Estructura Administrativa y Organizacional

3.7.1 Ethical Issues Relating to Pupils

As pupils were participants in the study, sensitive ethical issues needed to be considered. Written

permission to conduct the study was sought from the line managers as well as headteachers from

secondary schools. A cover letter about the research was sent to both teachers and pupils in advance to

provide a brief introduction of the aims and conduct of the research as well as an assurance of

confidentiality and anonymity (Cohen, Manion and Morrison, 2011) (See Appendix 7). The pupils‘

parents were also informed so that they had the opportunity to enquire further or withdraw their children

if they had concerns. All participants were informed that participation in the study was entirely voluntary

and they were assured that they may opt out at any time. In addition, any findings that might be traced

3.7.2 Researcher’s Involvement

The researcher‘s involvement in the research process, particularly in the qualitative research, cannot be ignored or excluded. In the quantitative part of this study, although the Likert scale instrument was used

to collect views and attitudes, when administring the survey in a paper-and-pencil format in the classroom,

the presence of the researcher and Mandarin teacher might, to some extent, affect respondents‘

interpretation of survey statements (Webster, 1997). Under classroom circumstances, some pupils may

have felt obligated to complete the survey, and probably tended to choose the answers that the researcher

expected. Some pupils may have had concerns about the understanding of the survey statements, and

turned to their teacher or the researcher for help. The researcher or teachers‘ explanation or interpretation

might have had some impacts on pupils‘ responses as well. Nevertheless, I would argue that such

sensibility in the process of survey administration cannot be eliminated completely, the only thing that

can be done, for the researcher and the research assistant (i.e. the Mandarin teacher in this case), is to be

fully aware of the classroom situation to create a relatively stress-free environment for pupils.

Furthermore, when answering questions about survey items, both the researcher and the teacher need to

provide similar meanings without adding personal views.

When it comes to the qualitative part of the study, the researcher‘s role is even more essential. Lichtman (2013) indicates that ―the researcher is the primary instrument of data collection and analysis‖ in

qualitative research, as ―all the information is filtered through the researcher‘s eyes and ears and is influenced by his or her experience, knowledge, skill and background‖ (p.21). In that sense, the

subjectivity of the researcher can be seen throughout all the qualitative research process, from the data

collection, which is the semi-structured interview in this case, to the audio transcription, and data analysis.

such as well-established interview guidelines and the triangulation of other sources, such as classroom

observation, all of which have been done in this study, the nature of the subjectivity and flexibility of

qualitative study cannot not be denied. After all, based on the interpretivist paradigm, the understanding

and interpretation of the world is closely linked to our personal knowledge, as it is we who try to

understand ourselves, others and the world (Hartas, 2010). As Lichtman (2013) emphasises, ―The researcher shapes the research and, in fact, is shaped by the research‖ (p. 164). Hence, the researcher‘s involvement in the qualitative part should be appreciated, as it is the researcher, who makes the research

data more meaningful, based on their own ways of organizing and integrating the data.

3.7.3 Issues of Transcription

The audio clips recorded during the interviews were transcribed by the researcher via Nvivo 10. McLellan

et al. (2003) stresses that ―a researcher must make choices regarding whether a textual document should include nonlinguistic observations (facial expressions, body language, setting descriptions, etc.); be

transcribed verbatim; and identify specific speech patterns, vernacular expressions, intonations, or

emotions‖ (p.66). In this study, given the sensitivity of personal views and attitudes, it was decided that the focus of transcribing would be only the linguistic aspects of the dialogues, to avoid any additional

interpretation by the researcher herself. In terms of transcribing the verbal sound into written words, it

was attempted to leave the features of individual speeches as they were, such as the pause, overlapping

words and incomplete sentences. In that sense, the naturalness of the conversation in the interview would

be preserved to some extent (McLellan et al, 2003).

Another issue is about the languages used in the transcripts. The principle applied was to transcribe in the

researcher‘s second language, transcribing the English interview recordings turned out to be more challenging and time-consuming for English non-native speakers, especially with some background

noises in the recordings. Audio recordings were played backward and forward many times, in order to get

a word or sentence transcribed correctly. Nevertheless, there might still have been some errors during the

transcribing, and I turned to an English native speaker for help with the proofreading. Confidentiality was

assumed for the process of transcribing and proofreading, all the transcripts were labelled, pseudonyms

were used, and any information that could be traced to the respondents and schools was avoided.