The questionnaire was given to and interviews were conducted
with 10 pairs of parents and their teenage children. Informed consent
was sought from each participant. The respective parents of the teenage
child gave their consent both for themselves and on behalf of their child.
Teenagers and their parents were interviewed individually.
Convenience sampling was adopted to recruit the participants. The
selection criteria stipulated that the participants had to be able to master
consent, the questionnaire and the quiz all of which were written in
English. Nevertheless, the verbal explanations would be given, and the
interviews would be conducted in Cantonese, their mother tongue.
Cantonese is a dialect spoken in Hong Kong. The transcripts of the
interview content and anecdotes would also be written in English.
PROCEDURES
Ethical Issues and Data Protection
A brief statement of research and the informed consent form were
submitted to the University of Nottingham Research Ethics Committee.
Ethical approval was granted in January 2006.
Informed consent was sought both orally and in the written form.
A letter of consent which included the background of the researcher,
details of the study and the procedures, was presented. Anonymity and
confidentiality were guaranteed. Only the researcher herself and faculty
members would have access to the data. The data will be destroyed
The information sheet and the written consent (Appendix 4) were
presented to both the teenagers and their parents. The objectives of this
study were introduced and the research procedures explained
thoroughly. Queries were answered in Cantonese, the mother tongue of
the participants. Strict confidentiality would be observed and all names
would be kept anonymous when the data was processed.
Data Collection
Besides from the questionnaire, data was collected through
semi-structured interviews conducted with the teenagers and their
parents separately. To begin with, each participant was asked to tell
their stories and experience associated with intergenerational learning
in the family. Their perceptions and opinions on ‘lifelong learning’ and
‘family learning’ and other related concepts were also obtained. The
interviews and their stories were audio-taped and subsequently
Point of Saturation
Data collection was stopped after the tenth pair of participants was
interviewed as the content obtained from the new case was found to be
repeating and demonstrated familiar patterns as the previous ones. The
materials collected were considered adequate with valid findings.
Data Management
a. Data Transcription
The types of data collected include notes, questionnaire, quiz and
audio-taped materials. The voice files obtained from
audio-recording were transcribed. Data was organized according to
a template with pre-defined attributes such as intergenerational
learning, learning family, lifelong learning etc. (Appendix 5)
Data collected from the narrative inquiry and interviews were
transcribed into a text-based format. The information was
transcribed, codified and categorised soon after it was collected.
Translation of the verbal (Cantonese) information into English was
ensure confidentiality before it was analysed. A copy of the
individual transcript was sent to the respective interviewee for
proof-reading and amendments. They were sent and received
through email communication.
b. Data Processing
All data collected was processed. Answers from the questionnaires
were tabulated, mapped and analysed. Coded data was used to
group responses to questions or key concepts into larger, more
generic typologies. Natural units of meaning were generated from
the codified records. They were classified, categorised and ordered
for analysis, and then structured and re-organized for interpretation.
Data organization was carried out as the data was collected. Data
and information were processed manually. Both content analysis
and discourse analysis were performed with the text data.
Cross-checking was carried out to verify and validate the data
collected. Qualitative data obtained from the interviews and
the patterns from the questionnaire analysis to discover deviants.
The deviants as well as similarities among various modes of data
would be discussed in chapter 4 where they were discovered during
data analysis.
c. Data Analysis
Theme analysis in the narrative inquiry is a respected and well
established method of qualitative analysis. There is a mix of
deductive and inductive method, etic and emic in theme analysis
(Spradley, 1980).
A deductive approach collects stories and sorts them by their
attributes into ‘etic’ taxonomy. ‘Etic’ refers to the categories of the
analysis drawn from a grand theory and imposed from the outside
viewpoint onto the other’s world. The inductive approach to
narrative theme analysis imitates its taxonomy from the emic
categories in use by people who tell the stories. ‘Emic’ is the
insiders sorting their stories. In this study, the deductive approach
of theme analysis was adopted with the researcher, not the
d. Data Interpretation
Evidence for and against the research argument would be presented
and discussed. The importance of cultural context will be stressed
in the discussion. Other constraints and limitations of the study and
procedures will also be addressed.
One of the problems envisaged was on the language used in this
study. All written materials used in this study were in English. The
consent letter, questionnaire and guiding questions for narrative
inquiry were written and presented in English. Nevertheless, the
raw data obtained from the interviews and narratives was in
Cantonese as all subjects were Chinese and their mother tongue was
Cantonese, though they could read and understand English well.
To minimize the chance of misinterpretation in the translation
process, the English transcript was sent to the participants for
proof-reading and accuracy checking. This procedure was included
to ensure that ideas were correctly presented when they were
VALIDITY
Narratives are believed to have an inherent validity in the context
if story tellers are allowed to speak in their own words (Nermien Al-Ali,
2003). In this study, participants were allowed to talk freely using their
mother tongue. Efforts were made to minimize any interruption or
interference from the researcher when stories were told so as to
eliminate possible bias. Participants were reminded not to discuss with
their counterparts when doing the questionnaire and quiz
To ensure the authenticity of the results, participants were
promised that their response and contents of the interviews would be
kept strictly confidential and not be reviewed to their counterparts. This
was particularly important in gaining the trust of the teenagers so that
they would express their ideas freely for more valid results. Moreover,
the transcripts of the narratives and interviews were sent to the
respective participants for comments and checking of content accuracy.