CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY
3.3. Data collection Plan
3.3.2. Instruments
3.3.2.1. Quantitative Instrument
The quantitative instrument involved the administration of a survey questionnaire to provide generalized information about the current study. The survey questionnaire helped to define the three factors that affect students’ critical thinking during the collaborative learning class, which are: individual role, teacher role and group influence.
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3.3.2.1.1. Surveys
The quantitative method had been one of the primary methods in social science research until the last twenty years (Morgan 2007). In this research, the quantitative part included survey questionnaires to provide generalized data about the study and to identify the three factors (individual factor, teacher factor, and group factor) involved in students’ responses. In order to produce an empirical data, the researcher used survey questionnaire as part of a quantitative research method and as an aspect of the mixed method approach to elicit views and perceptions of students (See Appendix E). Surveys are quite flexible and can give a large amount of information in a short time, as well as including many participants that it is more likely than some other methods to get information on a representative sample, and hence can be generalized to a population (Creswell, J. W., 2009). In other words, questionnaires are relatively low in costs, can offer data on a larger number of people in a reasonably brief and easy to gain, quantify, analyze and interpret. Therefore, the survey conducted in this study covers the main research question with its sub questions where it is divided into 40 questions that illustrate the research questions. To illustrate, questions 1 to 16, 21, 24, and 25 triggered collaborative learning in English classroom. The purpose of the questions is to have a clear vision on individual’s perspectives towards collaborative learning. On the other hand, questions 17 to 20, 22, 23, and 26 to 40 targeted critical thinking while working collaboratively in English classroom. The goal was to understand to what extent the individuals are enhancing their critical thinking skills through collaborative learning in English classroom by the effect of the teacher’s role and the group’s role.
Taylor, Kermode and Roberts (1998) believe that questionnaires in regard of their anonymity promote explicit answers when compared to interviews where partakers might have to tell socially suitable answers to questions asked. Also, questionnaires can be easily tested for their reliability and validity. Another point, questionnaires are planned after employing a comprehensive literature review of studies to research the problem. Then the analysis of the questionnaire guides in the preparation of the semi-structured interview. In short, questionnaires are a useful approach to collect primary research but they should be obvious and easy for the entrants to comprehend. The survey questionnaire that was employed in this study used a 5-level
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of agreement Likert-scale to answer the main research questions that contain 40 set of questions about the students’ experiences with collaborative learning in English classroom that help in understanding how it would enhance critical thinking among learners (see Appendix E). In order to build descriptive outcomes of the survey questionnaire with the students, the survey questionnaire was statistically analyzed and performed using SPSS 240 data entry and analysis, the frequencies and percentages were computed for the demographical variables, and the means and standard deviations of partakers’ perception scores towards the items and the themes of the questionnaire were computed as well.
According to Creswell (2011), locating and instrument to use has three possibilities: the researcher can develop, locate and modify it, or locate one and employ it in its wholeness. In addition, Creswell (2011) believes that modifying instrument is locating an existing instrument, getting consent to modify it, and making alterations in it to fit the researcher’s needs. The researcher of this study used Modify to serve the purpose of the context nature. Finally, in the quantitative stage, the researcher conducted a survey instrument, which is a paper-based questionnaire adapted from Collaborative Education Lab guidelines for assessing collaborative learning in the classroom by Luis Valente, 2016. Noticeably, Collaborative Education Lab is an innovative Erasmus+ initiative financed by the European Commission that aims to make collaborative teaching and learning a reality in the classroom by following effectively the 21st- century skills needed as practitioners and policymakers require a committed place and time to experiment with collaborative teaching and learning in order to better grasp what it entails in terms of policy and practice.
High school students were selected in both schools for the sampling of the survey. The surveys were handed out to two hundred and forty students; one hundred twenty from each school. The gathered data were systematized and analyzed using SPSS, and demonstrated in the form of graphs and diagrams. The researcher delivered the surveys to the school administration, and then they were sent to the secondary supervisor, to deliver them to all students. The researcher placed a box in the supervisor’s office to collect all the surveys after they were conducted. A cover letter was attached with every survey explaining the objective of the study and the importance of completing the survey.
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Students were asked to complete the survey, and then return it to their supervisor. As the study employs the same questionnaire of Luis Valente’s (2016), it was not needed to pilot it. The researcher used both descriptive and inferential statistical analysis. The outcomes observed from the survey questionnaire data were utilized to explore more understanding in the interview stage.
The quantitative data from the survey questionnaires was analyzed using Statistical Package of the Social Sciences (SPSS) to find the relationship between many demographic characteristics, and the impact of collaborative learning in enhancing students’ critical thinking. Descriptive statistics was employed to calculate the distribution and frequency of the nominal and ordinal data gathered from the survey questionnaires. Also, means and standard deviations were calculated to find the average scores and dispersion of the ordinal and interval/ratio data. All in all, the gathered data were presented in graphs and diagrams forms.
Sample Profile
A total of 240 high school students in two private schools in Abu Dhabi were hired to answer the applied questionnaire questions, divided equally as 50% Emiratis and 50% Expatriates. Females represented the larger proportion with 58.33% of the sample, and males represented 41.67%, see Table .
Table 3.2. Sample Demographics (N = 240)
Count Percent Count Percent
Gender Nationality
Female 140 58.33% Emirati 120 50.00%
Male 100 41.67% Expatriate 120 50.00%
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