectations been met?

The development of interview guides

The interview guides in this research referred back to the diaries. The interview

questions were based on the information given in the diaries and on theories of

preschool quality from the literature. In the literature review chapter, the definition of

quality in preschools has been discussed. The quality of preschools can be defined

from the process and structural features of preschools. Quality is measured in terms of

physical environment, quality of teachers and the curriculum of preschools.

Consequently, the interview questions contained these areas. In addition, the internal

and external social influences on their choice also had to be included. The interview

questions covered a range of issues including: parents’ expectation of preschool education, parents’ criteria for choosing preschools, internal and external social influences on their choices, and the influences of preschool policy. Figure 3.2 shows

Parental perspectives of children’s experience

Preschool policy

Preschool provision

Parental criteria of choice

Parental expectation of preschool education

Social influence on parental choices Parental satisfaction

with their choices

Figure 3.2: The relationship between theory and problem

First interview:

Second interview:

Parental choice through the market

How does it relate to the definition of quality preschool from the Western research?

Rubin and Rubin (1995) suggest that a good interview is built up from three types of

questions. First of all, the main questions create scaffolding for the interview and keep

all questions linked to the topic. Secondly, asking probing questions clarifies and

completestheanswers.Ithelpsto show theinterviewer’sinterestin theinterviewee’s responses. The third type of question is that which elaborates the context of the

answers and explores the implications of what has been said. The interview questions

in this research involved all three types of questions. The first phase of interviews

involved six main questions and the second phase of interviews had five main

questions. Every parent had different probing and follow-up questions which

depended on their responses during the interviews.

- the first phase of interview questions

The first phase of interviews focused on six main questions which were related to the

research questions (see Table 3.2). Each question had sub-questions specific to the

interviewee’sdiary entries,theirresponsesto otherinterview questionsand to the literature. The first area of question was “Why do you send your child to a preschool?”Thepurposeofthisquestion wasto probeparticipants’aimsin wanting theirchild to haveapreschooleducation.Thesecond question was“Whatdo you think your child needs to learn in a preschool?” This was to interrogate parents’ expectations of preschool education.

To understand parents’perspectivesofquality of preschools was a key purpose of this research. I wanted to find out whether parents had different concepts for quality

preschools from the views of early childhood experts and whether different parents

“When you chosea preschoolwhatwereyourconcernsforagood preschool?”This question wasdesigned to probeparents’criteriaforchoosing preschools.Defining the quality of preschools could consider the structural and process features of preschools

so Iwenton to ask parents’opinionsabouttheirpreferencesforpreschoolcurricula, teachersand thephysicalenvironment.In orderto discoverparents’prioritiesin their criteria, the fourth interview question was “Why did you choose this particular preschoolforyourchild”.

Table 3.2 The development of interview questions for the first phases of interviews

Research questions Focused areas of questions

Why do you send your child to a preschool? Whataretheparents’

expectations of preschool education?

What do you think your child needs to learn in a preschool?

When you chose a preschool what were you concerns for a good preschool?

Whatareparents’ criteria for choosing a

preschool? Why did you choose a particular preschool for your child?

How did you get the information about the preschools you were visiting or considering choosing?

What are the influences on the choice process?

Can you talk about preschool policies such as educational vouchers, registered regulation for

preschools and national evaluation, and the influences of these policies on your choices?

Another purpose of the first phase of interviews was to investigate the influence on

parents’choices.Isoughtto explorenotonly theinfluence of their social networks butalso theinfluence ofpreschoolpolicieson theirchoices.Iasked “how did you get theinformation aboutthosepreschoolsyou werevisiting orconsidering choosing” and I particularly questioned their understanding of the early childhood educational

because those policies influence the quality of preschools in Taiwan.

Every individual parent had different sub-questions which depended on their diary

entries.Forexample,from Chen’sdiary,shementioned thatonepublicpreschoolwas recommended by her parents-in-law so I asked about the part her parents-in-law

played in her choice of a preschool. Ye only recorded one preschool in her diary so I

wanted to find out why she only visited one preschool and felt confident in choosing

it.During Jun’sinterview,shementioned severaltimesthatEnglish teaching wasa main criterion in choosing a preschool; thus, the interview question for her had to

involve “why learning English isimportantin preschoolstage”.Forthefiveparents who had not completed diaries, the interview questions were based on the literature,

research questions and their responses during the interviews.

- the second phase of interview questions

The issues raised by parents in the first phase of interviews were the reference points

in planning research guides for the second phase of interviews. The second phase of

interviews was conducted after children had had nearly one year in preschool, and

investigated the parents’ satisfaction with their choices. The interview questions focused on their satisfaction with their relationship with the teachers, the interaction

between teachers and children, the changes in their children, the curriculum and the

physicalenvironment.Thisenabled meto probe any changein participants’criteria forschools’quality and possiblecausesforthosechangesto be noted.In addition,the influences on their satisfaction also had to be considered in order to probe the linkage

between the micro level values of individual parents and macro level values of the

Theinterviewsstarted from thequestion ofchildren’sexperienceofpreschoollife. The rationale was that parents might feel more comfortable talking about their

children’s experience rather than the preschool provision. During the process of interviews, parents enjoyed talking about their children’s experience and shared information with me very frankly. Five main questions were the focus of the second

phase of interviews.

 Can you tellmeaboutyourchild’sexperiencein thepreschool?

 How has your child changed / improved since she / he began attending this preschool?

 Can you tell me about the physical environment / teachers / curriculum in the preschool?

 Have you ever thought of moving your child to another preschool? Why?

 What are your suggestions when your friends look for a preschool for their children?

Sub-questions were based on the findings from the first phase of interviews. For

example, after a few weeks schooling, Ming and Ping stopped sending their children

to the school they had first chosen. The interview questions had to discover whether

their children had continued in preschool education and whether they had returned to

the same schools or gone elsewhere. Therefore, the main interview questions for