Periodo 2006-2012: Programa de impulso a la planta productiva

3.5.1. Data Collection

Data collection took place for six months at a time for each of the two years of the study.

Qualitative Quantitative

Facilitator log Online Technology Needs Assessment (TNA) Phone calls Content Management System monitoring (CMS) Ejournals

Chat logs Forum postings Correspondence

Initial information about each teacher was provided by the educational jurisdiction that supported the participants. This included information about the teachers’ current circumstances, and their target languages. Other data collected prior to starting were drawn from the TNA (or Technology Needs Assessment) that participants were required to undertake. Since this was a comprehensive online method of data collection, it provided background data about the teaching level and history of the

teacher, and the perceived ICT level of competence of the teacher with regard to specific programmes such as Microsoft Word and PowerPoint and more complex tools such as web design packages and HTML³¹. In addition, it asked teachers about their current perceptions about ICT use in the classroom. It did not, however, include questions about their second language ability and teaching history. This was due to the online TNA being an open-source piece of software. Participants’ responses were automatically emailed to me and converted into a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet.

Further data to develop participant profiles were obtained through ejournals and in an

“introduce yourself’ section in the Forum once the programme started.

Once the programme had begun, data were collected through weekly Monday online Chat sessions, online Forum posts and the ejournals that participants were required to submit on completion of each of the FLOTE modules. In addition, as the programme progressed, email contact, and phone calls provided additional data about engagement with the programme. I kept a log of this data as well as my reflections on participant engagement as well as events and incidents that took place during the programme.

The final phase of data collection for each cohort was the development of an access log for each participant derived from the FLOTE Content Management System that recorded the online usage patterns of each participant.

3.5.2. Data Analysis

“Data analysis focuses on discovering regularities or patterns within the case study data” (Darke, Shanks, & Broadbent, 1998, p.284). In this study, thematic analysis was used to identify key themes in the data. Thematic analysis is a form of analysis where themes “emerge from the data” (Tere, 2006, p.1) and where the process is iterative,

31 HyperText Markup Language – used to write web pages

recurring until no new issues arise (Giles, 2008; Onwuegbuzie & Leech, 2009). Van Manen (1990) in Giles (2008, p.66) suggests that,

[m]aking something of a text or of a lived experience by interpreting its meaning is more accurately a process of insightful invention, discovery or disclosure - grasping and formulating a thematic understanding is not a rule-bound process but a free act of “seeing”

meaning”. (p. 79)

In this study, initial themes were gathered by examining the qualitative data and looking for common elements, which were then re-examined until it was felt that a satisfactory picture of the participants’ lived experiences had been obtained.

3.5.2.1. Trustworthiness

Rather than speaking about ‘validity’ and ‘reliability’, hermeneutic researchers use the term ‘trustworthiness” or ‘authenticity’ (Denzin & Lincoln, 2000, p.158). These terms arose from the 1985 work of Lincoln and Guba. They are now widely used by qualitative researchers to demonstrate the integrity of research undertaken with a qualitative orientation (Creswell, 1998; Huberman & Miles, 2002; Smith, Smith, &

O'Brien, n.d.; Tashakkori & Teddlie, 1998). Tashakkori and Teddlie (1998, pp.91-93) describe a range of different approaches that can be used for determining the

trustworthiness of qualitative research results. In my research, a number of these approaches were used. These and are outlined below:

 Prolonged engagement: In the case of this study, data were collected from two

groups of teacher participants over a period of six months in successive years.

 Persistent observation: Observation in this study was intensive and ongoing for a period of six months for each of the two groups and provided an in depth picture of the participants in the study.

 Use of triangulation techniques: Triangulation was conducted through the use

of multiple modes of data collection and detailed analysis.

 Peer debriefing: The co-facilitator of FLOTE served as a debriefing aid both

during the data collection phase and also the analysis process.

 Thick description: This was achieved as a result of the multiple types of data

collected and then used to develop a comprehensive understanding of the engagement of each of the participants in the study.

 Reflexive journal: I maintained an electronic journal (ejournal), throughout the

two years of the study in which data were collected. This ejournal contained my own reflections on the processes being undertaken throughout the study, as well as the information being generated through the study to answer the

research questions. Participants, who engaged with FLOTE, also produced ejournals and their reflections were an important element of the study.

Collectively, the use of these approaches communicates the authenticity of the study and enables a sense of trustworthiness with respect to the overall results of the study.

3.6. Conclusion

Patton (1990, p.65) describes qualitative inquiry as a rich tapestry “woven together from many different threads of differing texture, colour, length and purpose”. It is this tapestry that we are aiming to create as researchers. However, we need to remember that we too are only one of the threads that make the picture whole and that to create the best picture we can, we need to bring together methods, theoretical frameworks and participant ideologies.

In this chapter I have given an outline of the theoretical underpinnings of this research project and detailed the design. I have identified the tools that were used to both collect and analyse the data, and explained why they were selected. I have

endeavoured to pinpoint some of the issues arising from the readings on theoretical research and to detail their impact for me as a researcher. I have described the study as one using a mixed methods approach to ‘capture’ the phenomenon that was FLOTE for two groups of participants who were involved in this case study. The lived experiences of these participants have been recorded through the use of a hermeneutic phenomenological approach and are reported in this dissertation.

The next chapter, Chapter 4 - SS FLOTE - continues to set the scene by outlining the