In this section a description of the processes that have been undertaken to conduct this study is provided, the positions which the researcher took during each stage of this study are discussed; the used tools and techniques for interviewing, transcription and analysing school librarian‘s ways of experiencing IL and themes related to change in ways of experiencing were articulated. Bearing in mind that the main aim of this research is to discover and study the variation and change of Syrian school librarian‘s conceptions of IL.
This study involved participations from 30 school librarians 10 for the pilot stage and 20 for the actual research. The interviews were conducted twice, once before the IL training programme (more details about the programme is provided in chapter four) and a second time at the end of the academic year over a sixteen months, which seems to be reasonably long taking in the account that: 1) the main focus was not only to discover the variation in ways in which school librarians conceive IL but also to discover the change in ways of experiencing overtime and after receiving specific training 2) the training programme which required time to design, pilot and introduce and, as the researcher is a sponsored full time student, she sought to fit all pilot phase, first interview phase, training programme phase and second interview phase within the approved timeframe. Twenty school librarians were invited to the training programme and the both interviews. In the main study, the interviews were
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transcribed verbatim. Furthermore, a chain of complex analysis processes were then undertaken to constitute the interpretations (see chapters5-6).
In the following sections, in details descriptions will be provided for each part of the study but not the training programme (which is described in chapter 4) from the selection of the samples to participate through the pilot study, interviewing, transcription and analysis tools and interpretation, including the ways in which the researcher sought to achieve interpretive awareness at each stage.
3.5.1. Selection of school librarians to participate in the study
School librarians were selected from stage 2 and stage 3 public schools in Damascus and its suburb. The reasons beyond this selection are:
1. The researcher self interest with school library due to her professional background 2. Most of stage 2 and 3 public schools have a school library while in stage one school
library is rarely well established. Most of the time it is no more than few books in cupboards located in the head teacher‘s room or at the staff office. Children usually enjoy reading the books during a teacher absence, in the free time or by request from the teacher or the children themselves.
3. Most of professional school librarians, who are essential for this study, were recruited to work in public schools rather than private
4. Damascus and its suburb areas are the most crowded Syrian‘s cities with schools; they have the largest populations‘ numbers which make their economic, social and educational instructions varied and professional school librarians mainly were recruited in their schools.
5. The possibility to chose non professional school librarians from larger age scale
Following the thoughts of Trigwell (2000a) in phenomenographic research, given sampling for purposeful variation, a participant group size of between 15 and 20 is considered to be sufficiently large, without becoming unwieldy, to reveal most of the possible viewpoints and allow a defensible interpretation. And based on Strauss and Corbin (1998) theoretical
thoughts about sampling, samples were selected based on two criteria: selecting those who closely involved in the contexts (who have a regular attendance and commitment to their libraries) and maximising the possible range of initial variations of experiencing IL. The sixteen months longitudinal time frame meant that consideration must been given to selecting
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school librarians who were more likely to complete over the time taking in the account that the retirement age for school librarians in Syria is 60. Forty male and female school librarians were selected initially for the full study, to allow for at least 20 -25 to remain in the study for the full sixteen months. This number seemed to be logical and likely to achieve theoretical saturation of the range of variation (Marton, 2000, Webber, 2007). Non professional school librarians were selected randomly from set of lists produced by the Ministry of Education to give each member of the school librarian‘s population an equal and known chance of being selected. As the total number of the school librarians in Damascus and its suburb was not very large populations, it was not difficult to identify every member of the population, so the pool of available subjects had an equal chance of selection. According to the professional school librarians the samples were purposely selected as their accessibility in the schools is limited insisting that the number of male especially professional ones was very limited.
The selection based on the fact that the school librarians must be attached (regularly attending their libraries and do not have any other commitments or series illness) with their contexts because the main aim of this study is to discover the variation and change in their conceptions in regard to their experiences within all related contexts. The school librarians have not been asked only to reflect their conception of IL in the school context only but also in every context they believed it influenced their conceptions, with the aim of flagging up the critical themes in the features which related to change.
3.5.2. Pilot study
As this study is the pioneer in the Arabic literature which conducted such approach, a dearth of practical examples is recorded. Accordingly pilot has been the main gateway to figure out the required techniques and to revise unacceptable questions. Although the researcher had initial awareness to culture diversity, she was not able to consider it as a reality until she involved deeply with the people.
The study involved a pilot group comprised of ten school librarians, five from each branch (2 professional males 3 professional females, 3 non professional males and 2 non professional females) and took a place in April 2008. The interviews with these members were arranged personally due to the fact that the researcher looked for people who could criticise and evaluate every aspect of the interview openly; most of them were old friends or ex-students who taught by the researcher at the Library and Information Science Department.
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The interviews were tape recorded and analysis were conducted but the data collected from this group did not consider as a part from the finding because the main aim from conducting a pilot study was to discover the weakness in the interviews techniques, design, and questions to revise them as required.
The evaluation process started with early arrangement stage (since the invitation for the interview started). The interviewees were asked to reflect their opinions about all the process‘s steps, for example, what they thought would be right and wrong to do. Once each interview finished, the interviewee was asked to express his/her thoughts about the questions, the techniques, the equipments, the researcher‘s body language and the whole process in general. All these information was recorded by the permissions from the interviewees. The pilot interviews inspired the researcher to establish a set of rules and stick with them throughout the interviews which are:
Ring your interviewees personally and show the interest and the willing to book place and time that comfort them. Furthermore, give them a brief idea what they are going through and encourage them to think about the concepts related to the term which allowed the researcher collect breadth information.
Be committed to the time as much as possible because when you start changing people lose the trust which would impact negatively in their communication. Also, if the interview required travelling then leave early enough to reach on time.
Be on time and show them that you love and respect what you are doing.
If the interviewee during the interview asked to move to another location be flexible but inform someone else when and where you move.
If the interview location was the interviewee‘s house prepare yourself for social conversation which might involve sometimes other members of the family
Be aware to your body language.
Respect other people‘s culture and differences. For example wear clothes that fit with the interviewee‘s culture
Do not book more than two interviews on the same day. Some interviews may take long than anticipated.
Use two different recording equipments at the same time to avoid any failure
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Listen carefully to your interviewee as you have only few questions while the rest will be built during the interview
Do not sit very close or too far from the interviewee.
Once the interview is complete do not ask to leave immediately as this would be rude.
Be patient and listen to their concerns but also be aware of your research focus
Ask why questions were problematic to many interviewees, you need to explain what this is, its importance for your research.
Before recording the interview, converse and try to build good rapport with the interviewee; observe his/her body language.
Before taping give your interviewee a brief introduction to the topic in order for him / her to be engaged.
Although many interviewees claimed that obtaining their permission to record was not essential, you need to be committed to this in each interview for few reasons 1) Motivates the interviewee to speak freely and openly 2) increases their
acknowledgement to the value of the research so they contribute more effectively and 3) gives evidence about your ethical commitment.
3.5.3. The study actual interviews
The actual twenty five school librarians for this study were selected in August (2008). Twelve non professional school librarians and thirteen professional school librarians were invited to participate in the first phase interviews, the training course and next phase interviews. Permission from the Ministry of Education in Syria to interview the school librarians was sought because these people according to the Syrian law working in
organizations founded by the government (civil servants), so permission from the Minster of Education is vital. As soon as permission was sought the researcher, directed by the Ministry of Education, visited Damascus and its Suburbs monitoring branches to select her samples. Once the samples were selected the branches in Damascus and its suburbs issued an announcement asking the school librarians the cooperation with the researcher further
inviting them for the training programme and explaining to them that the required permission was given for the first phase, training programme and next phase interviews.
Only twenty school librarians, ten from each branch were able to commit for the full time period. The school librarians came from different educational, social and personal
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Once the first interviews were complete the researcher was ready with her training programme which was conducted in Feb (2009) (see chapter 4). After two weeks training schools were given a period of time to experience the term of IL at their schools. The same group of twenty school librarians were very committed to the next phase interviews although some of them had very difficult circumstance such as family bereavement however, were willing to complete the journey with the researcher.