CHAPTER III

METHOD

This chapter presents the processes and procedures in conducting the study. It contains

the research design, study participants in the Key Informant Interviews (KII), data sampling, data

collection, data analysis, roles of the research team and ethical considerations.

Research Design

This study utilized a qualitative research design which according to Pope and Mays

(2000) seeks to understand a problem or topic from the perspectives of the local population it

involves. The research team specifically used qualitative phenomenological approach which

according to Creswell (2007) searches for the essential, invariant structure or essence or the

central underlying meaning of the experience and emphasize the intentionally of the

consciousness where experiences contain both the outward appearance and inward consciousness

based on memory, image and meaning.

This study used interviews as sources of data which is one the three common sources of

data in qualitative studies (Creswel, 2009). The person-to-person interview was utilized using the

semi structured format. Semi-structured interviews consisted several key questions that helped to

define the areas to be explored and allowed both interviewer and interviewee to diverge in order

to pursue an idea or response in more detail. The flexibility of this approach allowed for the
discovery or elaboration of information that is important to participants but might not have

previously been thought of as pertinent by the research team. The questions for all the

participants were the same, but the order of the questions, the exact wording, and the type of

follow-up questions varied considerably.

Role of the Researchers

In this qualitative study, the roles of the researchers were the following: investigators,

interviewers, transcribers, translators and data analyst. As investigators, they investigated the

issues that need to be given focus. The researcher is the instrument in a qualitative research

(Patton, 2002). This important issue of the study is the learners’ extreme shyness in the

classroom. To fulfil the role as interviewers, they conducted a key informant interview to the

participants who were appropriate participants of the study. As transcibers and translators, they

transcribed the verbatim answers of the participants and translated them to the universal

language which is English for the understanding of many. Lastly, as data analysts, they analyzed

the data gathered from the interview to come up with the results that would verify the issue being

investigated and can suggest solutions or coping mechanisms to the extremely shy learners who

have experienced struggles in engaging a communicative process

Research Participants

This study involved ten (10) students which is a product of a single-parent family. For

phenomenological studies, Creswell (1998) recommends 5 to 25 participants are enough to

obtain feedback for most or all perceptions. The researchers will make sure that the participants

were in the Senior Highschool level. They were chosen and qualified for this study by the help
of their teachers and classmates. They also sign an approval and permission to the parents and

teacher/s of the learner with a corresponding letter of consent.

In selecting the participants, they employed the purposive sampling procedure. This

allowed them to identify and determine the extremely shy learners as the participants in the

study. The participants will be the source of information on the understanding of the research

problem (Creswell, 2009). This sampling tool is said to be the most appropriate since the

intention of the researchers is to purposely select eleven (11) extremely shy learners. Also,

Patton (1900) suggested that the researchers can construct information from the qualitative

investigation and analyses of information by the use of purposive sampling procedure.

Data Collection

There are factors that are needed to be considered to have appropriate methods of data

collection and instrumentation. The researchers decided to utilize the Key Informant Interview

(KII), which is an approach that is low on cost and it is a fast technique in collecting data (Kumar

1989). In this study, the extremely shy learners are the key informants for the reason that the

research problem has the urgency to be solved. In conversing with the participants, Key

Informant Interview (KII) depends on the four categories about the participants. These are the

knowledge-ability, credibility, impartiality and the willingness to respond (Kumar, 1989;

Creswell & Miller, 2000)

The study started in the making of five research title with established problem on it which

was presented to their research adviser. From the five research titles, only one of them was

accepted, and then they searched for experts who can fully support their claim in their study. In

choosing their participants, the researchers will ask permission to the principals office in order
for them to conduct a research and to have a possible source of participants and the teacher to

support them on identifying and picking the student of a single-parents. They provided the

information sheets and documents to the participant and to their parents to sign the letter of

consent was sought through their signatures that reflect their eagerness to participate in the

research study. The interview will be conducted in places comfortable for the participant to be

interviewed, home or school could be the place, once they agreed and read the letter of consent.

Data Analysis

This study will a qualitative research design, to analyze the gathered data, the researchers

used thematic analysis. During the ten (10) Key Informant Interview (KII) conducted, the

participants will describe and elaborate their experiences about being a child of a single-parent.

They will narrate their past experience being a child of a single-parent on how they felt and dealt

about it and how it affects their communication skills and interacting into people. Thematic

analysis is a process of encoding qualitative information which develops themes to be explained

by the researchers in the latter part (Boyatzis, 1998). Berg (2004) suggested that researchers

should condense the data to be accessible and comprehensible. There were matrices used in

arranging the gathered themes that lead the researchers in understanding the problem situation.

As the examples given by Andersen and Spencer (2002), the researchers will used matrix which

includes significant statements and the formulated meaning. The significant statements that were

similar was selected and grouped afterwards. The researchers assembled the participants’

descriptions of their experiences into statements and then the researchers looked for the

significant themes and assembled it again into the most common and extreme of themes or
meanings of experiences. The researchers finally piled the common and extreme themes

together to create a generic description of their experiences.

The themes that were identified using the matrix helped the researchers in the

interpretation and the drawing of conclusions. To ensure rigor of this qualitative study, the

researchers utilized the experiential – theoretic transition model suggested by Piantanida and

Garman (2009). The researchers started it by narrating the real experiences and perspectives of

an extremely shy learner and with due respect in their context. There was a challenging part in

the researchers for they need to avoid bias in terms in their own thoughts and feelings. As the

researchers interpret the perspectives of extremely shy learners they formulated their own

interpretation based on the given responses. With this, the researchers simply put themselves in

the shoes of the participants that they had interviewed. The researchers used studies and experts’

statements to support the interpretations.

Trustworthiness

To ensure the trustworthiness of this study, the researchers subjected their interview

guide questions to be validated by experts in their school before conducting the interview. A

research definition of trustworthiness according to LaBanca (2010) “is a demonstration that the

evidence for the results reported is sound and when the argument made based on the results is

strong.”In this study the researchers made sure that they have the skills of listening,

understanding and the trait of acceptance. They also made sure that they will not be bias and

their statements will be kept privately.

Credibility. The researchers made sure that they understood the phenomena and the

interests of the participants. The researchers made sure that the results of the research are
believable. This criterion involves the establishment of results that are credible based on the

perspectives of the participants in the research (Williams, 2006). To ensure the credibility of this

study, they submitted their interview guide questions to be validated by experts in their school

before conducting the said interview. The validated letters were given to the participants of the

study which stated whether they agree or disagree to the data that have been transcribed. The

participants also were encouraged to give comments to improve the transcribed data. In the

conduct of their interview, the researchers made sure that the results will be the exact narration

of the participants’ lived experiences.

Transferability. This study established by providing readers with evidence that the

research study’s findings could be applicable to other contexts, situations, times and populations.

In this section, they establish a practical working definition of transferability. Different context

and situations are made sure to be possible with other findings. According to Williams (2006), it

is the degree to which the results of qualitative research can be transferred or generalized to other

situation. Transferability in qualitative research is synonymous with generalizability,

or external validity, in quantitative research. The researchers made sure that the

appropriate procedure in conducting a qualitative research is followed. They also made sure that

the descriptions of the participants’ experiences and feelings were clear and understandable, to

ensure the findings of this research and so that people with parallel condition or experience

would understand and reflect with the experiences of the participants of the study.

Dependability. The researchers developed positive regards to the individual they

interviewed on. In this research, they gave their full confidence and trust in the sincerity of the

research participants as they narrated their situations, feelings and experiences. This study relied

on the evaluation of the quality of the integrated processes of data collection, data analysis, and
theory generation. Dependability could be looked at as the researcher’s account of the changes

built into any setting in addition to changes to the research design as learning unfolded and how

these changes affect the study (Williams, 2006). The researchers made use of the Key Informant

Interview (KII) to obtain the reliability of the participants’ response.

Conformability. The researchers described the results of the ideas and experiences of the

participants rather than the characteristics and preferences of the researchers based on Lincoln

and Guba (1985) who described it as a degree of neutrality or the extent to which the findings of

a study are shaped by the respondents and not researcher bias, motivation, and interest. Further,

according to Given (2008), the actions and perceptions of participants are analyzed for their

expressions of meaning within a given context.

Ethical Considerations

There are different guidelines and principles for ethical considerations by which all

researchers should follow and take responsibility in conducting the research (Bryman & Bell,

2007).

In conducting the research, the researchers asked for permission to allow them in

conducting the study. In asking permission, the researchers sent a letter to the said participants.

After the approval of the letter, the researchers asked full consent to the identified participants to

participate in the study by letting them sign the letter of consent. We then assured them that their

answers will remain confidential to respect their personal right. The researchers ensured that in

choosing participants, it was not subjective and they prioritized the confidentiality of their

responses (Trochim, 2006). Moreover, the researchers avoided exaggeration about the aims and

objectives of the study (Blakstad, 2008).

it is outmost necessary to ask consent and permission from them and from the possible people

who can be a help in the study. Before we went to the place with the identified participants, the

researchers prepared a signed letter addressed to the extremely shy learners and their

parents/guardians about the purpose of their study. After that, it is really their responsibility to

educate the participants about risks and benefits, obtain their consent before involving them in

their research and keep them informed. Consent forms were written in plain language that

research subjects can be understood. In addition to, the informed consent included their right to

withdraw the study if ever they wish to in anytime they want. The participants who signed the

participant information sheet that were given by the researchers were the only people included as

the participants of the study.

Based on the ideas of Shahnazarian (2014), informed consent involves free will and one’s

own choice to involve or to take part in research. It is not just a form which is signed but a

process on which the participant of the study has a knowledge and ability to understand what is

going on the research and its risks. It also emphasizes the ethical codes and regulation for human

subject research. The objective of the informed consent process is to give adequate knowledge

and information to the participant so that they can truly have a firm decision about whether to

enrol or not in the study or to continue being part of it.

Privacy and Confidentiality. As researchers it was their main responsibility to bring out

information especially the outcomes of our study to the people. However, there are still lots of

considerations and limitations. They need to consider its privacy and confidentiality. In the

context of research protocol, confidentiality refers to the understanding between the participant

and investigator as to how participant information would be handled, managed and disseminated
as part of the research. Privacy and confidentiality are one of the necessary things to consider not

just in research but even in all aspects of being a human.

Since the researchers tried discover the perspectives of extremely shy learners, personal

experiences and the insights of the study participants, they made it sure that privacy and

confidentiality of the data and information that were shared and narrated by the participants were

kept by the researchers.