Seguimiento de los indicadores del Plan de Acción de Arantzazu

In this study the researcher will uphold the right to privacy and confidentiality of the participants. Privacy as we know is defined in terms of a person having control over the extent, timing and circumstances of sharing oneself (physically, behaviourally, or intellectually) with others. It is the right of the participant to limit access by others to aspects of their person that can include thoughts, identifying information, and even information contained in bodily tissues and fluids.

From this perspective, it means that the researcher will endeavour to keep the participant’s identity protected and safe, whilst ensuring that his/her personal privacy is not infringed upon by means of any electronic device such as a hidden camera or tape recorders (Strydom, 2002). Throughout the study the participant’s identity will be kept confidential as a matter of trust not to divulge such information to others without their permission. In addition to this the participant’s real name will not be shared in any part of my research. A pseudonym may be used in the report and publication thereof, with the data collected being kept in a safe place (Piper and Simons, 2005).

Confidentiality is the process of protecting an individual’s privacy. It implies that the researcher will in no way reveal information that will allow other people to connect

114 the participant in any way or reveal information that the participant does not want published (Cohen, Manion and Morrison 2000; Piper and Simons, 2005). According to Piper and Simons (2005:57), “the process of protecting privacy and confidentiality of participants in a research is known as anonymisation". The researcher will ensure the anonymity of participants and also ensure that no information is revealed that can lead to them being identified.

In conclusion, the researcher will ensure that he provides the participants with the opportunity to read and comment on any aspect of the research report that infringes on their confidentiality before sending to the printers for final publishing and later for public consumption. This will be a sort of double-checking in order to prevent misinformation and also to ensure correct interpretation of data.

3.11 SUMMARY

This chapter has highlighted the research process that will be followed by the researcher in the proposed study. It started with an introduction, “Why the need to research into the non-cognitive aspect (that is anxiety and motivation) of mathematics performance by students in private higher institutions?” Thereafter we looked at the assumptions or beliefs underlying previous studies in this area of research, which is the transformative paradigmatic perspective from which the researcher intends approaching in this study. The methodology inference tends to reveal the potency of combining both the qualitative and quantitative methods; leading to a brief discussion on the various types of paradigms involved in the mixed method of research but with particular emphasis on the paradigm guiding the study and the research design to be used.

Furthermore, we looked at the methods of conducting both qualitative and quantitative researches, and the roles of a researcher in this type of study, amongst which is the techniques of data collection taking cognisance of the importance of quality assurance criteria. Finally, the issue of the ethical consideration that will guide the research to a truthful and unbiased conclusion was dealt with. To this end, a flow chart is hereby presented to give a clearer, more concise form of the summary to this chapter.

115 Figure3.4: A Mind map showing processes of the Research Methodology

Brief discussions on the types of paradigms involved in

Qualitative & Quantitative research.

Focusing on the Paradigm guiding the current study (i.e. anxiety, motivation and teaching strategies.)

The researcher’s roles in a mixed method research.

Data collection techniques and design.

Quality assurance criteria to be adhered to.

Prelude: Why the need for research into the non-cognitive aspect of mathematics performance

Looking at the assumptions and methodological

inferences of the potency of mixed method of research. Ethical

considerations

Designs/Methods of

conducting both Qualitative and Quantitative Researches.

116

CHAPTER FOUR

DATA ANALYSES AND INTERPRETATION OF EMPIRICAL

FINDINGS

4.1 INTRODUCTION

From the previous chapter it was mentioned that this research would be using the transformative paradigm involving the use of the mixed method design. It further reiterates the process of data collection, participants sampling, data analysis to be used as well as the various quality assurance criteria applicable in the research. Therefore this chapter will be looking at the process involved in transforming the data collected in to condensed, small analysable units through coding and the results of the statistical analyses of the study.

The title of the study is the anxiety and lack of motivation factors affecting success rates in bridging mathematics. We shall now look at the various sections to which this chapter has been subdivided.

Firstly, Section 4.2 provides a summary of the results obtained from the preliminary data analysis, which includes the coding and tabulation of the data. The demographical information of the participants, and the frequency distribution in table formats of the six sections are presented, namely: Learning attitude/experience in mathematics in early school years; Anxiety affecting students’ performances; Mathematics Motivation (Intrinsic Goal Orientated); Mathematics motivation (Extrinsic Goal Orientation); Mathematics motivation (Task Value) and Teaching Strategies in mathematics.

Section 4.3 outlines the results obtained from the demographic information of participants as presented in graph formats where the first number represents the frequency and the second number the percentage. The information measured here include the following: Race, gender, age, nationality, proposed field of study, best/worst subject in high school, type of school attended, subject offered at high school (mathematics or mathematics literacy), reasons for choosing this subject and finally the matriculation year.

117 Section 4.4 is the Reliability analyses of the questions in the six sections mentioned above. Prior to hypothesis testing, in Section 4.5 a confirmatory factor analysis of the scale is carried out which is a method for investigating whether a number of variables of interest are linearly related to a smaller number of unobservable factors. In addition also the descriptive inferential statistics discussed in this section are formulated, discussed and tested.

Furthermore, Section 4.6 displays the descriptive statistics with a summary of the data in a more meaningful and presentable way for prediction. In section 4.7, the hypothesis testing, which is the result of the second part of the analysis, namely the open-ended questions, is presented in table formats. All the analyses are carried out using SPSS (Statistical Package for Social Sciences) version 13 for Microsoft Windows.

In continuation of this chapter, in Section 4.8, we look at the qualitative sampling procedures and the report derived from the in-depth interviews with the participants, the data procedure used was the concurrent triangulation design, forms of data collection which fitted the mixed method design of this study. This implies that both quantitative and qualitative data were collected at the same time and analysed separately, any issues observed would be addressed by the researcher after a careful comparison and combining of the results of the quantitative and qualitative analyses. This made the two forms of data collected to be related.

Finally Section 4.9 and 4.10 highlight the responses of the focus group consisting of the Pre-degree lecturers interviewed and a synopsis of this chapter regarding what entails in the analysis respectively.