Propuesta de Programa de Formación

In order for the researcher to get the most from data analysis stage, systematic and organised data should be prepared. Data analysis, according to Gay et al. (2012:465), is defined as the process where collected data are ordered, structured and given meaning. In a qualitative study, there is a close relationship between data collection and data analysis, involving the assembly, ordering, classifying, printing and reformatting, if needed, of data. The researcher has many choices how he or she

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organise his or her data; that is, computer files where the computer is used to analyse data, as it is very easy to access to files because they are served; and the manual way where the researcher would print out all the data into hard copies, label and file them clearly.

To complete the data analysis, certain steps were completed. Data collected were analysed by means of patterns and themes. In this study, the researcher made use of content analysis. Content analysis “is the categorizing and identifying of patterns and themes” (Theron, 2014:4). The processes of searching for patterns and themes will be distinguished as pattern analysis and theme analysis, respectively (Creswell, 2014:343; Theron, 2014:4). This process was suitable for this study, because the structured interviews and document analysis yielded a vast number of notes. This process of content analysis helped the researcher to organise all the notes and themes from the data collected.

The analysis of qualitative data requires an accurate description of the responses of the participants. Pattern refers to findings that are descriptive by nature, while themes refer to a categorical form that interprets the meaning of the pattern (Creswell, 2014:343). Creswell (2014:343) argues that, through content analysis, one can gather meaningful findings. Content analysis makes sense of multiple interview transcripts and pages of field notes to identify major patterns of outcomes from separate cases (Cohen et al., 2011:563). Therefore, in the study, the researcher sorted responses of interviews into broad patterns. These patterns were then divided into themes. The categories of patterns were further divided into sub-patterns and points of comparison were extracted to draw conclusions on how involved parents are in the education of their children. This came from the data of the responses of participants and document analysis. The researcher made sure that the reliability of coding patterns was assessed by checking for contingency between different coding points.

The researcher informed the principal and the SGB prior to the interviews that evidence of communication methods such as minutes of the SGB meetings, parents meetings, code of conduct was needed for scrutiny. The reasons for this were to check how often do parents and the school meet and what it is that they normally discuss. This helped in determining whether at these meetings, learner academic performance is part of their discussions or not.

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Collected documents were therefore analysed. Cohen et al. (2011:253) argue that document analysis is a form of analysis that is normally used in a qualitative research where documents are interpreted by the researcher in order to give a meaning around the phenomenon in discussion. It is an important tool on its own right as it is used as a secondary data for a triangulation. Triangulation, according to Triad (2016:2), is the use of at least two sources of which is primary and secondary method. This can provide a confluence of evidence that breeds credibility as document is manageable and practical resources. This therefore, means that corroborating data collected through different methods can reduce the impact of potential bias (Triad, 2016:2). However, before the researcher uses a document analysis, the researcher should first get an idea of how useful are the documents collected in the site before taking a decision of whether documents will support the interviews (Bowen, 2009:27-40). The narrative passage from the interviews was also used to convey the findings of the analysis. The table that conveyed descriptive information about each participant was created. Finally, the researcher formed an understanding of the data. Therefore, the researcher in this study interpreted data to make meaning of experiences, views, knowledge and ideas of principals, teachers, SGBs, Grade 12 learners and parents from the three selected secondary schools in the Mkhuhlu circuit in the Mpumalanga province.

3.7.2 Data presentation

The research procedures in terms of data collection have been discussed above. After the transcription of data from interviews, all transcribed data were filed. The interviews in this study provided the evidence that was needed to answer the research question. This means that final record included the following:

 The precise verbatim accounts of interviews

 Elaborations of interviews

 Insight and comments to support the meaning of the research

 The self-reflection of the role of the researcher in the study

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As mentioned earlier, the researcher manually managed the data. Furthermore, a computer was used to assist the researcher in order to establish a system to organise data and to make it easy for retrieval. Selection, comparison, synthesis and interpretation of data were done in a systematic process. This helped the researcher to understand the effect of school governance and parental involvement in raising the Grade 12 academic achievement in Mpumalanga rural schools.

Hence, the research was qualitative; a narrative passage was used to convey findings of the analysis. The researcher then extracted the meaning of the data. The meaning was also derived from the study by doing comparison between the information found in literature and theories. New questions were derived from data collected that were added in the data findings and discussed in the data presentation.

3.8 TRUSTWORTHINESS IN QUALITATIVE RESEARCH