What mixed methods research entails is described by Johnson, Onwuegbuzie and Turner (2007), as the employment of a methodology that collects both quantitative and qualitative data. Mixed method research contends that all methods have intrinsic biases, limitations and shortcomings. The undesirable attributes of one method should be compensated for by the strength of another method. Using a mixed method approach, therefore, increases the probability that the data collected in sum, will be richer, more meaningful, and ultimately more useful in answering the research questions (Denzin, 2010; Fielding, 2010) than if a single method had been used. In mixed method research, qualitative and quantitative paradigms converge to provide data for a particular research focus. Validity of data derived from such combination transcends the data that would otherwise be generated in a single method research. In the mix, aspects of quantitative and qualitative research are not obliterated but are still recognisable. They are mixed to complement each other for a fuller response to the research question. In the present study, the quantitative dimension provided numerical data and the qualitative dimension contributed thick description of phenomena.
Creswell (2008) identifies conditions which favour the use of mixed method research. One such prerequisite for the use of the mixed method approach is when both methodologies
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provide a fuller understanding of the research problem than either methodology by itself. This was the case with this study where a single method design was inadequate to address the research problem. In the study, elements of qualitative and quantitative research featured in different phases of the study.
The study employed sequential mixed method research where one paradigm dominated a particular phase and the other paradigm dominated a different phase. Determining the vocabulary needs of Grade 4 textbooks, the first phase of the data collection, required quantifying words in the textbooks and generating the HFW from that corpus, which is quantitative. The next phase of determining learners’ knowledge of the requisite vocabulary was largely quantitative as it dealt with quantified test scores. This is apparent in the data generation and analysis sections of the study. The third phase of determining the vocabulary exposure of Grade 3 learners was both qualitative and quantitative. Mixed method research’s flexibility to numerical and textual data suited the present study which dealt with word frequencies and test scores (quantitative) as well as textual descriptions of classroom learner exposure to English vocabulary. Even the case study method that was used was consonant with the mixture of the qualitative and quantitative methodologies.
5.2.1 Case study
This study adopted the case study method. Yin (1984, p. 23) defines case study research as “…an empirical inquiry that investigates a contemporary phenomenon within its real-life context; when the boundaries between phenomenon and context are not clearly evident; and in which multiple sources of evidence are used.” Gerring’s (2004, p. 342) proposed definition is “…an intensive study of a single unit for the purpose of understanding a larger class of (similar) units.” From the two definitions, one can extrapolate the characteristics of case studies as, the need:
to capture the complexity of a single case. The case study should have a “case” which is the object of study or unit of analysis,
for the “case” to be a complex functioning unit and contemporary,
for the amalgamation of multiple methods to illuminate the case from diverse angles, to investigate the case in its natural context with a multitude of methods.
Although the generalisation of case study findings is not a key defining feature, it is possible to generalise the findings of a case as hinted in Gerring’s (2004) definition. Where a case is purposively selected for its intrinsic value, it should be generalizable. Such a case can be
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generalised to theory (analytical generalisation) rather than to population (statistical generalisation) as is typical of surveys (Yin, 1993).
The case in the present study was the Grade 3 and 4 isiXhosa speaking learners in eight schools in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa as well as the Grade 3 teachers in the same schools. Investigation on the grade 3 learners focused on their preparedness for the challenge of reading to learn in English in Grade 4. This was followed up by the testing of the vocabulary knowledge of fourth grade learners at the beginning of Grade 4. Being the beginning of the year, the assumption was that the Grade 4 learners would rely on their Grade 3 vocabulary knowledge for their learning.
The Grade 4 learners whose vocabulary knowledge was tested (early 2013) were the same cohort of learners in whose Grade 3 classes the researcher had conducted investigations in 2012 to determine the extent to which the learners were being prepared for the transition to Grade 4. Testing the learners at Grade 4 level instead of at Grade 3 level was necessitated by logistical challenges of testing Grade 3 learners towards the end of the year (2012). The participating schools were reluctant to accommodate the researcher even before the last term was midway. This, because the learners had to participate in the school based and annual based (Annual National Assessment) tests during the last term of the year. Testing learners’ knowledge of the words earlier would produce results which would most likely not be reflective of their vocabulary knowledge by end of Grade 3 as some schools would need to be tested some three or four months before year end. The assumption was also that, by the beginning of the year in Grade 4, learners would not have received comprehensive input to significantly change their vocabulary repertoire between Grade 3 and the beginning of Grade 4. The learners would most likely rely on their vocabulary knowledge developed prior to Grade 4 in their demonstration of word meanings.
The learners were studied within their natural learning context using several data sources. The case was purposively sampled (as described in the next section) to better reveal the readiness of isiXhosa speaking learners to meet the linguistic transitional challenges from the Foundation Phase (FP) to the Intermediate Phase (IP) within the South African context. Although only ten Grade 3 and ten Grade 4 classes were used, the study’s findings potentially provide insights that may be extrapolated to a larger population, especially those typified by
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the case in the province. This is especially so, given the sampling strategy employed by the larger project within which this study is located.
5.2.2 Sample and Focus
This study was situated within the large Cape Consortium FP Research Project comprising Rhodes University, Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, University of the Western Cape and Walter Sisulu University. The initial selection of the 60 Eastern Cape schools the project worked with was done by the project prior to the sampling decisions taken for this study. The selection was done by the project with the assistance of Professor Elize Koch (a quantitative researcher) and Dr. Yvonne Nsubuga (a research associate within the project). The selection of schools was largely through quota and purposive sampling. Quota sampling was employed to ensure proportional representation of clusters. Purposive sampling was then done to select districts that more or less represented the cluster in terms of size and quintiles. Some of the criteria used for the purposive sampling were: excluding schools with multi- grade classes, including only isiXhosa medium schools, excluding ex-model C schools, including only functional schools where learning was not hampered. For the bigger consortium study, the following procedure was then followed: determining the number of schools per quintile and according to school size in each cluster, selecting the districts that represent a cluster the best, dividing the number equally in each cell between the selected districts, and selecting schools in terms of the criteria listed above.
For this study, eight schools were selected from four Districts of the Eastern Cape as follows: 2 from Grahamstown Education District, 2 from Butterworth District, 2 from Idutywa District and the other 2 from Libode District. Of these eight schools, two were township schools, two were peri-urban schools and four were rural schools. The diversity was not meant to give a comparative view of the vocabulary knowledge of learners in the different schools or districts, but to reflect the diversity characterising schools offering FP education in the Eastern Cape. The eight schools yielded 10 classes for Grade 3 and 10 classes for Grade 4. Once a school was sampled and participants at the school had granted voluntary informed consent, all the Grade 3 learners (in 2012) and all the Grade 4 learners in (2013) as well as the 2012 Grade 3 teachers became participants in the study.
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5.2.3. Data Collection Instruments, Procedure and Rationale
Teacher interviews, classroom observations and vocabulary tests were the instruments used to source data for the present study. Data yielded through these instruments were analysed in relation to the HFW generated from the Grade 4 textbooks as well as from Grade 3 teacher talk, classroom print, and learners’ reading materials. These instruments are discussed in detail under the different phases of the research process in which they were used.