A qualitative, case study research design was employed to investigate a single case of a school-based mentoring program in a secondary school in Indonesia. This design was appropriate to gathering comprehensive information from the mentors and mentees, examining the impact of the program on novice teachers’ professionalism and the factors facilitating or interfering with successful mentoring impacts. Multiple data sources – interviews, focus group discussions and document reviews – were used to triangulate the data evidence and to strengthen the validity of the study findings and conclusions.
4.2.1 Case study
A case study method was selected to investigate a single case of mentoring program in a secondary school in Indonesia. This method is helpful to investigate the uniqueness and complexity of a single case (Stake, 1995). Using this method, the researcher obtained deeper understanding of the nature of a mentoring program in a specific school in Indonesia. Also, by using the case study method, it is possible for the researcher to collect data on only one specific phenomenon in depth (Swanborn, 2010), within a short period of time (Hamilton & Corbett-Whittier, 2012). So, as persuasively argued by Yin (2009), “the single case can represent a significant contribution to knowledge and theory building” (p. 47). Therefore, just one instance of mentoring program was deeply explored. The lessons learned from this single mentoring case are beneficial, as it uncovers the critical experiences of the teachers as they go through educational innovation. The insights gathered represent new practical and theoretical knowledge that can be used to improve educational practices in schools.
Case study is an empirical research method that is useful for examining a specific case in depth in real-life situations. Creswell (2013) defined case study research as “a qualitative approach in which the investigator explores a real-life, contemporary bounded system (a case) or multiple bounded systems (cases) over time, through detailed, in-depth data collection involving multiple sources of information (e.g., observations, interviews, documents and reports) and reports a case description and case themes” (p. 97). In addition, Yin (2009) identified case study as “an empirical inquiry that investigates a contemporary phenomenon in depth and within its real-life context, especially when the boundaries between phenomenon and context are not clearly evident” (p. 18). From these definitions, it appears that case study is a research method that allows the researcher not only to explore and investigate a complex social issue within its realistic context, as single or multiple bounded cases, but also to conduct a study in specific time periods with multiple data collection methods.
This method is widely employed in investigating social science and educational research (Merriam, 2009; Simons 2009; Stake, 1995; Swanborn, 2010; Yin, 2009) and was recognised in educational studies throughout the 1970s and 1980s, especially in the UK and North America (Hamilton & Corbett-Whittier, 2012). Since then, this approach has become one of the most popular approaches in qualitative research (Check & Schutt, 2011; Cohen, Manion, & Morrison, 2013) and has emerged as a standard strategy to investigate deep and complex issues of educational organisation and community, educational innovations and school systems (Check & Schutt, 2011; Merriam, 2009). Therefore, the case study method is suitable in examining in-depth and complex issues of mentoring as one of the educational strategies for developing novice teachers’ professionalism.
One of the prominent strengths of a case study is its practicality, as it employs various sources of data evidence (e.g., interviews, observations, reflective journal) (Swanborn, 2010; Yin, 2009) to triangulate data, which strengthens the validity of the data findings and conclusions (Denzin & Lincoln, 2011; Hamilton & Corbett-Whittier, 2012; Yin, 2009). However, case study has some weaknesses, such as selection bias (Denzin & Lincoln, 2011) and potentially poor basis for generation (Merriam, 2009; Stake, 1995; Yin, 2009). Despite its shortcomings, the method provides a significant contribution to
social studies. As indicated by Yin (2009), the case study is beneficial “to expand and generalize theories (analytic generalization), and not to enumerate frequencies (statistical generalization)” (p. 14). Used thoughtfully, a case study can provide new opportunities to modify generalisations (Stake, 1995), because of the details that are available.
Case study is the best method to answer research questions in this study because, as argued strongly in the literature, this method is the most-flexible method to investigate a case in a bounded system (Creswell, 2013; Hamilton & Corbett-Whittier, 2012; Hesse- Biber & Leavy, 2011; Merriam, 2009; Merriam & Tisdell, 2016; Stake, 1995) and to probe people’s life experiences as an emergent theory (Compton-Lilly, 2013; Hartley, 2004; King, 2004). By using this method, the researcher is able to gain in-depth understanding of a mentoring case and to observe the teachers’ emergent experiences in the mentoring program. Specifically, this method is more adjustable to obtain more- specific and comprehensive information and depth of analysis of the case, including the details of various realities happening in the site (Check & Schutt, 2011; Denzin & Lincoln, 2011; Hamilton & Corbett-Whittier, 2012; Lincoln & Guba, 1985; Merriam, 2009; Stake, 1995). By employing this method, the researcher is able to identify diverse teachers’ perspectives and interpretations about the impact of the mentoring program on novice teachers’ professionalism and some factors that influenced its success.
4.2.2 Qualitative research
This study used a qualitative approach to gain an in-depth understanding of the issues of the mentoring implementation in the Indonesian cultural context. This approach is appropriate to gain some meaningful evidences that provide comprehensive and detailed descriptions about the consequences of the phenomenon under study (Gillham, 2010; Liamputtong & Ezzy, 2005). It is also suitable for collecting rich data over a period of time on a specific phenomenon within a natural setting to interpret how people manage their behaviour and makes sense of their life experiences. Qualitative research helps to understand how social and contextual values shape participant behaviour and life experiences (Check & Schutt, 2011; Corbin & Strauss, 2008; Creswell, 2013; Hartley, 2004; Liamputtong & Ezzy, 2005; Merriam, 2009). Using qualitative inquiry, the researcher could gather data that enabled understanding about mentoring issues and identify some information about the meaning of mentoring experience for the teacher.
As argued by some scholars, this form of research inquiry is the most-suitable method for collecting and analysing data that deals with the complexity of situations in social or human behaviour and activities (Creswell, 2013; Liamputtong & Ezzy, 2005; Merriam, 2009) and are contained within participants’ verbal and non-verbal cues (Lincoln & Guba, 1985). In this way, the researcher collected data by using an exploratory research question about what the teachers think about their mentoring practices and how they interpret their behaviour, and what were the reasons behind their behaviour within their educational context. The researcher also observed the teachers’ verbal and non-verbal cues to understand their mentoring issues.
Qualitative research inquiry has become increasingly popular in the social and educational study field since the 1960s (Merriam, 2009). This form of inquiry has many strengths. Using this method, multiple data collection methods – such as interviews, observations and document reviews – could be employed and inductive and constant comparative analysis undertaken to create a comprehensive, interpretive and richly informative picture of the findings of the study (Check & Schutt, 2011; Cohen et al., 2013; Creswell, 2013; Lincoln & Guba, 1985; Merriam, 2009). However, this inquiry also has some limitations. The researcher’s interpretation and analysis skills greatly determine the success of the study. According to some scholars (Check & Schutt, 2011; Creswell, 2013; Stake, 1995), qualitative inquiry is heavily dependent on the researcher’s subjectivity as a key instrument of research. In this case, the researcher’s reflexivity is an essential factor in understanding the context and phenomenon of the study and to keep track of people’s actions and reactions to the educational situation (Check & Schutt, 2011; Creswell, 2013; Stake, 1995). When the researcher has a good ability to interpret phenomena and analyse human behaviour, he/she can strengthen the validity of data findings and avoid bias in it.
Consequently, the qualitative form of inquiry is the best option for this study. This inquiry is amendable to cope with numerous participants’ life experiences and more sensitive to the many interrelated influences impacting on the values embedded in the context, which is more difficult to evaluate using statistical methodology (Denzin & Lincoln, 2011; Liamputtong & Ezzy, 2005; Lincoln & Guba, 1985). The method made it possible to gather evidence about the impact of mentoring and the factors that contribute to the success or failure of mentoring practices in the school.