Best and Khan (1993, p. 25) define data collection as “the process of disciplined inquiry through gathering and analysis of empirical data.” Knowledge of its methods and instruments is used in the process of obtaining relevant information from all respondents in the sample of the study. The most widely used data collection methods in qualitative research are interviews, observations, and focus group discussions and document analysis (de Vos, 2013).In this research study, observations, semi-structured interviews and focus group discussions were used. A detailed exposition of each method is presented below.
3.6.1 Interviews
According to Best and Khan (1993), Cohen, Manion, & Morrison (2006) and Creswell (2007), an interview is a two-way conversation initiated by the researcher for the specific purpose of obtaining research linked data and to learn about the ideas, beliefs, views, perceptions and opinions of respondents. Interviews allow people to convey to others a situation from their own perspective and in their own words (Kvale, 1996). The purpose of the semi-structured interviews for lecturers was to find out initiatives their colleges were implementing in preparing trainee teachers to handle gifted learners. Semi-structured Interviews for trainee teachers and qualified teachers were to elicit their opinions, perceptions and experiences about handling of gifted learners. Face-to-face interviews on a one-to-one basis with lecturers were conducted at their respective colleges, all of whom were involved in one-hour interview sessions during their free periods until all questions were exhausted. The responses were audio-taped and transcribed by the researcher in order to guard against loss of important information.
Lassig (2003) argues that if positive attitudes towards giftedness are developed by teachers it is more likely that they will be supportive of gifted education and effective in identifying and catering for gifted learners. The researcher presumed that qualified teachers had experience in handling gifted learners and mentoring trainee teachers on teaching practice to handle them. A semi-structured face-to- face interview was conducted with each participant separately for 45 minutes after working hours. The purpose was to establish how the teachers and the trainee teachers they mentored handled gifted learners in their schools.
Trainee teachers receive theoretical knowledge presented to them at college, constructing meanings and understandings which they should put into practice to handle gifted learners during teaching practise as they reflect on and make sense of what they have experienced, and thereby create new knowledge. The trainee teachers were involved in semi-structured interviews in order to ascertain their training on and experience in handling gifted learners during teaching practise. The 45-minute interviews sessions were carried out during off-session time, which enabled them to express themselves freely and at length, and provide in-depth information about their experiences and perspectives.
This research study was based on the phenomenological design, used when searching for in-depth descriptions of lived experiential meanings as they are lived, (Wilding & Whiteford, 2005). As such, phenomenological semi-structured interviews were used to understand the experiences and perspectives of the participants on the research topic. The interviews were flexible and allowed free interaction between the researcher and the participants, and enabled the researcher to probe for clarification and greater detail on their responses.
3.6.2 Observations
When investigating a phenomenon that is directly observed, observational techniques are suitable for collecting qualitative data (Nachmias &Nachmias, 1989).The observations that were carried out were intended to find out whether the trainee teachers were being sufficiently equipped with the necessary skills to handle gifted learners. The teacher training and teaching practice programme they were following required that trainee teachers take a number of lessons in different subjects each day to enable them to develop a variety of techniques to handle
different categories of the learners. Besides this, it is during teaching practice that they are expected to apply the theory they would have acquired on handling gifted learners. To make sure that enough data were gathered at this stage, the researcher carried out five (5) thirty minute lesson observations for each of the two selected trainee teachers who were still on teaching practice over a period of one week. The researcher recorded proceedings manually by making notes on what was going on during the lessons in relation to the handling of gifted learners. 3.6.3 Focus group discussions
According to Kitzinger (2005, p. 1):
Focus groups are group discussions organised to explore a particular set of issues. The group is focused in the sense that it involves some kind of collective activity, such as debating a particular set of questions, reflecting on common experiences or examining a single health education campaign. Nichols (1991) suggests that when one chooses to use focus groups the members of the group should comprise participants who share similar backgrounds and experiences in order to rule out any confounding variables. The group of trainee teachers who were selected came from the same cohort.
As noted by Cargan (2007, p. 110) focus group discussions,”… are an efficient and economical way to collect data from several people at the same time”. The flexibility of group dynamics encourages participation and one person’s comments may stimulate ideas in others. Based on these views, the researcher used two separate focus group discussion sessions with trainee teachers from two primary schools used in the research study. They allowed the researcher to listen and capture the participants’ teaching practice experiences and perspectives on the issue of the handling of gifted learners. The proceedings were moderated by the researcher and these were tape recorded which were later on transcribed.
Working in a group situation requires considerable management in order to control power struggles and to encourage participation so that the biased, extreme views of a few will not dominate the proceedings (Cargan, 2007). The focus group discussions were held in two separate groups, each with eight members in the boardroom, allowing for some privacy from the rest of the student body. From
each group the members selected a chairperson to lead the discussions, the researcher’s function being to trigger the discussion through prepared discussion questions. Data was recorded manually by taking notes of responses that were relevant in addressing the research questions.