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In conducting the interviews, many procedures have been applied to promote the trustworthiness of its findings. The interview questions were piloted before conducting the actual interviews. All the questions and their length were tested by conducting three interviews with three of the targeted participants, before deciding on the final format in order to be sure that they were clear enough and covered all relevant aspects of the research topic.

In addition, piloting the interviews offered the opportunity to ensure the avoidance of leading questions, which can cause researcher bias. One of the headmasters, teachers and students were used to pilot the interviews. Based on their suggestions, some questions were re-drafted

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(Gillham, 2000). Each interview lasted approximately an hour. The interview sessions were recorded on a tape recorder, and written notes were also collected. Hard and soft copies of the information collected were saved to prevent any loss of data or undue tampering (Gill et al. 2008).

The study has taken into account Hewson et al.’s (2003) suggestion to promote the credibility of the interviews, which included; providing the interviewees with information regarding the interviews beforehand (i.e. purpose, duration, consent, topics of interest) and asking for a convenient time for the interviewees. In compliance with Easterby-Smith et al.’s (2008) recommendations for reducing the interviewed bias, the researcher used well-defined themes in the interviews’ schedules, which helped him to avoid asking leading questions and demonstrate a credible level of knowledge to the interviewees who already received a copy of the interview’s themes beforehand, so they can prepare the required information and evidences to support them. Moreover, the use of propping questions and the avoidance of long or jargonistic questions were all taken into consideration.

Additionally, matters related to choosing a convenient time for the interviewees, duration of the interviews, the acceptable appearance of the interviewer, the adoption of a natural posture and the demonstration of interest were all taken into account as suggested by Robson (2002). In adherence to Ghauri and Grønhaug’s (2005) recommendations, notes were taken during the interviews to summarize the responses and keep the interviewer’s focus, and help checking notes with the interviewees after the interviews.

This, together with Yin’s (2014) suggestion of comparing and contrasting between different cases (in this study; interviewees from different schools) promoted the credibility of the interview’s findings. Moreover, Guba and Lincoln’s (2001) recommendations were taken on board by adding contextual information to the interview’s notes, which included (time, participant’s information, sittings, location and impressions) to promote the dependability of the interview’s findings.

Finally, measures of conformability and transferability suggested by Guba and Lincoln (2001) were taken into account. To ensure conformability, the interview findings were reviewed and discussed with two of the researcher’s colleagues, which included: interpretation, reasons, evidences and other alternative explanations. On the other hand, the interviews results’ transferability to the Saudi context. For more details see appendix 1a, b and c. (Measures to promote the trustworthiness of the interviews, before, during and after).

102 4.7.3. The Questionnaires

The questionnaire (survey) is the most powerful research tool used in the collection of both quantitative and qualitative data, and it consists of short questions formulated to suit the data needs within social science research, for gathering information on participant social characteristics, present and past behaviour, standards of behaviour or attitudes, and their beliefs and reasons for action with respect to the topic under investigation (DeVaus, 2002; Bulmer, 2004; Robson, 2002). Furthermore, the use of the survey provides an efficient way of gathering data from a large sample, with standardised questions to help the researcher to explain the phenomena and examine relationships between the variables (Gill &Johnson, 2002).

However, there are two main types of questionnaires that can be used in the collection of data. These include structured closed-ended and open ended questionnaires (Youngman, 1982). In structured closed-ended questionnaire, the researcher provides the participants with a proper list of responses (e.g. Yes / No, or agree/ not agree). This type of questionnaire is mainly related to quantitative data research. While, “Open question” or (open-ended) is a questionnaire where the participants are not provided with a set answers from which to choose. Rather, they are asked to answer "in their own words". This type of questionnaire is mainly related qualitative data. (Youngman, 1982).

Based on this, the study used a structured closed ended questionnaire with Likert scales in which the respondents were only required to provide a specific answer to the question asked. It doesn’t give the respondents a chance to elaborate on the answer they have given, which was the case in this study (Williams, 2003; Dillman, 2007). In addition, Likert scale is usually used to gather responses without forcing participants to express positive or negative feelings towards the questionnaire (Dillman, 2007). The aim of conducting the questionnaire was to seek participants' views about a set of standardised questions comprising different items in different dimensions, related to the criteria of the implementation of ICT in Saudi secondary schools. The questionnaire’s findings were combined into those obtained from interviews data. Thus, the study was able to triangulate the results, not only by incorporating data from different techniques, but also from different sources (Literature review). This procedure according to Healy and Perry (2000) reflects obtaining enhanced and trustworthy results through examining the phenomena from the views of different levels of individuals.

However, the questionnaires’ design is illustrated in the following section (for the original questionnaire see appendix 2a, b and c).

103 4.7.4. The questionnaire design

Questionnaires’ statements have been categorised into eleven sections. Each section aims to achieve the set study objectives. The headmasters’ and teachers’ questionnaires are almost similar. However, the student questionnaire contains some differences compared to the headmaster and teacher's questionnaire; this because of the differences in positions and roles of participants. Each section contains a number of items/questions, all of which are answered on 5-points (Likert scales). The final form of the questionnaire consisted of the following sections.

 Section I – Profile & level of ICT training

This section has been divided into five items; gender, age, years of experience, qualification, and ICT training level, which are suggested by several studies to have an effect on the participants’ responses (Ghosh, 2011; Horvat et al. 2012; Rodriguez, 2011). The participants were asked to identify their ICT training level from advanced training level to no training.

 Section II – Perceptions towards ICT and traditional teaching

In this section, the participants were asked to provide responses reflecting their perception of aspects related to using ICT in education. For instance, the dominant perspective on ICT compared with traditional teaching, the motives or the inhibitor behind the use of ICT, and the influence of some factors in ICT implementation. The participants were asked to rate their agreement through 20 items; represented from strongly agree to strongly disagree.

 Section III - Level of ICT skills (Qualification)

This section provides a summary of the data collected from participants’ responses reflecting their level of ICT skills, through 11 items; represented by level of ICT skills between advanced to no skills.

 Section IV - Current situation- ICT tools

This section presents the reality of the current situation within the schools (availability and utilization of ICT tools). The participants were asked to rate their answers through 14 items,

from available with use at all times to unavailable.

Advanced Good Moderate Poor No Training

Strongly Agree Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly Disagree

Advanced Good Moderate Poor No Skills

Available with use at all times Available with frequent use Available with limited use Available with no use at all Un- available

104 Section V -Level of ICT Training

This section aims to assess the level of participants’ training, in ICT, to find out their qualification to use ICT and what type of training courses they need. The participants were asked to rate their ICT skills through 11 items, represented by skills between advanced to no training.

 Section VI -ICT in school functions

This section provides a summary of the data collected from participants’ responses reflecting their level of ICT implementation, through 13 items; represented level of implementation of

ICT between always to never.

 Section VII –The level of satisfaction towards ICT implementation

This section aims to understand the level of satisfaction between study participants in regards of availability and implementation of ICT tools in their schools. The participants were asked

through 12 items for the headmasters, to rate their agreement from extremely satisfied to

extremely dissatisfied. Extremely

Satisfied

Satisfied Neither satisfied nor dissatisfied

Dissatisfied Extremely Dissatisfied

 Section XI –Important factors for ICT implementation

This section was designed based on the suggestions gathered from participants’ views in qualitative data. The participants were asked through 11 items to rate the level of importance of success factors in ICT implementation, from very important to not important at all.

 Section VIII –The role towards ICT implementation

This section provides information regarding the role the headmasters and teachers play in ICT implementation; the participants’ responses reflect to what extent they block or facilitate the implementation of ICT. The participants were asked through 20 items for the headmasters and

16 items for the teachers, to rate their agreement from always to never.

 Section IX – Degree of understanding and applying ICT policy

This section provides a summary of participants’ responses, reflecting their opinion of aspects related to ICT policy. For a closer examination, it was necessary to know to what extent the participants are aware of the policy towards the implementation of ICT in education. This

Advanced Good Moderate Poor No training

Always Often Sometimes Rarely Never

Very important Important Neither important or important

Not important Not important at all

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helped to understand; if the objectives of the Ministry of Education are clear, and to what extent they are reflected on the ground. Through 13 items, the participants were asked to rate their agreement from strongly agree to strongly disagree.

Strongly Agree Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly Disagree  Section X – Challenges

In order to further explore, this section investigates the barriers and challenges in ICT implementation. The investigation in this section examines 28 items, external and internal barriers, which are identified in from the study framework and findings of qualitative data. The participants were asked to rate their agreement from strongly agree to strongly disagree.

Strongly Agree Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly Disagree