Chapter 3 Methodology
3.4 Process of Analysis
involved delving deeper into the underlying meanings embedded within their stories and engaging in the process of interpretation. By engaging in this interpretive endeavour, it became possible to attain a more holistic comprehension of the narratives put forth by the interviewees.
Through the process of interpreting the narratives shared by the interviewees, multifaceted interconnections appeared across the narratives came to light, stemming from the
interviewees’ diverse backgrounds, which encompass unique perspectives, teaching contexts and professional experiences. This gave rise to a rich tapestry of information that posed a challenge to disentangle. Because each interviewee brings a distinct lens through which they interpret and articulate their teaching approaches, it seemed important to explore their experiences in greater detail to gain a more comprehensive understanding.
Recognising this complexity, I felt the need to conduct follow-up interviews to explore the nuances of their teaching practices in details. However, due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on travel and research opportunities, I was unable to conduct these second interviews during my PhD journey. Despite my efforts to connect with the interviewees online, the challenges posed by differing lockdown periods and time zones between New Zealand and China made it difficult to establish a suitable timeframe that would allow for casual and relaxed dialogues.
Although I did not have the chance to conduct additional interviews, the initial interviews still provided valuable insights into the interviewees’ perspectives and reflections on teaching collaborative activities in their class. It is important to acknowledge this limitation and
interpret the data within its context while recognising the potential for further exploration and refinement in future research endeavours.
Drawing upon the pre-COVID-19 data collected, the next section will unpack how the data was analysed in this research with a focus on QOED teacher’s perceptions of difference and diversity, and how these perceptions may influence the ways in which they provide
opportunities for students to collaborate and value each other’s creative contributions.
According to constructivism, the researcher and the research focus is “interactively linked so that the ‘findings’ are literally created as the investigation proceeds” (Guba & Lincoln, 1994, p. 111). In the context of this research, the findings were not solely derived from the
interviews conducted with the eight QOED teachers working in tertiary education in China;
they also arose from the translation process. Since the interviews were conducted in Chinese, the data was initially transcribed into Chinese characters and then translated into English.
However, this translation process was not a one-time task. Instead, it involved iterative work to ensure that the original meaning of the data was faithfully preserved during translation into English.
This iterative process was also necessitated by the thematic approach employed in this research. As new themes emerged during the data analysis, I revisited the original Chinese text to ensure logical and cohesive translation in relation to the original data. Consequently, this iterative work was an integral part of maintaining the integrity of the data and its accurate representation.
In this section, I will first discuss the methodology utilised for translation in this research.
Subsequently, I will explore how the thematic approach was employed to analyse the data.
Throughout this process, my personal reflections during the interviews, my experiences of observing QOED teacher’s classes and the literature reviewed in Chapter 2 all played a role in influencing the analysis of the data.
3.4.1 Translation
During the translation process, I employed two distinct methods: meaning translation and sound translation. These methods hold significant importance within the Chinese tradition, as the choice between yiyi (meaning translation) and yinyi (sound translation) forms a
substantial part of the discourse surrounding translation methodology (Li, 2007). However, it often proves challenging to discern whether to employ yiyi or yinyi in the translation. These two methods frequently intertwine to present a precise and coherent logic that caters to both English and Chinese readers.
In this section, I will begin by addressing the concept of “collaboration” which is a key term used in this research. It is essential to acknowledge that the concept of collaboration is complex and often misused within academic contexts. Another key term, “Quality-Oriented
Education Dance” (QOED) will also be explained. Furthermore, I will elucidate the approach taken for translating the content related to Confucianism in the literature review chapter, as it influences the interpretation of the interviewees’ narratives and perceptions. Additionally, I will outline the measures adopted to ensure the preservation of the original meaning of the interviewees’ narratives and perceptions during the translation process.
In Chinese, there are two words that can convey the meaning of collaboration: hezuo (合作) and xiezuo (协作). Within the literature, hezuo aligns with the specific meaning of
collaboration as used in this research (Zhang, 2006). Therefore, to maintain consistency, I employed the term hezuo during my interviews. Whenever the interviewees mentioned hezuo, I translated it back to collaboration/collaborate. However, I observed that at times they also used hezuo to express the concept of cooperation, which mirrors a similar situation in the English context where scholars often confuse the concepts of cooperation and collaboration (see Section 2.3.3). Within the process of analysing data, I interpreted the concept first and then decided how to translate.
Another key term that is translated within academic literature in multiple forms is Quality- Oriented Education Dance (suzhi jiaoyu wudao; 素质教育舞蹈), with the abbreviation QOED. Different publications translate this in different ways, including suzhi jiaoyu wudao, Quality-Oriented Dance Education (QODE), and Quality Dance Education (QDE). I have followed the lineage of this phrase from the broader Quality Oriented Education reform movement, noting that in Chinese the term Quality Oriented Education is presented as a prefix to various subject categories (e.g., Quality Oriented Education- Mathematics, etc.). As such, for consistency throughout this thesis, I refer to Quality-Oriented Education Dance (QOED).
When I translated Confucianism, I interpreted the underlying meaning by consulting various scholarly articles on the interpretation of the original texts. Through this approach, I
discovered diverse interpretations of Confucianism across different contexts and time periods. Specifically, in my thesis, I approached the interpretation of Confucianism from a creative and collaborative context. To access the original Chinese characters in the Analects, I utilised the Chinese Text Project (诸子百家) website specifically dedicated to
Confucianism, which can be found at https://ctext.org/confucianism/ens. I have also maintained Chinese characters next to the translations of some Chinese words (particularly
from ancient literature), as the transliteration of the sounds (Li, 2007) of these words is not consistent and can make it harder for Chinese readers to source the original. This matters because, although this thesis is published in English, I hope that many readers will be Chinese, who may want to re-source these concepts within the language the ideas emerged from.
As I sorted through the Chinese scripts of the data, I noticed how each interviewee was expressing multiple ideas simultaneously. In order to fully comprehend their stories and the intended messages, I, as someone familiar with the culture, reflected on my own storytelling style. I also consulted with several of my Chinese friends to better understand their approach to storytelling and how they convey their message. This led me to realise that there are differences in the logic of storytelling between Chinese and English (Pellatt et al., 2014). In this regard, translation could be defined as a process of rewriting an original text with the reflections of an ideology, thus a “better” understanding of the cultural context (Gao, 2016).
The notion of cultural context is a complex one, as it encompasses various perspectives and philosophical worldviews (Yap Choy Wan & Amini, 2020), as well as societal norms, beliefs, emotions and values (Chahrour, 2018). Thus, I decided against simply translating the Chinese script, and instead focused on interpreting the underlying meaning of the story and then translating it in a way that would be clear to an English-speaking audience. Throughout this process, I engaged in multiple dialogues with my supervisor, Nicholas Rowe, to ensure that the English transcript conveyed the original meaning and followed English storytelling conventions.
In cases where a phrase carries significant cultural value, I included both the Chinese pinyin and its corresponding Chinese character. For instance, pugaosheng (普高生) and yixiaosheng (艺校生) are terms used to describe students who begin learning dance in high school and intermediate school, respectively. As social norms widely recognised by Chinese society, these phrases are important in my analysis of how teachers perceive differences among their students in class. By examining how teachers perceive students through addressing these two phrases, readers can gain a clear understanding of their significance.
The absence of gender pronouns in verbal pronunciation in Chinese presents a considerable challenge during translation. When interviewees referred to a third person singular, they utilised the pronoun ta, which can encompass she/her, he/him or it. Consequently, the
resulting translation inevitably becomes gendered as "she/her” (Bancroft, 2020; Von Flotow, 1997). This issue arises also because the non-gendered pronoun "they/them", verbalised as tamen would lead to confusion when exploring key thematic aspects that aim to differentiate individual leadership from collective decision-making. Therefore, addressing this linguistic discrepancy became crucial for ensuring accurate and nuanced interpretations during the research process.
3.4.2 Thematic Approach
The present research employed a thematic approach to analyse the data. A thematic approach
“is useful for theorising across a number of cases – finding common thematic elements across research participants and the events they report” (Riessman, 2005, p. 3). Joffe (2011), in articulating the thematic approach and the importance of closely examining themes, explains that a theme can be referred to as “a specific pattern of meaning found in the data” (p. 209).
To identify common themes, I employed a systematic approach in this research. I began by printing out all the collected data and allocate a pen colour for each theme. Given the
extensive amount of data collected, the process of identifying themes was not a one-time task.
As discussed in Section 3.3, the backgrounds of the interviewees are diverse and different, and their teaching of QOED represents a relatively new concept in Chinese education.
Throughout the data analysis process, I engaged in continuous reflection on the key dilemmas faced by these teachers. Each reflection led to a unique perspective, resulting in the
identification of different themes in the findings. With each new set of themes discovered, the data was coded accordingly. The process of finding common themes in this research was a dynamic and evolving one.
During this process, several factors influenced the emergence of new themes. These factors included my experiences during the interviews, understanding of relevant literature,
translation experiences in conferences and workshops, as well as opportunities to observe QOED teachers’ training classes during the research journey. Although observation was not the primary method of data collection, these experiences prompted me to reflect on my interview data. Consequently, these collective experiences contributed to shaping and refining the evolving themes across all the narratives I gathered.
Following the data collection phase, I had the opportunity to observe a teacher training programme. These observation and translation experiences proved valuable in identifying the key dilemmas surrounding the teaching of QOED. As I engaged with the interview data, I noticed a recurring pattern in the way teachers perceived various aspects of their teaching practice. Teachers often adopted a comparative perspective, assessing things in terms of good and bad, worse or better. This mode of perception was not limited to their observations of students but extended to their evaluation of ideas and approaches. I observed that teachers actively sought out better ideas and strategies while students worked on their group tasks.
Consequently, the themes were established, with the overarching theme being “difference”.
Building on this theme, I further explored three key inquiries within the realm of QOED teaching:
• How QOED teachers experience transformations and challenges when teaching QOED, especially in fostering collaboration.
• How QOED teachers value difference as a concept within QOED, and how they perceive and manage differences between students.
• How the teaching of collaborative group work further seeks to diminish difference.
These inquiries will be thoroughly examined in Chapters 4, 5 and 6. I turn now to discussing my own role and position as a researcher within this study.