Thesis Chapter Three: Methodology

3.1 Overview of the chapter
This chapter presents the nature of this research as a qualitative study and the rationale for conducting this research using such an approach. It then describes the whole research process, including the procedures of selecting the participants as the primary source of data, of conducting an in-depth interview as the method of collecting data, and of analysing the data using coding and the content analysis. In addition, it also provides the reasons for using these particular methods for collecting the data and data analysis.

3.2 A qualitative research approach
My research aims at discovering how EFL teachers respond to their early experience in teaching using a genre approach as recommended by the current EFL curriculum in Indonesia. In this study, non-numerical data such as the teachers’ opinions, beliefs, perspectives, and experiences in using a particular approach for teaching English will be collected through in-depth, semi-structured interviews. Thus, by using this kind of data, this research is categorized as qualitative research. Johnson and Christensen (2000, p. 312) define qualitative research “as research relying primarily on the collection of qualitative data (non-numerical data such as words and pictures)”. This suggests that qualitative research is a type of research that “describes phenomena in words instead of numbers or measures” (Krathwohl, 1993, p. 740). In line with this, Denzin and Lincoln (2000, p. 8) also argue that “qualitative implies an emphasis on the qualities of entities and on the process and meaning that are not experimentally examined or measured in terms of quantity, amount, intensity or frequency”.
According to Wiersma (2000, p. 198-200), qualitative research is informed by the following principles:
• Phenomena should be viewed holistically, and complex phenomena cannot be reduced to a few factor or partitioned into independent parts.
• The researchers operate in a natural setting and to the extent possible should maintain openness about what will be observed, collected, etc., in order to avoid missing something important.
• It is the perception of those being studied that are important, and to the extent possible these perceptions are to be captured in order to obtain an accurate ‘measure’ of reality.
• A priori assumptions, and certainly a priori conclusions, are to be avoided in favour of post hoc conclusions.
• That the ‘world’, actual phenomena in the world, is perceived as described by roper (1972) as cloudlike. This implies a somewhat loosely constructed model, one in which there is flexibility in prediction, for example, and one which is not run in a mechanistic manner according to a set of law.
(Adapted from Wiersma, 2000, p. 198-200).
Qualitative research, in the definition of Minichiello et all. (1990, p.5), is designed to “capture people’s meanings, definition and descriptions of events”. It does not attempt to understand relationships, effects and causes. Instead, it seeks to “discover the nature of phenomena as humanly experienced” (Minichiello et al., 1990. p. 7). Thus, as a qualitative research, this study tries to understand the complexity of particular social phenomenon from the participants’ view point, perception and experiences on the implementation of the genre based approach and their learning experience that shape their understanding and practice of using this approach.
There are multiple methods available for conducting qualitative research. Each method provides the researcher with different opportunities and limitations. This study is conducted particularly using a case study method. Merriam (1998, p.27) defines a case study as “an intensive, holistic description and analysis of a single instance, phenomenon, or social unit”. According to Verma and Mallick (1999, p. 114) “a case study is a detailed study of an individual or a group that may be defined or an event”. In addition, there is a main benefit of a case study method, as discussed by Bell (2005) that I found suitable for the aim and manner of this research. The case study approach provides the opportunity for one aspect of a problem to be studied in depth. In my own study, the case study approach allows me to study intensively a particular case investigation of a small group of Indonesian teachers’ experience in using the genre-based approach for teaching English as Foreign language in Secondary education as a single entity, a unit around which these are boundaries. A case study provides me with the opportunity to focus on detailed exploration of and around the boundary of the informants’ experience of applying the genre based approach in their classroom by giving more attention to their individual contexts and situations. These contexts and situations might influence their perception of the genre approach and their commitment and expertise to apply it in their teaching practice during the data analysis. This justifies the rationale that this study also lends itself to a case study approach.
Despite this benefit of a case study, according to Hamel, Dufour and Fortin (1993, 23), it has basically been faulted for:
1. Its lack of representativeness of the case used as a point of observation for the social phenomenon or issues constituting the object of study; and
2. Its lack of rigor in the collection, construction, and analysis of the empirical materials that give rises to this study. This lack of rigor is linked to the problem of bias. Such bias is introduced by the subjectivity of the researcher, as well as of the field informants on whom the researcher relies to get an understanding of the case under investigation.
Therefore, these limitations are regarded as being a limitation of this study, and this will be discussed in Section 3.7 of this chapter.

3.3 In-depth interview
There are two well-known methods of collecting data that are commonly used for conducting qualitative research. The first is participant observation and the second is in-depth interviewing. The former is defined by Schensul, Schensul and LeCompte (1999, p. 91) as “a process of learning through exposure to or involvement in the day-to-day or routine activities of participants in the research setting”. The latter, according to Taylor and Bogdan (1984, p. 77), refers to “repeated face-to-face encounter between the researcher and informants directed toward understanding informants’ perspectives on their lives, experiences or situations as expressed in their own words”. Both of these methods, as discussed by Minichiello et al. (1990), are ideal methods for accessing participants’ real life experience, motives, actions, reactions, and meanings.
I conducted the research for this study using an in-depth interview as the instrument for collecting data. The in-depth interview provided me with the opportunity to understand the significance of informants’ teaching and learning experience, in this case their teaching experience using the genre-based approach for teaching integrated skills, and their learning experience of a genre-based approach and its pedagogical application in the classroom. There are a number of advantages of in-depth interviews, as discussed by Minichiello et al. (1990) and Oppenheim (1992) that I found suitable for the aims and the approach of this research.
In-depth interviews provide more control, more flexibility, and more options for collecting data. In this case, in-depth interviews that are commonly characterized by the use of open-ended questions or open-ended probes allow the respondents to say what they think with greater richness and spontaneity. In addition, in-depth interviews facilitate relaxed and friendly interaction. Since the participants and the interviewer, myself, are from the same culture and have similar professional background, this enabled ease of interchange of ideas. Furthermore, in-depth interviews enable the interviewer and the participants to listen to each others’ opinions and voice their thoughts. Moreover, in-depth interviews allow for “richer interactions and more personalised responses” (McDonough & McDonough, 1997, p. 183). Thus, the extension and enrichment of the understanding expressed can be achieved.
Despite the abovementioned benefits of in-depth interviews, Minichiello et al. (1990) argue that interviews may not be free from the limitation of bias. Therefore, to reduce that bias, further clarification of any information arising from the data analysis process was then obtained through telephone and personal conversation with individual participants. At this stage, I invited them to interpret differences and similarities addressed by other participants by asking each of them further question in relation to the diversity issues.{How did you do this?}

3.4 Selection of research participants
I carried out this research with six EFL teachers from Indonesia (2 females and 4 males). They are from different educational institutions and different regions in Indonesia. The reason for choosing participants from different educational institutions and different regions (West Indonesia and East Indonesia) was to cover the possibility that the research participants would not put the same emphasis on the teaching practice using the genre-based approach due to technical problems such as classroom settings, school infra-structures, textbooks, and teaching aids. Both genders were involved to avoid gender issues in the selection of participants.
Because my study focuses on exploring the perceptions and lived experiences of EFL teachers in implementing the genre-based approach in their classroom, the participants are expected to meet the criteria of being used to teaching English at the secondary school levels, of being familiar with the genre approach in the Indonesian EFL curriculum and possibly having had the opportunity to apply the approach in their teaching. While participating in this research, they were enrolled as postgraduate students in one of the major universities in Melbourne.
For the sake of the confidentiality of the participants, I used pseudonyms for each of them. The following table summarizes some personal information about the participants.
Purwanto Henry Selly Anton Ali Stanny
Gender Male Male Female Male Male Female
Experience 15 years 9 years 1,5 years 10 years 6 years 7 years
Region Surabaya Manado* Malang Padang Palembang Manado*
* East Indonesia
I believe that the participants provided relevant information that I needed for this research as they were all qualified teachers in the sense that they had adequate teaching experience and that they were studying in the university on a scholarship program.

3.5 Methods of collecting data
I conducted an in-depth interview with each of the participants that lasted about 40 minutes on average. The interviews were semi-structured and based on specific questions based on particular themes in relation to the purposes of the research (see Appendix 1). However, I gave the participants time to express their opinions and focus on what they were interested in. Moreover, I let them drive the interview to a certain extent, although I redirected them to my questions if I thought it was necessary. The interviews were in English with interchangeably code switching to Bahasa Indonesia and were audiotaped using both manual tape recorder and digital recorder. The permission to conduct the research as granted by the Standing Committee on Ethics in Research Involving Humans (SCERH) for research project number 2006/974.
The interviews took place with an individual participant. In these interviews, each participant was mainly asked about her/his teaching experience concerning the implementation of the genre-based approach to English teaching in Indonesia and their initial professional learning on understanding the genre-based approach and its pedagogical application in the classroom.
The results of the interviews were then transcribed and analysed. After I analysed the transcript of the interview and interpreted the meaning of the interview data, I then gave the transcripts to each of the participants and informal conversations with individual participants were conducted. Notes were taken during these conversations, as I asked them to clarify points that I might have missed or misinterpreted during the analysis. At this clarification or confirmation stage, they were also asked to comment on the findings, which was very important for the final report, since their comments might add to the information that they had provided in the previous stages of data collection. This approach to data collection employed the principle of data triangulation as “a validation strategy” (Denzin, 1978, cited in Flick, 2004, p. 178) that helps to assure “the sufficiency of the data” (Wiersma, 2000, p. 252). In this sense, this checked whether my interpretations were well founded, and whether I represented the participants’ perspectives accurately and appropriately, and whether I had made full use of any available information.

3.6 Methods of analysing data
Before the collected data were analysed, the audiotaped interviews were transcribed in English. I numbered each line to permit clear references to the data during analysis and discussion. The data then were ready for analysis. As suggested by Wiersma (2000, p. 202) qualitative data analysis “requires organisation of information and data reduction”. Data collected from in-depth interviews for instance can be disordered, unorganized, and discursive. This is also the case with the data that I collected from the interviews. I obtained extensive data which were closely related as well as unrelated to the aim of the study. This required me as the qualitative researcher to reorganize and select related information. The data reduction is necessary for the description and interpretation of the studied phenomenon. This process of organizing data and obtaining data reduction is referred to as ‘coding’, so that the researchers can see “what they have in the data” (Wiersma, 2000, p. 2003).
The stages and analysis of the data in this study mainly employed content analysis of the qualitative data. According to Merriam (1998, p. 160), “it is the content of interviews, field notes, and documents that is analysed” to find categories based on themes and recurring patterns of meaning derived from the data. In the analysis, based on the ideas provided by the participants, I identified the similarities and differences by using the process of coding to construct the themes and patterns of meanings for analysis.

3.7 Limitations of the study
Considering that the number of participants involved in this study was limited only to six Indonesian teachers who are studying in an Australian university, there is a limitation to what extent the results of this study can be generalized beyond the case under investigation. The findings reported may only be valid for the particular group and the particular context of concern. It is unlikely that they can be taken as representative of the experiences of all teachers. However, since their views may represent some similarities with other teachers’ experiences in implementing the genre-based approach for teaching language in Indonesia, they may be considered, to some extent and anecdotally, to represent a broader range of Indonesian English teachers’ experience.

3.8 Concluding remarks
Being an exploratory study, this research employs a case study method within the field of qualitative research. As the method of obtaining rich data, semi-structured interviews were conducted with six participants who were selected through purposive sampling based on certain criteria and who volunteered to participate in the study. The interview results were then categorized using coding techniques to identify the themes that emerged. These will be reported in the next chapter.